An Overview of Road User Charging Systems

Polish Ministry of Transport and World BankPolish Ministry of Transport and World BankWorkshop on Road User Charging SystemsWorkshop on Road User Charging Systems

Cesar QueirozCesar QueirozRoads and Transport Infrastructure Consultant Roads and Transport Infrastructure Consultant

World BankWorld BankWarsaw, Poland11-12 June 2007

Presentation Outline• Alternative road finance methods• Why user charging systems?• Historical overview• Some currently used charging

systems• How private financing can help

Alternative Road Finance Methods

RehabilitationMaintenance

Construction

Road Funds

Public - Private Partnership

Private FinanceBudgetary Sources

ConstructionRehabilitationMaintenance

Why User Charging Systems?

• Reduce congestion

• Generate revenue

• Increase investment in transport infrastructure

• Apply the “users pay” principle

• Provide “value for money” (VfM) to paying users

Historical Overview• Toll road at Wadesmill in Hertfordshire, UK,

established in 1663 by Act of Parliament

• 19th century concessions: toll roads, bridges, tunnels in US; railways in France; subway in London

• Suez (1860) and Panama (1880) canals

• Decline around 1930 (great depression)

• Resurgence in the 1980s: collapse of the state-owned monopoly paradigm

The Maysville Turnpike, USA, 1830

U.S. 1 in South Carolina, 1921

A toll house at the approach to a bridge

Backup at Toll Plaza

Bay Bridge toll booths, beach-bound traffic

August 1999

Source: The Washington Post

Riverside Freeway, SR 91, CA• First fully automated toll road (free-flow

system), 16-km long, opened on December 27, 1995

• Serves commuters on Riverside Freeway (SR 91), Orange County, south of Los Angeles

• Original developer and operator: California Private Transportation Company

• Achieved cash flow break-even in mid-1998 (can pay operating and debt expenses from revenues)

Riverside Freeway, SR 91, CA

SR 91 Express Toll Lanes

SR 91 Express Toll Lanes

SR 91 Express Toll LanesTypical PM Peak

Toll Collection System: overhead antennas and transponder

Windshield-mounted Transponder

FasTrak Transponder

Heavy Goods VehicleCharging in Germany

• Since 1 January 2005, all trucks exceeding 12 tons pay for each kilometer of motorway traveled

• Fee is based on emission classes and number of axles

• GPS-based “on board unit” (OBU) mounted on a truck

Source: http://www.tollroadsnews.com/cgi-bin/a.cgi/rwXBNl0REdmcEIJ61nsxIA

Objectives of Heavy Goods VehicleCharging in Germany

• To introduce infrastructure charging based on the “user pays” principle

• To secure funding for the further upgrading and maintenance of transport infrastructures

• To provide an incentive to shift freight traffic to the rail and waterway modes, in the interests of the environment, and to deploy HGVs more efficiently

• To promote innovative technologies

Source: Edith Buss, “The German Tolling Prospects,” Poland MOT and WB RUC Workshop, June 2007

Cameras Should CatchToll Road Cheaters

• Virginia DOT has installed a $7.6 million camera system at booths on the Dulles Toll Road and other pay-to-drive highways

• Violators are confronted, since January 2007, with a picture of their license plates taken at the time of infraction

• Cheat drivers on Dulles Toll Road: 1.7%; in the US: 3%

Revenue from Users and Road Expenditures

41.144.5

33.4

7.22.8

6.1

26.7

5.12.2 1.9

05

101520253035404550

Germany UK France Norway Sweden

Revenue Expenditures

EUR billion

Source: Poland RUC Workshop Questionnaire, Country Answers

Strategies to Increase the Impact of Available Funds

• Reduce costs: appropriate technology, competitive bidding, value engineering

• Reduce corruption• Public-private partnerships,

usually associated with an appropriate road user charging system

Where and How Can PPP help?

• In While PPPs are not a panacea, experience in a number of countries, both in the developing and developed worlds, have shown that well structured PPPs can help a country expand its transport infrastructure without overburdening its budget

• The experience of several countries will be reviewed in this workshop

Road Investments in Chile

0

500

1,000

1,500

2,000

1990

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

Year

US

$ m

illi

on

Public Financing Private Financing

Upcoming Paper

• “An Overview of Road User Charging Systems in European Countries”

• Will incorporate results of this Workshop

• Expected in July 2007 [If not, please blame Cesar, Michel and Barbara]

Thank you Barbara!

Thank you!

Cesar QueirozRoad and Transport

Infrastructure Consultant

Tel +1 202-473 8053Cel +1 301-755 7591

Email: cqueiroz@worldbank.org

www.worldbank.org/highways

http://ppi.worldbank.org/features/feb2007/Feature1.aspx