The EUROTOLL project: road user responses to transport demand management

The EUROTOLL project (European Project for Toll Effects and Pricing Strategies) was part of the General-Directorate for Transport (DGVII) Fourth Framework Programme for research and development in the field of transport. The primary aim of the project was to obtain a better understanding of road user reactions with regard to transport demand management (TDM) mechanisms, particularly road pricing. In addition, the findings of the project were intended to provide policy makers with practical advice on strategic pricing issues, such as the need to raise finance from road use, the management of demand for road space in response to the implementation of road pricing, and the internalisation of external costs. The project also had the objective of developing assessment methodologies, such that the achievements of the various TDM measures implemented could be quantified. The project was based on ten urban and interurban case studies in France, Germany, Italy, Austria and Great Britain. The paper summarises the TDM strategies employed across these case studies and the reactions of road users in response to these strategies. There is discussion on the importance of providing users with information on TDM mechanisms. This is followed by the strategies that EUROTOLL would recommend policy makers consider to match future transport demand with existing transport supply. The experience of the UK EUROTOLL case study, the Leicester Environmental Road Tolling Scheme (LERTS), is then discussed in detail. Conclusions are drawn from the experience of all the case studies