Type of Scheme
- A cordon-based variable pricing scheme to enter the city centre.
Date of Introduction
- Trial started on 1 January 2006 and is due to run until 31 July 2006.
Background
- Downtown Stockholm has suffered from traffic congestion for many years, with average traffic speed on the main roads during rush hours at more than 60 % below the limit.
- On 2 June 2003, Stockholm City Council adopted a majority proposal to conduct congestion charges trials.
- Formal decision on implementation was made through the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament) which passed the Congestion Charges Act on 16 June 2004.
- The cordon ring covers an area of 29.5km2 of central Stockholm. The area inside the cordon houses 275,000 inhabitants equal to about 36 per cent of all the residents in Stockholm.
- After trial period, citizens of Stockholm will participate in referendum to decide whether or not road pricing should be introduced permanently.
- The referendum will take place at same time as the general election of the municipality in September 2006.
- Public transport has been extended to coincide with the start of the trial, with 197 new buses and 16 new buslines to provide effective and fast alternative for travelling at peak hours from the municipalities surrounding Stockholm into the inner city. Where possible existing bus-, underground- and commuter train lines are reinforced with additional departures.
- All costs are being paid for by the national government with the total budget for the trial being £270 million.
- Operating costs are predicted to be around 30-40 million SEK per month.
Aim
- Primary objectives are to reduce congestion, improve the environment and increase accessibility.
- Purpose of full-scale trial is to test whether efficiency of traffic system can be enhanced by congestion charges.
- Secondary objectives of the trials:
- Reduce traffic volumes on the busiest roads by 10-15%.
- Improve the flow of buses and cars in the inner city.
- Reduce emissions of pollutants harmful to human health and of carbon dioxide.
- Improve the urban environment as perceived by Stockholm residents.
- Provide more resources for public transport.
How it Works
Charges:
- All owners of vehicles registered in Sweden are to pay a congestion/environmental charge if they drive into or out of the centre of Stockholm on weekdays between 06.30-18.29.
- The variable pricing structure means that charges will vary according to the time of day a vehicle is driven inside the charging zone with higher charges applied in peak periods. Charges range from 80p to £1.60:
| Time |
Amount (SEK) |
| 06.30 - 06.59 |
20kr |
| 07.00 - 07.29 |
15kr |
| 07.30 - 08.29 |
20kr |
| 08.30 - 08.59 |
15kr |
| 09.00 - 15.29 |
10kr |
| 15.30 - 15.59 |
15kr |
| 16.00 - 17.29 |
20kr |
| 17.30 - 17.59 |
15kr |
| 18.00 - 18.29 |
10kr |
| 18.30 - 06.29 |
0kr |
- Maximum payment per day will be 60 SEK (just over £5) for private cars and commercial vehicles.
- There are no charges on evenings, nights, Saturdays, Sundays, public holidays and the day before a public holiday.
- Charge will include VAT, which will reduce the cost to commercial road users compared to private road users.
- Charge can be paid automatically from driver's bank account or can pay manually.
Exemptions:
- Buses with total weight of at least 14 tonnes.
- Emergency vehicles.
- Diplomatic cars.
- Taxis.
- Motorcycles.
- Vehicles registered abroad.
- Mobility service cars with total weight below 14 tonnes.
- Military vehicles.
- Cars belonging to a person with a disabled person parking badge.
- Cars that are equipped with technology for partial or total operation using electricity, alcohol or gas other than gasoline.
- Vehicles from Lidingö travelling through control points 16, 17 or 18, and one other point (due to island nature of Lidingö)
Technology:
- The Swedish National Road Administration's (SNRA) is in charge of procurement rather than the City of Stockholm and awarded the technical contract to IBM and Q Free.
- Contract covers creation, integration, implementation and running of congestion charging system.
- Trial works with system of Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) using microwave technology supported by automatic number plate recognition cameras.
- No barriers or cash payment points by the side of the road in order to allow the unimpeded flow of traffic.
- Instead, car drivers have had a small electronic tag - which is supplied for free - installed in their vehicle that communicates with roadside equipment.
- When a car passes one of the 19 tolled booths (non-manned) the system reads data about the car taking into account the time and place of the passing.
- Based on this information the amount to be charged is calculated and the amount is debited from the car driver's account that they must have set up before driving in to the charging zone.
Enforcement:
- If no radio device is detected in the car by the roadside equipment, the number plate will be photographed by cameras also installed at the toll booths and drivers will be sent a penalty invoice.
- Charge must be paid within five days, failure to pay leads to administrative charge of SEK 70. Failure to pay within four weeks leads to SEK 500 charge. Must be paid within one month.
Revenue
- Revenue will be ring-fenced for the Stockholm region for investment in public transport and infrastructure associated with the trial.
- Revenue is not intended to reduce level of other government funding for transport infrastructure.
Benefits/Results
- After the first month of operation:
- Traffic at cordon points reduced by 25% - 10,000 vehicles per day.
- Train and transit passengers increased by 40,000 per day.
- Congestion during peak hours dramatically reduced.
- No major re-routed traffic problem.
- Parking fines reduced by 29%.
- Only 2% of vehicles failed to pay.
Public Opinion
- Survey commissioned by newspaper Svenska Dagbladet a week before charging began showed 69% against the charge, 23% in favour and 8% unsure.
- Findings represent 10% increase in opposition since last survey by the paper in May 2003.
Problems
- Trial originally scheduled to run from 31 July 2005 to 31 July 2006 but was postponed until 1 January 2006 due to legal problems with procurement process.
- Contract awarded to IBM in July 2004 after the bid of competitor Combitech was declared non-compliant. Combitech filed complaint in a district administrative court, claiming the negotiations unfairly favoured IBM.
- In February 2005 SNRA had to order contractor IBM and subcontractor Q-Free to stop all work on the e-congestion charge project pending court rulings on the contract awarding process.
Website
Stockholm Trials:
www.stockholmsforsoket.se/templates/page.aspx?id=183.
References
europa.eu.int/idabc/en/document/3164/344.
Hanna Armelius, Lars Hultkrantz (2005) The Politico-Economic Link Between Public Transport and Road Pricing: An Ex-Ante Study of the Stockholm Road-Pricing Trial
www.oru.se/oru-upload/Institutioner/Ekonomi%20statistik%20och%20informatik/Dokument/Forskning/Nationalekonomi/WP%208%2005.pdf (Adobe Acrobat).
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