Demand Management

Road User Charging

Traffic congestion is a worldwide problem that very few authorities have been able to tackle effectively. Road user charging (road pricing) has been promoted as part of the answer to traffic congestion since the 1960’s, but is now gaining much wider attention in the UK and across the world.

Both Singapore and London have implemented road user charging on a network basis with the specific aim of reducing traffic congestion, and Stockholm has a large scale pilot scheme in operation. A number of cities in Norway have road user charging schemes in operation – although these are initially aimed at raising revenue for infrastructure improvements.

In the UK, the Transport Act 2000 enables local authorities in the UK to introduce road user charging schemes or workplace parking levy schemes as part of their Local Transport Plans. ITP team members have worked with many local authorities on assessment, research and planning studies on charging options. These include authorities in Bristol, Belfast, Nottingham, Leeds, Hampshire and Scotland. We have also worked with the Department for Transport on a number of road user charging scheme projects, and produced guidance on urban road user charging scheme design principles and on administration and enforcement of charging schemes.

Both Nick Ayland and Jamie Wheway of ITP have also worked on major international road user charging projects – Nick on European projects involving a number of cities such as Rome and Trondheim and Jamie on the £7.5 million Feasibility Study on Electronic Road Pricing for Hong Kong .