The report of Technical Committee "Road System Economics and Social Development" presents the state of road pricing schemes, the corresponding developments and an assessment of their impacts. Pricing schemes implemented or under study in the following twenty-two countries: Austria, Canada, Czech Rep., Denmark, USA, Spain, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, UK, Singapore, Slovak Rep., Sweden, Switzerland, and those of the Economic and in the countries of the West African Economic and Monetary Union, are presented in an appendix. For the different cases, the report presents the objectives, the pricing scheme, the results (success and difficulties) and the prospects. Road pricing is increasingly seen as a reaction to the dual challenge of reduced budgetary revenues and increased congestion. The range is expanded beyond the traditional taxes on fuels. Tolling remains widespread; vignette systems tend to decline with the emergence of pricing based on the distance travelled. If congestion charging in urban areas tends to grow, implementation of national systems of mobility pricing still faces many challenges including that of obtaining public support. The impact of different pricing methods on: characteristics of mobility, the environment, road safety, the economy, social equity and acceptability are examined from fifteen case studies presented in appendix. The examples covered range from urban congestion schemes to the impact of the internalisation of externalities accompanying the revision of the Eurovignette Directive, through the experiences of pricing related to the distance travelled. Infrastructure charging is not effective in reducing the total demand for transport on inter-urban roads and therefore has no environmental effect. The situation is different for urban pricing. The social acceptance is a key determinant for the success of the implementation of urban systems: neutrality in terms of revenue or their use to improve public transport may contribute to mitigating the social rejection. (Author/publisher)
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