Tolling has served numerous and wide-ranging purposes across the ages. While initially providing right of way, tolls were later used to finance the building and maintenance of infrastructure, before becoming a means of internalising external costs and managing demand. Nowadays, two main arguments are put forward for the introduction of tolls: to meet funding requirements and to respond to society's desire for efficient use of infrastructure. However, it is shown that tolls are not a universal panacea and that the introduction of road tolls is a politically delicate issue. The six reports included in this publication consider: toll acceptance in relation to changes in traffic flow; the economic objectives and social cost of tolls with reference to policy in Spain; the microeconomic impact of introducing tolls; experiences of pricing road transport in the Netherlands; a note on the infrastructure concession regimes and transport policy; and the possibility of introducing road pricing on motorways in Slovakia.
Samenvatting