Road pricing is a form of demand management for the road network designed to dispel congestion. As an idea it has been around since the 1980s, with ministers first envisaging it as a way of funding motorway construction.
Congestion charging
Durham was the first city in the UK to implement limited local road pricing in the form of a congestion charge, with London following suit in 2003. Transport for London has claimed the scheme as a success, citing a fall of 25% in traffic volume and improved journey times following its implementation of the £8 a vehicle charge. TfL has continued to build on the scheme in line with the Mayor’s Transport Strategy.
It now offers a pay-next-day option which has proved popular with motorists who make spontaneous journeys to the capital. IT also
offers a fleet scheme for road transport operators. TfL closed consultation on an emissions based charging scheme in October 2007 which will greatly increase the cost of driving in London for users of 4x4s and SUVs.
However road transport operators and trade associations have criticised the inclusion of HGVs and other commercial vehicles in the charge, as customer requirements and local delivery restrictions mean that their routes and timing are not flexible and therefore the charge raises the cost of freight transport without improving congestion.
Regional road pricing
The government has since given pump priming money to seven local authorities to investigate the nature and causes of local congestion and submit proposals for local charging schemes to combat it. £18m has been provided to:
However, early reports suggest that Tyne and Wear Council at least has said road pricing will be an extremely long term project and it is instead considering other forms of road improvement and traffic management.
National road pricing
The government’s position on a national road pricing scheme has fluctuated with public opinion. Almost two million people signed a petition on the Downing Street website in 2007 to register their disapproval of the concept and then Prime Minister Tony Blair said that to proceed in the face of public opposition would be “kamikaze politics”.
The government commissioned Sir Rod Eddington to investigate the future of UK transport and he initially proposed a road pricing scheme, among other initiatives, citing the £7-8bn cost of congestion to British commerce annually. However Eddington later backed down from this position, saying that he had only ever envisaged pricing on a regional basis. Other polls have also shown a solid opposition although the most recent, by Ipsos Mori, has suggested a bedrock of support provided the government reinvested the money in public transport and the scheme was fiscally neutral for motorists.
The Freight Transport Association has consistently supported the idea of road pricing as a way of decoupling motoring and road transport taxation. It argues that improved journey times and a rebate scheme to operators would compensate for the additional cost.
The Road Haulage Association has however been steadfastly opposed. It particularly objects to the long period in which operators may face the complication of many different regional schemes throughout the country.
Toll roads
Road tolling is also a form of road pricing. The M6 toll road run by Midland Expressway has improved journey times by giving a choice of free or paid for routeing, and so leaving the standard road less congested. It boasts between 50,000 and 60,000 vehicles a day use the toll road.
Lorry Road User Charge
Current road pricing schemes follow in the wake of the government’s abortive plan for Lorry Road User Charging (LRUC). Supported by the trade associations, the government invested £37m in investigating a way of charging HGVs for use of UK roads and then rebating UK operators. The aim was to decouple HGV and car taxation and ensure that foreign lorries contributed to the cost of UK roads. However the scheme proved prohibitively expensive and unwieldy to implement and was abandoned by transport secretary Alistair Darling. The LRUC was opposed by transport academic Alan McKinnon of Heriot-Watt University.
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