. . . this book is an interesting collection of papers on the topic of road congestion pricing. . . The reader should find this collection to be both interesting and informative, but also quite thought-provoking. . . The papers also provide some very useful information about projects that have not worked or have not been implemented for various reasons and lessons that can be learnt from failures to implement and failures of pricing schemes. Peter R. Stopher, International Planning Studies In February 2003, the London Congestion Charging Scheme was introduced and in 2006 a similar policy was introduced in Stockholm. In both cases automobile traffic entering the cordon declined by about 20 percent. This book evaluates these and other similar programs exploring their implications for the United States. While there is increasing interest in road pricing in the US in many individual states, the motivation is often highway financing rather than congestion relief. The contributors argue that the prospects for extensive implementation in the US remain uncertain. Nevertheless, this book illustrates that the European experience suggests political feasibility is much less of a hurdle than was once considered and that congestion pricing would have a significant impact in reducing traffic as it did in Europe. This study s value lies in the fact that it examines road pricing in the real world and not simply from a theoretical viewpoint. As a comparative study it will appeal to both policymakers and academics in transportation economics and planning, urban economics, planning and economic geography.

"The synthesis describes the experience of several foreign countries that have used road pricing, or congestion pricing, as a means to manage congestion. The synthesis contains dicussions of the policy, equity, and implementation issues associated with congestion pricing. Several of the schemes described were planned or implemented as methods to increase roadway funding rather than for congestion management, but have had the effect of changing travel patterns."--Avant-propos.

Traffic congestion affects towns and cities everywhere and in some places it is regarded as one of the most urgent and important problems in need of a solution. Road pricing is undoubtedly recognised as an effective traffic demand management tool. The recent London congestion charging scheme seems to be showing that public and political opposition is not insurmountable. Thus, the ghost that prevented the introduction of a policy supported by transport economists for over 80 years seems to have disappeared or at least, weakened.The book contains twelve papers useful to different types of audience, such as researchers and postgraduate students, civil servants, policy makers and consultants. The first part is mainly theoretical and concentrates on second-best congestion pricing including pricing in urban contexts, the impact on the performance of the road network, optimal locations and charge levels, dynamic aspects such as time variation of tolls, potential impacts of road pricing on costs and service quality of public transport buses, and efficiency costs and transport sector effects of different types of pricing when they guarantee a balanced budget per mode.The second part contains chapters that describe the schemes in place around the world such as Singapore, Norway, London, and the US. The volume is an update of the state of the art on the subject and the first one to have been written and appear after the London scheme was implemented and to contain an assessment of its preliminary impacts.

TRB Conference Proceedings 34: International Perspectives on Road Pricing is the proceedings of the International Symposium on Road Pricing held on November 19-22, 2003, in Key Biscayne, Florida. The event was a collaborative effort of TRB, the Florida Department of Transportation, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the federal Highway Administration. The report includes two commissioned resource papers that examine the evolution of congestion pricing and the state of the practice in road pricing outside the United States. The proceedings also explore pricing successes and the challenges that have accompanied specific projects' implementation, as well as the potential evolution of road pricing in the future.

Road Pricing : The next steps, seventh report of session 2004-05, Vol. 2: Oral and written Evidence