Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working papers in Transport Economics,
CTS - Centre for Transport Studies Stockholm (KTH and VTI)

No 2014:11: Determinants of congestion pricing acceptability

Carl J. Hamilton (), Jonas Eliasson (), Karin Brundell-Freij (), Charles Raux (), Stephanie Souche (), Kati Kiiskilää () and Juha Tervonen ()
Additional contact information
Carl J. Hamilton: KTH, Postal: Centrum för Transportstudier (CTS), Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Jonas Eliasson: KTH, Postal: Centrum för Transportstudier (CTS), Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Karin Brundell-Freij: WSP, Postal: Centrum för Transportstudier (CTS), Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Charles Raux: Laboratoire d'Economie des Transports, Lyon, Postal: Centrum för Transportstudier (CTS), Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Stephanie Souche: Laboratoire d'Economie des Transports, Lyon, Postal: Centrum för Transportstudier (CTS), Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Kati Kiiskilää: Sito Ltd, Finland, Postal: Centrum för Transportstudier (CTS), Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
Juha Tervonen: JT-Con, Finland, Postal: Centrum för Transportstudier (CTS), Teknikringen 10, 100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract: We explore what variables influence public attitudes towards congestion charges using a survey carried out in Stockholm, Helsinki and Lyon, three European cities with many similarities but with different experiences and discourses with respect to congestion charging. We find that self-interest matters in the expected way, with lower support in groups with higher expected payments and lower value of travel time savings. However, self-interest variables only contribute 20-50% to total explained variation in attitudes. The rest is explained by differences in respondents’ attitudes to environment, trust in public agencies, and views about the fairness of pricing policies in general. What issues are associated to congestion charges are similar in all the cities, but the strength of the associations seems to vary depending on how congestion pricing is framed in the specific local discourse. The most important factor seems to be experience of congestion pricing, which increases support substantially.

Keywords: Congestion charges; Transport pricing; Acceptability; Attitudes

JEL-codes: H23; H54; R41; R48

26 pages, June 9, 2014

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