Better Roads Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/119545
RoadWorks by John Latta jlatta@randallreilly.com Inside the highway and bridge industries Variable pricing: A case study U sing different tolls for different times of day and for different vehicles is an increasingly common consideration for agencies facing gridlock or suffocating congestion on a regular basis. It���s a still a work in progress and lacks enough long-term data to be precisely engaged. Los Angeles has recently opened two stretches of freeway using a version of it and a number of cities are working with their own versions. Now comes a case study, using the term ���variable pricing��� rather than ���congestion pricing��� or other phrases often used to describe the practice. In midsummer of 2010 bridge tolls were raised for peak period travel across the San Francisco���Oakland Bay Bridge. The variable pricing model is designed to ease congestion, improve safety and make rush hour travel less stressful. But did it work? A University of California Transportation Center at Berkeley report shows that variable pricing can change driving habits and patterns, but does it do so as intended and does it give the desired results? The report answers some but not all of the questions. The report notes that carpool- ers who previously traveled for free during peak hours were charged an electronic toll under this variable pricing scheme. And after 29 months of study, says the report, we can say that ���the introduction of carpool charges had a stronger impact on traffic volumes than did peak period pricing of regular traffic.��� What happened, says the report, is that significant numbers of peak hour carpoolers did not travel, switched routes, shifted to public transit, or opted to drive alone. More than half the loss in carpool traffic was estimated to be attributable to the toll increase, a far stronger influence than factors such as rising gasoline prices and unemployment.��� With regular traffic, variable pricing was not quite so influential. Regular rush hour drivers��� reaction to variable pricing showed that ���peak period motorists were fairly insensitive to pricing��� and the report also notes that many of the journeys were not made by choice ��� it was how you got to work or got home. The variable pricing toll adjustments sent bridge tolls from $4 to $6 during peak hours (5 to 10 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m.) and retained the previous $4 toll for all other periods, except weekends when a $5 toll is charged. So peak hour motorists ended up paying a 50-percent surcharge relative to what they previously paid and relative to those who travel during non-peak weekday hours. Also, as the report points out, the practice of allowing free passage to carpoolers, motorcyclists, and vehicles with clean-air decals ended and a $2.50 levy was charged to vehicles using the bridge���s high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes during peak hours. These vehicles were also required to have a FasTrak electronic transponder for automatic toll collection. Commuter buses and vanpools carrying 11 to 15 passengers could continue traveling at no charge during peak periods when equipped with a nonrevenue FasTrak electronic tag. ��� Better Roads April 2013 7 Roadworks_BR0413.indd 7 4/1/13 2:03 PM