Road pricing can solve traffic woes: Expert

Road pricing can solve traffic woes: Expert

By T. Sima Gunawan

ISTANBUL, Turkey (JP): Road pricing, if managed in the right
way, can solve the traffic woes of the world's metropolitan
cities -- including those of Jakarta -- a United Nations official
said yesterday.

But revenues generated from road pricing should be reinvested
in maintenance and improvement of infrastructures, Brian Williams
of the UN Conference on Human Settlements said during a dialog
titled "Transport in the City of Tomorrow".

In urban areas with heavy traffic congestion, land pricing --
a user charge levied at the local level -- offers one solution,
since it promotes travel demand management, he argued.

The dialog is part of the ongoing UN Conference on Human
Settlements or Habitat II, which began on June 3 and lasts until
June 14.

Road pricing "encourages that a socially efficient number of
trips be undertaken and raises revenue to finance roadway and
transport expansion to an efficient level," he said.

The scheme would lead to viable loan financing and the
voluntary participation of the private sector.

The imposition of toll fees is one example of a road pricing
scheme.

The world's major urban centers waste billions of dollars
annually on the costs of traffic congestion.

According to The Urban Environment published for Habitat II,
the cost in Jakarta reaches $68 million a year. This is a modest
sum compared to $293 million estimated for Hong Kong, $272
million for Bangkok, $305 million for Singapore and $154 million
for Seoul. The figures are even more exorbitant for large
American cities: between $35 billion and $48 billion a year.

Other statistics said the U.S. loses roughly 2 percent of its
gross national product to congestion while the United Kingdom
loses about 5 percent.

Williams said parking fees and gasoline tax revenues should be
used to contribute towards the cost of road maintenance, public
transport operation and the control of harmful externalities such
as pollution, road damage and traffic accidents.

"Traffic policy must avoid becoming simply measures that
increase the income of the state. The objective should be to
develop a cost-recovery mechanism for each mode of transport and
at the most accurate levels," he said.

Public transit fares should be set to cover the incremental
costs of their operation, he said. Fares should be differentiated
between peak and off-peak hours as well as related distances.
For the poor, subsidies should be provided, he said.

William predicted that in the next century, people who live in
cities with more than 10 million will likely make three times
more daily trips than they made in the 1980s.

"Clearly, these travel patterns are not sustainable unless
fundamental rethinking is done on how to meet people's travel
needs, focusing on accessibility to urban services such as
schools, hospitals and shopping areas," he said.

"Traffic improvement schemes should be made with the notion of
moving people rather than merely moving vehicles, thus making use
of the most efficient form of transport in any given situation,"
he said.