Credit-based congestion pricing: A Dallas-Fort Worth application

Under a credit-based congestion pricing policy, net revenues are distributed uniformly among qualifying travelers, to partially offset toll payments. This work predicts the traffic impacts, air-quality changes, welfare effects, and system implementation costs of such a policy, as applied to the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) region of Texas. Joint destination-mode choice models were estimated and applied. The status quo and two marginal cost pricing (MCP) scenarios were simulated for the short and long terms, with full feedback of trip costs and times. Monetarized logsum differences suggest that marginal cost pricing of congested freeways in this urban region, followed by travel credit distribution to all workers, is welfare improving for the great majority of such travelers. Moreover, high levels of recurring congestion (V/C ratios exceeding 1.5) are predicted to practically disappear.

Credit-Based Congestion Pricing: Expert Expectations and Guidelines for Application

Congestion pricing (CP) ensures that travelers recognize the true travel-time costs of their tripmaking by accounting for the cost of delays imposed on fellow road users. Credit-based congestion pricing (CBCP) is a novel strategy which seeks to overcome the negative equity impacts of CP by allocating monthly budgets to eligible travelers to spend on congestion tolls. Previous works on CBCP have surveyed public opinion and examined the traffic and travel-welfare impacts of an Austin, Texas, application. This paper develops the CBCP policy further, examining expert opinions and system cost prediction. Transport economists, toll technology experts, administrators, policymakers, and commercial interests were surveyed for feedback on credit distribution, revenue uses, public reaction, appropriate technology and configuration, enforcement issues, and system-wide economic, land use, and business impacts. The results of this work are detailed recommendations for CBCP implementation, including estimates of administrative and technology costs for implementation of a CBCP policy in the Austin region