Type of Scheme
- A network of Motorway tolling covering 8,800km of the whole motorway system.
Date of Introduction
Background
- Strong government commitment to expanding motorway (Expressway) development in order to extend their economic impacts to various regions and to provide same level of access to motorists across the country (including routes in rural areas and areas with terrain where road construction would be costly) but difficult to finance under tight governmental budget restraints.
- Growth in car ownership since 1970s saw cities also suffer from acute congestion problems.
- In order to finance the roads programme, Japan introduced hypothecation for all revenue raised from VED and fuel tax which meant all monies must be spent solely on transport.
- This was not sufficient to improve the highway network urgently enough so government introduced legislation to introduce the toll road system.
- The law allows tolls to be charged not only for National Expressways but also a part of national highways, prefectural roads and municipal roads.
- Until 2005, toll roads been constructed, maintained and operated almost exclusively by four public corporations: Japan Highways Public Corporation (JHPC), Metropolitan Expressway Public Corporation (MEPC), Hanshin Expressway Public Corporation (HEPC), Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority (HSBA).
- In October 2005, the public corporations were restructured into six private companies.
- A seventh quasi-government corporation, Japan Expressway Holding and Debt Repayment Organisation - was also set up and assumed ownership of all physical infrastructure and now leases it to the six private companies.
Aims
- Primary aim is to raise money for further expansion of motorways (Expressways) and to cover entire cost, such as construction expenditure, maintenance and operating cost, and interest.
- Secondary aim is to reduce congestion.
How it Works
Charges:
- Current standard toll rates of expressways for passenger cars is 150 yen (approximately US$1.4) plus 24.6 yen (approximately US$0.23) multiplied by kilometres travelled.
- This rate roughly doubles for large vehicles.
- Discounted rate for Long-Discount User.
Technology:
- Tolling network of Electronic Tolling Collection (ETC) using Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC).
- The system requires the driver to have an ETC-compatible credit card for insertion into an on-board unit (OBU).
- As the vehicle passes through the tollgates, the fare is recorded on both the expressway computer system and the IC card in the OBU via the technologies of wireless communications and the tariff is deducted from credit card.
Revenue
- The money raised for tolling enables for more rapid construction of motorway than would be otherwise possible.
- The level of toll rates has been set so as to finance highway constructions while maintaining the idea of 'fairness', which means that the toll should not be unreasonably high.
- Before being semi-privatised, the toll collecting agencies collected the following amounts on an annual basis:
- JHPC - $19b (making it world's largest toll collector).
- MEPC - $2,400m.
- HEPC - $1500m.
- HSBA - $780.
Benefits/Results
- An experimental scheme on Hamana Bypass extended the duration of the non-tolling period to the am and pm peak periods (6-9 am and 8-9 pm).
- As a result, more traffic shifted towards the Hamana Bypass - an increase of 60% (3,500 vehicles per day) traffic and a decrease of 30% on parallel non-tolled roads (1,800 vehicles per day) for newly introduced free periods.
- In addition, the noise level for non-tolled roads decreased during the experimental period to below the environmental standards.
Problems
- Due to slow economy and higher costs in logistics industry, road users tend to avoid travelling on toll roads. Thus, high toll has caused traffic congestion, traffic safety problems, and environmental problems on non-tolled alternatives [Atsushi Fukasawa, Sachio Muto (2005)].
- In Nagano Prefecture, many cost sensitive trucks, especially at night, use non-tolled alternative routes which has led to noise levels exceeding environmental standards, and the ratio of death due to traffic accidents per vehicle-kilometres is nearly twice as large as national average [Atsushi Fukasawa, Sachio Muto (2005)].
- In order to alleviate these negative externalities of tolling, the Council for Infrastructure (which is a public body) reported in 2002 that the government should introduce more flexible tolling on roads.
Website
Japanese Road Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport:
www.mlit.go.jp/road/road_e/index_e.html.
References
Atsushi Fukasawa, Sachio Muto (2005). The Effect of Flexible Tolling on Highways. PIARC Seminar on Road Pricing with emphasis on Financing, Regulation and Equity, Cancun, Mexico.
publications.piarc.org/ressources/publications_files/3/1662,RR327-036.pdf.
trb.org/Conferences/RoadPricing/Presentations/Nakamura.ppt.
www.japan-guide.com/e/e2354.html.
www.asianinfo.org/asianinfo/japan/pro-transportation.htm.
www.japaninc.com/article.php?articleID=1198.
Return to: Asia Map | World Map
