Another post on the true costs of Motordom:
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A quick scan might miss this:
…evidence from road-pricing experiments is that the revenue gathered from tolled lanes often fails to cover the costs of even collecting the tolls and operating the toll-collection system—which means they never come close to paying for the roadway. (To be sure, tolling improves the efficiency of use of the freeway—traffic flows more smoothly, capacity is increased—but the tolls don’t pay for constructing, or even maintaining, the pavement). But again, the highly visible toll-collection mechanism, like the very visible gas tax, creates the illusion that user fees are paying the cost of the system.
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The takeaway: Tolls might not cover administrative costs. (That should be where they start.)
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UPDATE: National coverage of a new report out on road pricing from “Canada’s Ecofiscal Commission.”
Recognizing that traffic was one of the hottest political topics, the newly elected federal Liberals ran on a platform that included the promise of major infrastructure spending. Their plan includes billions for transit, but this report warns that such improvements will not be enough.
“On its own, more public transit may not reduce traffic congestion in the long run because it does not solve the key incentive problem,” argues the report from the Ecofiscal Commission, whose advisory board includes figures as diverse as Paul Martin, Preston Manning and Bob Rae. “Without addressing the fundamental issue of misaligned incentives around free access to roads, traffic congestion in Canadian cities will only get worse.”
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Five “congestion pricing” models looked at in the study:
— Single-entity pricing: The most common form of pricing, toll roads, bridges or tunnels charge a fee to use a specific piece of infrastructure. (Example: Highway 407 in Ontario)
— High-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes: Designating a new or existing highway lane for multi-occupant vehicles only, which pay a fee for the privilege of travelling in a less congested lane. (Example: Minnesota)
— Zone-based pricing: Charging a fee to use designated roads within a geographic zone, typically major city core areas. (Examples: Stockholm, London, Milan, Singapore)
— Distance-travelled charges: Typically fees are levied on all vehicles on all roads in a given region, varying in cost depending on distance, time, direction and location. (Example: Oregon pilot projects)
— Parking pricing: Variable parking pricing structures depending on time, location and mode of transport (Examples: San Francisco, Calgary)
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Not a bad graphic of the issues which face the region – but it also falls for the usual bull on the cost of congestion. The assumption behind that billion-dollar estimate is that vehicles should be able to move in free-flowing traffic at the posted speed limit at all times, in all places – and anything slower constitutes congestion. The only way that can happen is if you destroy the idea of the city itself: a place where people and uses come together to interact and exchange. That’s what’s valuable – not just the transportation system which feeds it. Which is why vibrant and economically prosperous cities are crowded places – and that’s another word for congestion.
“…evidence from road-pricing experiments is that the revenue gathered from tolled lanes often fails to cover the costs of even collecting the tolls and operating the toll-collection system—which means they never come close to paying for the roadway”.
When you advance, such things, you would like substantiate it by more than a cherry picked example.
1/ First, most road pricing scheme cover their toll operating expense…which can be very low now (when using electronic means like on Port Mann bridge).
see https://voony.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/some-toll-economics/
2/Usually a road pricing scheme is understood as a scheme to internalize the cost of congestion: people pay the cost of the congestion they contribute too, not the cost of the infrastructure.
Such is the intend be in London or Stockholm,…where the revenue in addition to cover the toll collection operations…pay… for Transit !
However, there is many examples of toll designed to cover the cost of the infrastructure. such are the french toll-ways or the ETR-407 in Canada: most are successful at recovering both the capital and operating cost of the infrastructure.
The Ecofiscasl Commission study. Yes. Let me see now. I read that this McGill University based organization comprising many retired politicians is financed in part by Calgary based Suncor Energy.
Over here in the cheap seats we presume that an organization funded by Exxon Mobil would also be worth listening to, eh? Just for the record.