What do politicians really need to know?

1
What do politicians really need to know?

• Jan A. Martinsen
• Norwegian Public Roads Administration

Presentation on TRBs International symposium on
road pricing Key Biscayne, Florida November 19
22, 2003
2
Motivation

• Norway is probably the largest country in terms
  of user charging schemes, relatively speaking
• Prior to their implementations, these scheme are
  subjected to decision making at different
  political levels
• Lessons can be learnt on what politicians
  really need to know as a premise for sanctioning
  road user charging schemes. What they want to
  know might not be the same.

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Map of Norway With Tolls Plotted

• Population 4,4 million
• Number of cars 2,3 million
• Length public roads 91 545 km
• Total road funding 1,6 billion USD
• Road construction 650 million
• 45 toll schemes operating
• Toll payment 460 million USD
• Number of people killed 300
• People killed pr million vehicle
  km is 0.008

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Key aspects of Toll Road projects

• All user charge projects are based on local
  initiative and approval only
• The period of toll collection is normally limited
  to 15 years
• Normally 50 of construction costs must be
  financed by tolls
• All projects must be approved by Parliament
• All financially sound projects are approved
• Those paying toll must also benefit

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Toll financing and road pricing are not the same !

• Toll rings on existing roads to pay for new
  infrastructure is a unique success in Norway
• The purpose of tolls in Norway is to raise funds
  for infrastructure investment, not for regulating
  traffic. Time differentiated charges are allowed
  but little used.
• Road pricing in Norway means congestion charging
  with the purpose to reduce traffic during peak
  hours
• The Norwegian Parliament has recently made road
  pricing possible, but no road pricing schemes has
  so far been implemented
• Road pricing and toll financing are not allowed
  at the same time in the same area

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The politicians role in planning and decision
making

• Very strong political influence on road projects
  in Norway, even from Parliament
• Politicians at the national level allocate funds,
  approve all toll and road pricing schemes, decide
  transport policies and prioritise trunk roads
• County politicians prioritise ordinary national
  roads even when funded by Parliament, allocate
  funds for county roads and public transport
• Local politicians decide on land use and road
  location and alignment and suggest user charging
  schemes

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How to deal with congestion

• The goal is to ensure acceptable mobility for
  people and goods
• Measures must be designed according to level of
  congestion or city size
• Congestion can either be accepted as normal part
  of city life, or be reduced by
• - Adding more road capacity
• - Improving public transportation
• - Restriction on car use such as road
  pricing, parking

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Do we need road pricing in Norway?

• There are congestion in Norwegian cities, but
  only in Oslo, Bergen and maybe Trondheim
• Congestion is confined to two hours in the
  morning and evening rush hours
• The level of congestion is small in an
  international context. Average delay on selected
  routes in Oslo is 9 minutes with 23 minutes on
  the most congested route
• The crucial question is whether congestion is big
  enough to get political accept for road pricing

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Bridging the information gap

• The majority of people are opposed to user
  pricing. They feel they already pay too much
• Politicians may accept it as the only realistic
  solution knowing the alternatives
• Essential for politicians to explain purpose and
  benefits to voters. Better information gives more
  positive attitudes
• Oslo in 1990 was a success story due to good
  information and extra public funding

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Arguments for and against road pricing

• For road pricing
• Will reduce congestion and improve the
  environment
• Remaining traffic will gain in travel time
  savings
• Income may also be used to improve public
  transport

• Against road pricing
• Equity problems
• Motorists pay high taxes already
• Privacy issues
• Downtown businesses will suffer
• Technical solutions?

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Attitudes to the toll ring in Oslo
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Converting toll rings into congestion pricing
schemes

• This is the main user charge issue in Norway
  today
• Political commitment to remove toll rings in
  2005/7
• Projects for billions still not funded. Extension
  in time seems possible in Oslo. Hot debate in
  Trondheim
• Transport authorities recommend road pricing as
  part of transport policy in Oslo
• Analysis show that it is possible to avoid
  further traffic growth by combining many measures
• Unwise to take down toll rings without doing
  anything else as traffic will increase and
  funding decrease

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Converting toll rings into congestion pricing
schemes, cont

• Conservatives that understand the law of supply
  and demand still oppose paying more during peak
  hours ?
• Conservatives that traditionally favor business
  and middle class, oppose road pricing, and
  focuses now on equity and the poor !
• Socialists favoring the poor support road pricing
  ! Contradiction ?
• Conservatives want to reduce burden of taxation
  and favor road investment, even in cities.
  Socialists want to reduce traffic in cities to
  avoid investing in new roads

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Converting toll rings into congestion pricing
schemes, cont

• Cities needs revenues for further investment in
  roads, they need congestion pricing to ease
  delays and they need better funding for public
  transportation
• Restrictions about not combining tolls and
  congestion pricing makes this very difficult
• Amendments to existing laws to obtain more
  flexibility are strongly recommended
• Surveys show that 41 mean toll ring should be
  taken down regardless, but 36 supports
  extension if the revenue goes to public
  transport.

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So what do the politicians really need to know ?

• Our experience tells us the following
• Public acceptance is alfa and omega for
  politicians to sanction pricing schemes. However
  politicians are ahead of voters in knowledge
• They must gain something from taking unpopular
  decisions, e.g. more money to spend locally.
  Extra public money is essential !
• In Tønsberg town the politicians in favor of a
  proposed cordon ring lost majority the recent
  election
• To obtain support for road pricing, revenues must
  also be spent for the benefit of car users

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So what do the politicians really need to know ?

• Politicians needs to know how pricing will effect
  local community, business, land use, environment
  etc
• Politicians must understand the alternatives to
  road pricing, e.g what happens if nothing is done
• Politicians must deal with unpopular reactions
  and be able to explain the benefits of pricing to
  the public
• Local politicians must be shown success stories
  from other cities
• Local politicians need a better understanding of
  professional advise. Economic theory should be
  translated into simple language

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So what do the politicians really need to know ?

• And finally
• They must not focus on unpopular pricing issues
  shortly before local elections !
• Sometimes local politicians may want national
  politicians to take unpopular decisions for them

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Thank you for your attention !

• For more information, pleas contact
• Mr Jan A Martinsen
• Leader of Transport Analysis section
• Norwegian Public Roads Administration
• E-mail jan.martinsen_at_vegvesen.no
• Phone [phone]
• Mobile [phone]