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To What Extent Is Road User Charging the Best Solution to the Negative Externalities Caused by Congestion?

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The process of road user charging consists of direct charges levied for the use of roads, upon road users in defined areas and stretches of road, at a flat-rate. It is designed to increase the private cost of using private vehicles within areas where congestion is highest, therefore reducing the amount of congestion and negative externalities associated with it. Congestion occurs when the volume of traffic is greater than the operating capacity of the road and produces negative externalities, which are costs that are suffered by a third party above those felt privately.

Where road pricing excels as a solution to congestion, above methods of flat taxation, is in its targeting of users who specifically add to congestion. Whereas other methods are blunt in their blanket approach to car ownership, road pricing specifically targets road usage. Therefore it acts as a true cost of the use drivers make of the road network, often penalising those who can afford it and leaving other options open to those who can’t. Some forms of road user charge are more precise than others, for example the Electronic Road Pricing Scheme in Singapore, which utilises variable pricing based on congestion levels and time of day, to fully apply the cost of congestion to the private motorist. In doing so, it improves awareness of the external cost involved when deciding to travel on a particular stretch of road, as evidenced by Singapore having one of the highest per capita incomes in Asia, but fewer than 30% of Singaporean households owning cars (given that cars are often considered luxury goods and demand should rise in times of prosperity) .

The road pricing scheme generates money from car users that can be hypothecated into resolving the negative externalities that are generated by apathy towards the toll. If congestion continues at the same rate, the scheme not failed, as these charges

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