Variable User Charging: Experiences and Extensions in a World of Carbon Emissions

Abstract

Road pricing as an economic construct is not a new phenomenon in transportation research. Whilst fuel taxing and toll roads are common within Australia, these initiatives are primarily aimed at road infrastructure financing. Worldwide there has been growing interest in pricing structures designed to aid in congestion management with a recent focus on generating reductions in carbon emissions from vehicle usage.

This paper presents a short review of road and vehicle charging, which is used as the basis for a stated preference experiment that is to be conducted by The University of Sydney. Specifically linked to vehicle carbon emissions, the aim of this experiment, via an array of incentives, is to encourage switching to automobiles emitting lower emissions to determine the willingness to pay for more fuel efficient cars under differing scenarios. The paper will present the proposed project methodology for review. It will discuss how efficient experimental design strategies will used to create the choice scenarios, how respondents process information be investigated, how data on group versus individual decision making will be collected and how potentially influencing attributes underlying the choice process and outcome, from individuals to groups, will be evaluated.