<p>The subject of this paper is the congestion tax in Stockholm, Sweden. The study has been conducted with the purpose to examine of how public attitudes towards congestion charging looks and the reason behind the attitude. And also to examine if there are any differences in attitudes between those living inside and outside the payment zones, between men and women and between car owners and those who do not own a car or have a driver's license. The study used a questionnaire sent out electronically to a group of friends of friends and of friends’ family members. The respondents think it´s very important to present a better option if price incitements are to be used; in this case the better option is public transportation. Revenues should be spent so that large amounts go to the public transportation. There were no attitude differences between residents living inside the payment zones and those living outside the payment zones and between men and women. There is an attitude difference between those who own a car and those who do not own a car or have a driver's license. Those who own a car are more negative to the congestion charge than those who do not own a car or have a driver's license. This is believed to diminish if information is given to the public on how the revenue is spent and if congestion charge is introduced in several of the larger cities in Sweden.</p>

The subject of this paper is the congestion tax in Stockholm, Sweden. The study has been conducted with the purpose to examine of how public attitudes towards congestion charging looks and the reason behind the attitude. And also to examine if there are any differences in attitudes between those living inside and outside the payment zones, between men and women and between car owners and those who do not own a car or have a driver's license. The study used a questionnaire sent out electronically to a group of friends of friends and of friends’ family members. The respondents think it´s very important to present a better option if price incitements are to be used; in this case the better option is public transportation. Revenues should be spent so that large amounts go to the public transportation. There were no attitude differences between residents living inside the payment zones and those living outside the payment zones and between men and women. There is an attitude difference between those who own a car and those who do not own a car or have a driver's license. Those who own a car are more negative to the congestion charge than those who do not own a car or have a driver's license. This is believed to diminish if information is given to the public on how the revenue is spent and if congestion charge is introduced in several of the larger cities in Sweden.

Since the implementation of the congestion charge in Gothenburg on the first of January 2013, there has been a debate whether or not the congestion charge would harm the retail business. This concerns, in particular the retail stores located in the charging zone. The general aim of this study was to investigate attitudes and consumer behavior related to the recently introduced congestion charge in Gothenburg and to illustrate the possible impact the congestion charge may have had on retail business performance. In order to do this we conducted a questionnaire survey of visitors to Bäckebol shopping center (n=335). The questionnaire consisted of 24 questions and the response rate was 76 %. In addition, we performed two extensive interviews with key representatives for the local retail business in order to add context and background to the questionnaire findings.  In the questionnaire, consumer behavior was investigated by questions on time of visit, destination, and means of transport. In the analyses we assessed associations between changes in consumer behavior, acceptance and demographic factors. The results of this study showed a low level of acceptance of the congestion charge in the study population. Furthermore, we found a high proportion of subjects reporting a behavioral change related to the introduction of the congestion charge. This was associated to but not explained by a low level of acceptance. It was also related to residency outside the inner parts of Gothenburg.  In this way our results support the theory of an association between behavioral change, degree of acceptance as well as demographic factors. However, in a comparison of certain aspects of behavioral change to a previous study conducted prior to the introduction of the congestion charge we found no difference. It is likely that behavioral changes related to the congestion charge have taken place but they may have been exaggerated in the questionnaire responses. The interviews implied that the congestion charge has had an effect on business performance in Gothenburg but in this investigation we have not been able to find firm proof of this. We can conclude that there appears to be a low acceptance of the congestion charge in particular in suburban areas of Gothenburg and this is most likely associated with a consumer behavioral change.  For further research it would be interesting to obtain information on business performance and customer frequencies before and after the introduction of the congestion charge. In addition it would be of interest to investigate in greater detail the association between acceptance and behavioral change and if retail stores that handle bulky goods are more likely to be affected by a congestion charges than other businesses.

Analýza zpoplatnění vjezdu do center měst si klade za cíl komplexní popsání fenoménu městské dopravy a jejího vlivu na své okolní prostředí - město. Výchozím bodem práce je vývoj dopravy ve městech. Dále práce pojednává o kongescích, znečištění životního prostředí a bezpečnosti dopravy. Autor se věnuje dále politice Evropské unie se zaměřením na dopravu ve městech. Dále je pojednáno o ekonomické teorii zpoplatnění vjezdu do center měst a alternativních konceptech pro městskou dopravu. Na příkladech Londýna a Stockholmu je v detailním rozboru dokladován vliv mýtného na dopravu, životní prostřední, bezpečnost dopravy a hospodářství. Práce obsahuje analýzu výnosů a nákladů mýtných systému v Londýně a ve Stockholmu. V závěru se autor zabývá podmínkami, za kterých je vhodné o systému městského mýta uvažovat.

The equity effect of congestion pricing has been advocated to be given enough concern for its acceptability. This thesis aimed to explore the mixed effects in travel behaviour changing caused by congestion charging in demography factors (social economic status) and context factors (location, flexibility, access to car and possession of long-term public transport card). In order to understand by what mechanisms congestion pricing affects the equity, structural equation modelling was applied to model the causal networks in the case study of Stockholm congestion charge. Results revealed a more complicated influence from different combination of factors. The location relative to charging cordon mattered for the trip-making both directly and indirectly through the transport mode preference. The work schedule flexibility should be also taken into consideration when considering the time-based scheme. The mixed effects between two groups of factors suggested that more factors should be considered when justifying the privileged group and disadvantaged group to implement the policy. The method used in this thesis could be very constructive for equity effect evaluation in other cities with different conditions.

This dissertation consists of three separate but interrelated studies examining the formation and management of tax policies. The first study uses stakeholder theory (ST) to investigate the strategic management practices of the Transport for London (TfL) during discrete stages in the adoption, implementation, and amendments of the tax policy reform known as the London Congestion Charge (LCC). Results indicate that TfL has utilized power, legitimacy, and urgency as its main policy management tactics with a significant emphasis on legitimatizing the LCC and its subsequent policy amendments. The second study draws on social exchange theory (SET) to reexamine the relationship between corporations and legislators during tax policy processes. Data for the study come from publicly available political action committee (PAC) contribution activities surrounding the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA07). By examining the endogeneity between legislators’ voting patterns and PAC contributions by corporations, this study aims to refine empirical work on corporate political strategy, especially as it relates to crucial tax provisions embedded within an intensely debated policy proposal. Using simultaneous equations modeling (SEM), results are consistent with SET showing that an implicit and reciprocal relationship exists between corporations and legislators. This relationship affects the interdependence of how legislators vote for public policies and the amount of corporations’ financial contributions to legislators. The third study investigates and aims to validate the empirical applicability of Dahan’s (2005) typology of political resources in explicating the political interactions between stakeholder groups and legislators in the development of EISA07. I discuss how and why the mode of operations and various political resources employed by stakeholder groups affected the iii final EISA07 language concerning domestic production deduction tax credits for the oil and gas industry. Publicly available data show that both supporting and opposing stakeholder groups employ tactics consistent with Dahan’s (2005) typology. However, both stakeholder groups tend to use an interactive or positive political approach to gain access and favor of legislators instead of an adversarial approach. Ultimately, the tax credits were preserved. Taken as a whole, the three studies advance the tax and public policy research literature in accounting by studying how and why relevant stakeholders affect the formation and ongoing management of public and tax policies

Appraisal methodologies for congestion mitigation projects are relatively less well developed compared to methodologies for projects reducing free flow travel times. For instance, static assignment models are incapable of representing the build-up and dissipation of traffic queues, or capturing the experienced crowding caused by uneven on-board passenger loads. Despite the availability of dynamic traffic assignment, only few model systems have been developed for cost-benefit analysis of real applications. The six included papers present approaches and tools for analysing traffic and transit projects where congestion relief is the main target. In the transit case studies, we use an agent-based simulation model to analyse congestion and crowding effects and to conduct cost-benefit analyses. In the case study of a metro extension in Stockholm, we demonstrate that congestion and crowding effects constitute more than a third of the total benefits and that a conventional static model underestimates these effects vastly. In another case study, we analyse various operational measures and find that the three main measures (boarding through all doors, headway-based holding and bus lanes) had an overall positive impact on service performance and that synergetic effects exist. For the congestion charging system in Gothenburg, we demonstrate that a hierarchal route choice model with a continuous value of time distribution gives realistic predictions of route choice effects although the assignment is static. We use the model to show that the net social benefit of the charging system in Gothenburg is positive, but that low income groups pay a larger share of their income than high income groups. To analyse congestion charges in Stockholm however, integration of dynamic traffic assignment with the demand model is necessary, and we demonstrate that this is fully possible. Models able to correctly predict these effects highlight the surprisingly large travel time savings of pricing policies and small operational measures. These measures are cheap compared to investments in new infrastructure and their implementation can therefore lead to large societal gains. / <p>QC 20160829</p>

Interactions between the transport market and other distorted markets, such as the labor market, can have a large impact on the overall welfare effect of a road pricing policy or a congestion charge. Many road pricing studies therefore try to incorporate effects from other distorted markets in the analysis. A difficulty when assessing the welfare effect of a future transport policy is also that many factors and parameters needed for the analysis is uncertain. This thesis contains three papers all studying different methodological approaches to analyzing the welfare effects of transport policies. The first two papers analyze the welfare effect of congestion pricing in distorted economies. The main contribution of the first paper is to analyze how the welfare effect of a congestion charge in a distorted economy depends on what assumptions we make regarding the tax system in the initial no-toll situation. A critical assumption in many cost-benefit analyses of congestion charges is that the whole population has a single value of time. The second paper studies the effect of a congestion charge in a population of commuters with a continuously distributed value of time. The main contribution of the paper, compared to previous literature, is that it studies the welfare effect and distributional impact of a congestion charge in a population with endogenous labor supply and heterogeneous value of time where mode-choice self-selection plays an important role. The third paper studies the climate benefit of an investment in high speed rail by calculating the magnitude of annual traffic emission reduction required to compensate for the annualized embedded emissions from the construction of the line. To account for uncertainties in underlying assumptions, a Monte Carlo simulation framework is used in the analysis. The paper finds that to be able to balance the annualized emissions from the construction, traffic volumes of more than 10 million annual one-way trips are usually required, and most of the traffic diverted from other transport modes must come from aviation. / QC 20110812

Bien que les caractéristiques économiques, de l´offre, de la demande et de l´implantation territoriale soient différentes dans chaque cas, les politiques liées à la mobilité à Paris, Londres, Bogotá et Santiago partent de la conviction commune d´ un excès de circulation automobile qui est à l´origine d´externalités intolérables ; nuisances environnementales dans le cas de Paris et Santiago et congestion dans les cas de Bogotá et Londres principalement. Les interventions mises en place montrent une forte décision de la part des pouvoirs publics de s´attaquer à ses nuisances. Dans le cas de Londres, l´analyse économique des politiques se centre sur les effets du péage de congestion dans le centre de Londres. Le suivi, très détaillé, de la part des autorités londoniennes permet de confirmer un succès technique et politique. Cependant, le coût de collecte du péage est supérieur aux bénéfices économiques. A Paris, la mise en place des couloirs bus comme mesure de diminution de l´espace de la voiture, supporté par un système de TC de qualité, permet de diminuer son utilisation. Cependant la circulation ralentit. Le bilan économique est négatif, ce qui ne semble pas nuire au succès politique. A Bogota, le bilan économique est mitigé. L´amélioration des TC avec la mise en place de Transmilenio apporte des bénéfices importants. Cependant, l´interdiction de circulation crée une désutilité pour une minorité. Finalement, pour Santiago, les informations disponibles ne permettent pas d´être concluant. Cependant, le succès des autoroutes à péage et les problèmes de Transantiago font que le report modal se soit accentué vers une forte croissance de l´automobile. Des questions sur la pertinence de l´évaluation économique comme instrument d´évaluation de politiques de développement durable et l´utilisation d´autres démarches sont aussi développées dans cette recherche. / Even though characteristics regarding economic development, offer and supply of transportation and urbanization are different in each case, the politics linked to mobility in Paris, London, Bogota and Santiago start from the common conviction that there is a surplus in car flow which is at the origin of unbearable externalities ; pollution in Paris and Santiago , congestion in Bogotá and London mainly. The actions taken show a decision from public authorities to fight these nuisances. In London’s case, the economic analysis of policy is based on the results of the Congestion Charge in the city centre. The monitoring, very detailed, from London Authorities confirms a technical and political success. However the cost of charge collection is superior to the economic benefits. In Paris the implementation of bus lanes as a way of taking away space to cars, supported by a good quality Public Transportation System, allows to diminish the use of the car. However traffic has been slowed. The economic outcome is negative. In Bogota, the economic outcome is mixed. The improvement of Public Transportation with the implementation of Transmilenio brings important benefits. However, the restriction for car circulation creates a disutility for a minority. Finally in Santiago’s case, the available information isn’t conclusive. However, success of urban highway tolls and Transantiago’s problems suppose an evolution of modal share towards a strong growth in the use of the car. Questions regarding the role of the economic appraisal as an evaluating instrument of policy based on sustainable development and the use of other approaches are also developed in this research.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird die ökonomische Funktionsweise der so genannten City-Maut dargestellt, über praktische Erfahrungen mit City-Mautsystemen berichtet und schließlich am Beispiel Hamburg überprüft, ob diese auf andere Städte übertragbar sind. Grundsätzlich erzeugt Straßenverkehr externe Kosten, die unter Infrastruktur, Umwelt- und Staukosten (Opportunitätskosten) zusammengefasst werden können. Ebenso ist auch die Erhebung eines Preises für die Straßenbenutzung grundsätzlich möglich. Die City-Maut lässt sich als Pigou’sche Internalisierungssteuer definieren, mit der die Nachfrage nach Verkehrsleistung auf das ökonomische Optimum gesenkt werden kann. Hierbei entsteht ein Wohlfahrtsgewinn. Da der externe Effekt „Stau“ jedoch von den Fahrern sowohl verursacht als auch erlitten wird, fällt der Wohlfahrtsgewinn in Form von Mauteinnahmen vor allem beim Staat an, der diese Einnahmen dann über ein geeignetes Transferpaket an die Zahler zurückgeben muss, um bei ihnen Akzeptanz für die Maßnahme zu erzeugen. Eine Ausnahme bildet der „Verkehrsinfarkt“ (Hypercongestion), bei dem durch Mauterhebung die Fahrtkosten aufgrund von gewonnenen Zeitvorteilen gesenkt werden. Festzuhalten ist, dass der Pigou-Ansatz ein rein theoretisches Konstrukt ist, mit dem sich in der Realität jedoch ein Referenzpunkt erklären lässt. Bei der praktischen Umsetzung von City-Mautsystemen sind verschiedene Gebührenregime denkbar. Nach der Bestimmung des Erhebungsortes sollte zur Erhöhung der allokativen Effizienz eine passende Preisdifferenzierung vorgenommen werden. Ausnahmen sind zu vermeiden. Die Ermittlung der konkreten Mauthöhe wird in dieser Arbeit mithilfe eines beispielhaften, einfachen mathematischen Ansatzes beschrieben. In technischer Hinsicht kann heute die Zahlung mithilfe einer automatischen Fahrzeuge- bzw. Kennzeichenerfassung (z. B. durch Mikrowellen- oder Kamerasysteme) erfolgen. Durch Verkehrsmodelle können verkehrliche Reaktionen auf Preisveränderungen durch eine Maut und das Erreichen neuer Nash-Gleichgewichte im Straßennetz abgebildet werden. Raumstrukturelle Wirkungen lassen sich z. B. mit dem Launhardt’schen Trichter erklären. Die Forschung ist sich über die Siedlungswirkung von City-Mautsystemen uneinig. Cost-Benefit-Analysen und Umverteilungspakete sind wichtige Elemente bei der Einführung einer City-Maut. Ist die volkswirtschaftliche Rendite des Gesamtpakets aus Zeitersparnissen und Transferleistungen positiv, muss die Maßnahme darüber hinaus noch politisch durchgesetzt werden. Das Machtkalkül des rationalen Politikers hängt dabei ausschließlich davon ab, ob die Durchführung der Maßnahme ausreichend akzeptiert wird, so dass er im Amt bleibt. Verschiedene Faktoren, wie Effektivität und Effizienz der Maut, individuelle Ansprüche, Gerechtigkeitsempfinden usw. sind hierbei zu beachten. In London wurde die „Congestion Charge“ nach langer Diskussion schließlich im Jahr 2003 als Mittel zur Bekämpfung der erheblichen Verkehrsprobleme im Zentrum der Stadt eingeführt. Eine Cost-Benefit-Analyse der Wirkungen ergab einen Rückgang des Verkehrs in der bemauteten Zone um 20%. Die Betriebskosten des Mautsystems betragen etwa die Hälfte der Einnahmen, was von Kritikern bemängelt wird. Während die Akzeptanz der Maut im Handel nicht eindeutig zugunsten der Maut ausfällt, ist sie bei der Bevölkerung insgesamt im Zeitablauf gestiegen. In Stockholm wurde der „Trängselskatt“ Anfang 2006 in einem Großversuch getestet und Mitte 2007 dauerhaft eingeführt. Wie in London gab es auch hier erhebliche Verkehrsprobleme im Stadtzentrum, welche mit einer Ringmaut gelöst werden sollten. Nach Einführung der Maut ging der Verkehr im Zentrum um 22% zurück. Die Akzeptanz der Bevölkerung Stockholms steigerte sich seit der Einführung von mehrheitlicher Ablehnung auf mehrheitliche Zustimmung. Bewohner von Randgebieten sowie die Wirtschaft lehnen die Maut jedoch ab. Mautsysteme können nicht einfach auf andere Städte übertragen werden, es gibt jedoch übertragbare Erfolgsfaktoren. Neben verschiedenen Ausgestaltungsmerkmalen, wie Zweckbindung der Einnahmen und Aufklärung der Bevölkerung, gehört hierzu vor allem eine prekäre Ausgangssituation mit spürbaren Verkehrsbelastungen in klar definierten Bereichen. In Hamburg wird seit Anfang der 90er Jahre die politische Diskussion über eine Nahverkehrsabgabe geführt. Die theoretischen und empirischen Erkenntnisse aus London und Stockholm wurden in dieser Arbeit auf ein Hamburger Modell übertragen und mit Verkehrsdaten, bereitgestellt durch die Behörde für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt, in Verbindung gebracht. Die Probleme der Stadt erscheinen im Vergleich zu den anderen Städten als gering. Eine Analyse der Pendlerbewegungen zeigt, dass die größte Belastung auf den Ring- und Einfallstraßen, nicht jedoch im Zentrum anfällt. Abschließend werden in dieser Arbeit Ausgestaltungsansätze für ein Hamburger City-Mautmodell gezeichnet. Eine Prüfung der rechtlichen Situation zeigt, dass das Grundgesetz bereits einen Eintrag über die Erhebung von Straßenbenutzungsgebühren beinhaltet. Für Hamburg müsste eine Gesetzesgrundlage konkretisiert werden. Im Folgenden werden mehrere mögliche Erhebungsbereiche dargestellt. Hierbei zeigt sich, dass der größte Internalisierungseffekt im Gebiet zwischen Ring 3 und Ring 2 zu erzielen wäre. Eine räumliche Differenzierung scheint geboten, da die Belastungen nicht gleichmäßig in der Fläche auftreten. In Bezug auf Technik und weitere Preisdifferenzierungen werden keine Besonderheiten für Hamburg festgestellt, die die Übertragbarkeit der theoretischen Erkenntnisse verhindern würden. Ohne umfangreiche individuelle Datenerhebung kann daher keine endgültige Aussage darüber getroffen werden kann, ob eine City-Maut in Hamburg sinnvoll wäre oder nicht.