A technically and economically feasible road user charging scheme should be based on quantities that are readily and accurately measurable, as well as being directly variable with the amount of road use and its impact on the environment and society. A key requirement for a pricing scheme is that the charging regime used should be easy for motorists to understand, but at the same time flexible enough for the operator to implement a wide range of policies to meet different aims. A set of Variable Road User Charging Indicators (VRUCI) are identified in this paper by considering both the associated costs of a trip and the operational requirements for a feasible road pricing scheme. These are: geographic area, road class, distance, time, pollutant emissions, driving behavior, vehicle occupancy and traffic density. Each of these indicators is variable, measurable, and needs to be derived in-motion from actual driving conditions. The selection of technologies and techniques to measure these variables largely depends on the accuracies required by the charge model. However, the ability to locate and track a vehicle in space and time is fundamental to charging for true road use. The focus of this paper is to identify a set of currently feasible technologies to measure these VRUCI in real-time with high accuracies. The paper focuses on the need to accurately track vehicle movements and link these movements to geographical areas and road types. The paper also focuses on the key pollutants CO, CO2, HC, NOx and PM, all of which have different potential effects that are in some cases dependent on location and time of emission. Other issues, such as congestion measurement are also discussed.
Samenvatting