Congestion pricing, a solution to traffic jams

by Lionel Wijesiri

You may call it by any name you wish, but traffic congestion, traffic jams or traffic snarls are the motorists' greatest nightmare in urban Sri Lanka. The country's existing road network is unable to cope with the increasing numbers of vehicles, causing traffic jams during peak hours.

I do not have any expertise in traffic engineering or planning, but I can easily conclude just by being part of the traffic stream that the heavy congestion on the roads of our cities is not warranted. It is time we take a serious look at how we should manage traffic and also look at how modern traffic management systems are used to help solve the traffic situations in other countries.

What is congestion?

In simple terms, traffic congestion may be defined as having more vehicles on the road than it was designed for. For instance, if a section of road was designed to carry 1,000 vehicles per hour but that particular section is now carrying 1,001 vehicles per hour, then we say the road has exceeded its capacity and is therefore congested.

From this basic definition, it is evident that congestion can be recurring or non-recurring. In Colombo and other cities of our country, a non-recurring congestion may occur due to such incidents as: an accident on the road, a stalled vehicle, gridlock, a malfunctioning traffic control device such as a traffic signal, the absence of police.

Because of the random character of this type of congestion, it is more difficult to predict and to address.

A recurring congestion may occur when

the road has simply exceeded its design carrying capacity,

when proper traffic control methods are not used,

when a traffic control device is wrongly used for instance when a traffic signal is poorly timed, or

a road design flaw.

Typically, recurring congestion occurs during weekday morning and evening peak periods, when most people go to work and return home at around the same time.

This reflects the fact that much of the demand for travel peaks at a precise time of day.

Consequently, in larger urban areas, the peak periods can range from 6:30 to 9:00 a.m. and from 4:30 to 7:00 p.m. In smaller urban areas, the peaks may have a shorter duration.

Approaches

Since traffic congestion takes on many faces, occurs in many different contexts and is caused by many different processes, there is no single best approach to managing congestion.

Therefore, there are many things that congestion management policies should take into account if they are to achieve the goals they set themselves.

Long-term congestion outcomes will only be delivered through a well-framed process that addresses congestion in all its aspects at the metropolitan level.

I believe there are four basic approaches which would ease the traffic congestion problem in our cities:

Smarter travel - encouraging people to use their cars less, to make more trips by foot, by public transport, to combine trips when using the car, either by sharing with others or attending to several chores whilst out in their car.

Congestion pricing - one element of the package of potential solutions explored by many countries was the introduction of congestion charges where congestion is worst, and where public transport and walking offer reasonable alternatives. Any such schemes would need to be adapted to local priorities and needs with, for instance, charges only applying in the peak periods, or only in the direction of peak travel.

Better public transport - although our bus services have generally improved in the recent years, much remains to be done. The services given by both public and private transport remain absolutely poor. If the bus (or train) is to be used as a practicable and attractive alternative to the car, consideration should be given to new forms of service, for example, the introduction of courteous and clean comfort in buses, avoid over-loading, limited-stop bus services in key corridors.

Better management - our road capacity could be used more effectively, through measures to keep traffic moving smoothly, with strong emphasis on better management of resources. I believe a few factors need prioritisation: for example, better planning of town centres, strict enforcement of traffic regulations, changing the inappropriately designed junctions and inter-sections and poorly marked roads, strictly checking the buses and other heavy vehicles which do not meet safety standards.

We should also rapidly plan for a real time traffic management system which is a technology-based system that allows the authorities to monitor and respond to traffic conditions in real time and improve traffic flow on congested streets. Such system will include microwave sensors, traffic video cameras and readers at intersections to measure traffic volumes, congestion and record vehicle travel times.

Congestion pricing

This article concentrates on the second approach. Congestion pricing is a type of tolling created to manage traffic congestion. There is a consensus among economists that congestion pricing represents the single most viable and sustainable approach to reducing traffic congestion

Congestion pricing is not about collecting money. It has two aims:

First, it's about getting commuters to shift the time they make discretionary (work-related) trips, so severe traffic congestion can be reduced or eliminated. Secondly, it aims to reduce rush-hour traffic by shifting it to other transportation modes (such as carpools, vanpools and transit) or to off-peak periods.

This is typically accomplished by varying toll prices based on the time of day or the amount of traffic on the road. For example, when toll lanes get relatively full, prices increase. When toll lanes are less full, prices decrease. If roads are not congested at all, then no tolls apply.

The toll rates for different time periods may be set in advance, or they may be set dynamically by Traffic Management Centres, meaning they may increase or decrease every few minutes to ensure that the lanes are used fully without a breakdown in traffic flow. Toll prices are displayed on electronic signs prior to the entrance of each tolled section.

The idea is to reduce traffic congestion by using tolls as a management tool. By removing just 10 percent of the vehicles from a congested roadway, traffic flows much more efficiently.

To keep traffic flowing freely, tolls are collected using electronic toll collection technology - and there are no tollbooths to slow cars down.

Similar variable charges have been successfully used in other industries. Mobile phone companies charge their customers more during the day, when usage is high, and offer 'free' minutes at night, when usage is lower. Hotels do the same - when there is an event or convention in town, room rates are higher because the demand is higher.

Benefits

Congestion pricing benefits drivers as well as the community in general.

Toll-paying drivers are guaranteed a reliable trip speed, which is important when they have to be at the destination on time. In the viewpoint of the community, it improves the quality of transportation services without tax increases or large capital expenditure. It reduces fuel consumption and vehicle emissions since vehicles are not idling in traffic.

There are benefits to the business community as well. The heavy traffic can cause employees to continually be late to meetings, and also increase delivery costs.

Reducing traffic congestion can help businesses be more productive and profitable. Congestion pricing on the nation's major thoroughfares will guarantee free-flowing traffic. As a result, reliability will be restored to the transportation system, keeping business and transportation costs low, as well as end product or service costs.