With traffic jams commonplace in metros and limited land available for making more roads, a congestion tax is the only solution
Bharat Jhunjhunwala / March 25, 2010, 0:57 IST
In future, car owners in Delhi may have to shell out money for passing through congested areas of the city. This follows a judgement of the Delhi High Court directing the city authorities to consider all options to clear road congestion. This may include deterrent measures like levying congestion fees on private cars passing through crowded areas.
NEW DELHI: Suggesting the imposition of a "congestion fee" on private cars entering certain parts of Delhi as one way to ease the nightmarish traffic situation on city roads, the Delhi High Court on Wednesday made a decisive intervention to regulate movement of vehicles in the capital.
Singapore is the first city in the world to implement electronic road pricing (ERP) in September 1998. The ERP or congestion pricing system was successful for one important reason - the city operates a widely accessible public transport system (road and rail) which can support the shift to car-free transport.
This paper reviews the methods and technologies for congestion pricing of roads. Congestion tolls can be implemented at scales ranging from individual lanes on single links to national road networks. Tolls can be differentiated by time of day, road type and vehicle characteristics, and even set in real time according to current traffic conditions.
This analysis investigates the ability of nonmotorized travel (walking, cycling) to help achieve transportation planning objectives. It indicates that nonmotorized travel provides significant benefits, and that these benefits can increase with cost effective incentives.
