House of Commons Select Committee on Transport: Inquiry into Urban Congestion Charging

INTRODUCTION This evidence, submitted to the Select Committee for its inquiry into Urban Congestion Charging, is based on my research into the subject, and professional involvement in studies of methods for managing the demand for urban travel, over the last twenty years. In the 1970s I was responsible, within the Greater London Council, for their studies of the use of comprehensive parking control, physical restriction of road space, and supplementary licensing (a low technology method of congestion charging) as methods of traffic restraint. At the same time, I was an adviser to the World Bank in its study of Singapore's area licensing scheme which is still the only congestion charging system in operation. In the 1980s I was an adviser to the US Transport Research Board in its investigation of appropriate methods for managing urban traffic, and to The MVA Consultancy in its study of electronic road pricing for Hong Kong. Since 1987 I have been involved, as a director of The MVA Consultancy, in a series of integrated transport studies in London (for the London Planning Advisory Committee), Birmingham, Edinburgh, Bristol and Merseyside, each of which has investigated the role of congestion charging as part of a wider transport strategy. I am currently directing a programme of research, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, which is assessing the relative impact on urban road networks of different methods of imposing congestion charging, on their own and in combination with traffic signal control and bus priorities. This research has used Cambridge and York as case studies. In addition, I am currently acting as one of the technical advisers to the Department of Transport's study of congestion charging in London. (Continues..

Integrated Transport Strategies: A New Initiaitve, or a Return to the 1960’s?

A recurring theme in the debate on urban transport policy in the last few years has been the appropriateness of developing Integrated Transport Strategies as a basis for identifying solutions to current and future urban transport problems. Their proponents, including a growing number of local authorities, see them as a means of ensuring that each element of transport policy complements the others. Those who argue against them, and particularly the Department of Transport, have likened them to the gramd and unattainable, blueprints produced by 1960s land use - transport studies. This paper draws on experience with such studies in London, Birmingham and Edinburgh to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the approach now being adopted, to suggest ways in which it might be further developed, and to identify, in the light of experience to date, those elements of policy which might most effectively contribute to the solution of transport problems

Queue Management Project Model: Strategies for the Management of Queues at Upstream Junctions

This Working Paper is one of a series representing work under a SERC grant on queue management strategies for urban traffic control systems, whose objectives are:- (i)to generalise the strategies developed in an earlier study of queue management; (ii)to develop a computer graphics based representation of queue propagation and management; (iii)to test the strategies' applicability and performance in UK networks; (iv)to investigate their incorporation into standard signal optimisation programs. The study is based on earlier work in Bangkok (May et al, 1988) also funded by SERC, in which queue management measures were developed by trial and error to allow for the fact that queues from downstream junctions frequently blocked upstream junctions and could, as a result, unnecessarily obstruct crossing movements thereby reducing junction capacity and spreading congestion to other areas. The methods developed in that study involved:- (i)predicting the growth and decline of queues from downstream junctions; (ii)estimating the speeds of the starting and stopping waves which determine (i); (iii)identifying the most appropriate stage at the upstream junction in which queues should arrive; (iv)identifying the most appropriate time in that stage during which queues should be present; (v)adjusting the split between stages to allow for loss of throughput in blocked stages; (vi)adjusting the cycle time as necessary in the light of (v). It was steps (iii) and (iv) which involved the greatest element of trial and error, and it was accepted that further work was needed to identify alternative strategies for determining:- (i)during which stage to allow queues to block an upstream junction; (ii)how to adjust the stage timings at that junction to allow for the loss of capacity. This paper reviews these approaches and makes recommendations. It considers first of all, in Section 2, the options at an individual junction. It then considers in Section 3, the application of these options in a range of increasingly complex networks

Further Studies of the Distributional Effects of Road Pricing

This Working Paper extends the study reported in Working Paper 400, which used the MVA START model for London, disaggregated into three income groups for each of car owners and non car owners, to investigate the distributional effects of road pricing in London. At the time of that study, it was not possible to obtain, from the disaggregate model, output on trips, flows and speeds. The further work reported in this Working Paper has involved extending the evaluation procedures to provide output on trips, flows and speeds; assessing the results from the previous study in tms of these indicators, and testing a fourth charging structure. In all, four charging structures were tested. It is concluded that the additional charging structure tested here, with the original LPAC charging structure, but with charging extended to the off peak in inner London, is by far the most effective in terms of overall benefits, and is similar in its distributional effects to the original LPAC structure

The Impact of Transport Problems on Inner City Firms: A Review.

Previous studies of inner city manufacturing and service firms and studies of industrial relocation are examined to determine the problems of operating in inner areas, the factors causing firms to relocate, and the criteria which determine the choice of new site. These are related to the issues of retaining existing inner area firms and attracting new ones. Much of the previous work is limited in scope, largely qualitative, and frequently at a level of aggregation which makes identification of particular problems or factors difficult. Existing inner city firms perceive the transport problems of their own operations and of their employees as a major disadvantage of their present location, but there is a lack of quantified information on the extent and relative importance of these problems, and whether they are more severe for inner city firms. Transport issues in themselves are not one of the prime reasons causing firms to relocate, although the influence on availability of suitable labour is more significant. At a regional level transport is not one of the most important criteria in the choice of location, but as a determinant of site at the local level it is mentioned frequently enough to warrant further study. A number of other factors involved in these decisions are to a greater or lesser extent related to transport. To place firms' transport operations in a wider context transport costs, industrial traffic generation, and the effect of some forms of control are discussed

The Transport Problems of Inner City Firms: An Approach to Solutions.

The paper arises from a recent investigation into the extent to which transport problems affect manufacturing firms and their employees. It summarises the conclusions of that study and notes their implications for the selection and assessment of transport policies designed to assist industry. One of the conclusions is that most problems are local or site- specific; this suggests that local and probably low cost solutions developed by local authorities or by firms themselves may well be more appropriate than programmes of major investment. However, another conclusion is that firms are generally inadequately aware of the effects of their transport problems and the costs to which they give rise; this suggests that the justification even for low cost solutions may not be being made sufficiently apparent to local authorities. These conclusions indicate the need for a more careful assessment of the effects of both high and low cost transport policies on industry. The paper outlines the way in which an analysis of firms' transport problems may be used to develop appropriate solutions and to assess their effects. It discusses some of the problems of such an investigation, using case studies drawn from recent research in Inner London

Development of a Cycling Policy for York Technical Report

In early 1983 York City Council and North Yorkshire County Council commissioned the Institute for Transport Studies to carry out a study of cycling in York. The terms of reference were to: Include an origin and destination survey of current movements by trip purpose and an assessment of future demand, indicating the likely mode from which any transfer will occur; Identify problem areas following discussions with various cycling groups and a study of accident statistics; Take into consideration any previous decisions of the City Council for investigation; Assess the appropriateness of the recommended standards for cycle facilities to a compact urban area; Propose various solutions to problems where appropriate, assess the effect on other road users, and formulate a basic cycling plan for York. Propose various solutions to problems where appropriate, assess the effect on other road users, and formulate a basic cycling plan for York. The Institute for Transport Studies at the Univeristy of Leeds was appointed to carry out the study with Professor A.D. May as the Director of the Study and Mr. D.A. Waring as Research Engineer. Work commenced on this project in June 1983 and was completd in May 1984. The recommendations arising from the study are contained in a separate Summary Report, available from the Institute as Working Paper 175

Towards The Sustainable City: The Impact Of Transport-Land Use Interactions, Deliverable 6. The Final Report.

Very few transport studies have been able to demonstrate that transport policy measures alone can improve sustainability by reducing fuel consumption and emissions below existing levels. There is therefore an increasing interest in the use of coordinated transport-land use policies, but a lack of understanding of relevant relationships. This research sought to obtain greater insight into these relationships. The main objectives were: (i) to increase our understanding of the impact of accessibility and environmental quality on individuals’ and firms’ location decisions; (ii) to use the findings of (i) to enhance a newly developed strategic transport and land use interaction model; (iii) to use the enhanced model to assess the implications for urban sustainability of the impact of transport policy on location choice; and (iv) to use the enhanced model to assess the relative performance of different combinations of transport and land use strategy. There were two main strands to the work. The first involved the use of a newly developed strategic transport-land use model DELTA/START to test the effects of a range of values for environmental and accessibility coefficients. The tests were based on Edinburgh, and included several combinations of road pricing, fares reductions and light rail, and an alternative land use strategy. The second strand involved a literature review and survey work undertaken in Edinburgh using a stated preference approach to identify values for environmental indicators and accessibility to feed into the model. The survey work of households and businesses was successful in producing values for environmental quality and accessibility. We found that changes in air quality were valued more highly than corresponding changes in noise levels. The survey also revealed some interesting issues that merit further investigation: deteriorations in environmental quality were valued more highly than improvements, there was a greater resistance to increases in council tax beyond current levels than up to current levels and valuations were higher where conditions were worse. The transport strategies were predicted to induce considerable shifts in activity, with city centre populations increasing by up to 20%. However, these substantial changes in activity had relatively small impacts on the transport indicators. The results for the alternative land use scenario showed similar effects. Generally it appears, from the tests involving the strategic transport model that the effects on transport indicators of land use changes, whether induced through transport strategies or imposed through land use planning, are an order of magnitude lower than those of the transport strategies themselves. This is an important policy result since it calls into question how much can be achieved by pursuing coordinated land use and transport strategies

Effects of Bans on Heavy Lorries in London: Impacts on Manufacturing & Service Industries

The report evaluates the extent to which representative samples of manu- facturing and service firms drawn from the inner and outer London areas of South Shoreditch and Brimsdown respectively would be affected by proposed bans on 16 ton and 24 ton GVW commercial vehicles within Greater London. The proportion of commercial vehicle trips to and from South Shoreditch firms affected by the bans would be low and one-quarter of the firms would be affected by a 16 ton GW ban. One in five trips to and from Brimsdown firms is currently made by a vehicle in excess of 16 ton GVW, and two-thirds of the sample of firms would be affected. The majority of affected movements are by suppliers' vehicles rather than firms' own fleets. Three firms particularly likely to be affected were examined in more detail, and the implications of their changing to lighter vehicles investigated. A weight-specific 16 ton GVW ban would impose annual operating cost increases on all firms if they were to maintain existing levels of service with their own vehicle fleets. Under a 24 ton GVW ban two firms would incur cost increases while, for the operations considered, there would be a saving in annual operating costs for the third. The assumption that regulations governing vehicle dimensions and carrying capacity remain unaltered is crucial to the conclusions. Night time 16 ton and 24 ton GVW bans would affect a minority of firms, although the duration of the ban would be important. Weekend bans would not significantly affect the firms

Work Journey Rescheduling: Results and Conclusions.

An assessment was made of the effects of changes in working hours on traffic conditions in the city centre of Wakefield. The study used survey data arid modelling techniques which are described fully elsewhere, and summarised in section 2 of this report. This report concentrates on the results of the study and the conclusions to be drawn from them. Assessments were made of traffic conditions had the current level of flexible and staggered hours operation not been introduced, and as the result of four different levels of increased rescheduling of work journeys. In all cases, results were presented in terms of changes in the temporal distribution of trip ends, cordon flows, and the network parameters of vehicle hours, vehicle kilometres, average speed and vehicle delay. In the peak 15 minutes car driver trip ends would have been 15% higher without current work hour arrangements, and 11% lower with further rescheduling. Changes in car driver trips entering the central area would have been about half as great as these changes in trip ends. Because the network is not operating at capacity, these changes would have had little effect on network performance generally, but time spent in queues, and delays on two congested approaches would have changed in the peak 15 minutes by + 20%. The report discusses the reasons for these relatively small changes and suggests criteria for identifying those cities in which work journey rescheduling could more successfully reduce congestion. It also recommends potential improvements in the analytical process adopted