Road User Charging

One of the biggest challenges facing transport is the severe congestion on our roads, and CfIT's research shows we suffer from the worst levels in Europe.

Tackling the problem is not just vital for improving our transport system. Congestion also has an adverse affect on our economy, on our air quality and environment, and on our quality of life.

So what's the solution? Changing the way we travel must be the way forward.

As we have become better off as a society, more of us have been able to purchase cars and we choose to use them to make more and longer journeys than ever before. 65% of congestion is caused by sheer volume of traffic and in the next five years alone, traffic is predicted to grow by a third (Highways Agency).

Building more roads as a solution has now all but been ruled out as evidence clearly shows us that as soon as we create more room on the roads, more traffic simply arrives to fill it up and we are back to square one.

Providing more and better public transport will play a crucial part in this process, but this alone is not sufficient to tackle the problem of congestion. Evidence shows that unless we are incentivised to make the switch to public transport, many drivers will stick with their cars. And this is where road user charging (also referred to as road pricing) comes in.

While we already pay to use the roads through fuel duty, this doesn't cover the costs of the amount of congestion our car use creates (nor does it cover the costs of the noise, local air pollution or accident hazard we generate). Road user charging is a system based on charging drivers a monetary cost to use the roads according to the time of day, location and level of congestion.

Charging in this way makes us consider our travel behaviour more closely. Is our journey really necessary by car or would walking, cycling or using public transport be a viable option instead? If not, do we really have to drive at peak times?

Under the kind of road pricing scheme proposed by CfIT in 2002 - and one currently being considered by government - the impact of charging on travel behaviour would lead to a 44% reduction in congestion. Driving at non-peak times, for short distances or on less congested routes would involve paying a lower charge. However, driving at peak times or on very busy stretches of road would incur a higher charge - but the quality of journey would be better in return.

Road user charging - which our research shows is being used successfully in many countries across the world - has been shown to be the most effective way of reducing congestion, which is why many more places are currently looking at using it.

We hope you find this site a useful tool for:

• understanding why we need to tackle our growing congestion problem;
• understanding the measures available and which are the most effective;
• understanding how road pricing works;
• finding out about road user charging schemes in operation around the world; and
• keeping up to date with developments in road pricing in the UK.