Mattias Juh

1
XV Conference of the Italian Association of
Transport Economics and Logistics (SIET)
"Transport, Spatial Organization and Sustainable
Economic Development"Venice - September 18-20,
2013

• Mattias Juhász Tamás Mátrai Gergely Gál
• The possibility of introducing congestion
  charging in Budapest - assessment of the
  theoretical alternatives

• Mattias JUHÁSZ
• MSc in Civil Eng.
• Departmental Eng., PhD student
• Department of Transport Infrastructure, Széchenyi
  István University
• 2013.09.27.

2
Budapest and its agglomeration

• Capital of Hungary (since 1873)
• 525 km2, 1.700.000 inhabitants
• GeographyBuda hills Danube Pest plateau
• 2 level municipal governance23 districts
  Municipality of Budapest
• Political, commercial, financial andcultural
  center of Hungary
• Agglomeration (81 settlements)
• 2538 km2
• 800.000 inhabitants

3
Transport system of Budapest

• Modal Split in the city 60 PT / 40 car
• Road network
• Full length of the road network 4500 km
• Length of the main road network 1200 km
• 9 Danube crossings for road (including M0
  bridges)
• Over 1000 traffic signaled intersections
• 1.700.000 car trips/day (600.000 from the aggl.)
• Public transport network
• Underground (31), suburban railway (5), tram
  (32), trolley bus (16), bus (206), night bus
  (38), boat (3), other (3)
• Length of the public transport network 1100 km
• Number of stops and stations 4700
• Rolling stock app. 3000 vehicles
• 1,39 billion passengers/year, 5,16 billion
  pkm/year

4
Main problems

• Unpredictable financing
• Lag in PT fleet renewal
• Unsecured funding for maintenance
• Lack of investments
• Growing motorization
• Deterioration of public transport system
• Road congestion in the city centre
• Air quality problems
• Too centralized road network (bridges)
• We got used to
• Residential parking problems
• PT fare reductions
• Limited strategic planning

5
(No Transcript)
6
Reasons why the idea of congestion charging arose
in Budapest?

• Significant increase in the number of vehicles
  (25)
• Deterioration of public transportation (80 gt
  60)
• Centralized transport network
• Limited space in the city centre
• Urban sprawl (250.000 people in 25 years)
• Decrease in the average speed (35 gtgt 20 km/h)
• External cost from road congestion has become one
  of the largest transport-related cost in Budapest
  (Erhart, 2007)

7
Internalization of external costsAvoid a social
trap
8
The story of congestion charging in Budapest

• Studies in 1992 and 2001
• 2007 we should try congestion charging(experienc
  es from London and Stockholm peak of traffic
  volumes)
• Studies in 2008 and 2009 (pre-feasibility study)
• 2009 resolution of the European Commission on
  the EU subsidy of metro line M4(congestion
  charging as a supplementary measure in order to
  achieve environmental targets)
• 2010 a thoughtless political campaign (CC for
  free PT)
• 2011-2013 detailed feasibility study

9
Ahead of an awkward decision

• 2013 the feasibility study is ready with
  detailed suggestions
• Municipal elections in 1 year
• It would be very difficult to accept the
  proposal(acceptance is around 25-30)
• But it would be also unpleasant to reject it(M4
  metro resolution)
• However, the deadline is quite hazy(end of the
  2007-2013 programming period)
• Negotiating with the EU about prerequisites
  seems to be the political solution for some time

10
Feasibility analysis

• Politically- and publicly-wanted analysis(Shall
  we introduce it? How much is it?)
• Difficulties as there wasnt any goals but there
  were some hard restrictions
• Complex goal (revenue, congestion,
  environment)led to a very comprehensive analyses
  of the theoretical alternatives and kept every
  detail open
• MCA, CBA, CEA, transport modeling

11
Feasibility analysis

• Zonal, cordon pricing and complex solutions
• Investment cost8-35 mEUR additional
  investments (10-200 mEUR)
• Operational cost 8-30 mEUR / year
• Estimated revenue 25-180 mEUR / year
• Economic BCR 3.5-6
• Revenue / cost 5-9

12
Official results

• Cordon charging in the line of the Outer Ring
  Road (Hungária-gyuru) and the Buda Ring (Budai
  körút)C3 alternative in the paper
• A gradual introduction is also possible e.g. C0
  (bridges) as a first step and C3 or Z3 as a
  second
• Keywords simplicity and cost-efficiency
• daily charge
• monitoring the inbound traffic
• modeled on Area C (Milan)
• further possibilities in time-based
  differentiation

13
Effect on road traffic
14
Effect on public transport
15
(No Transcript)
16
Results of our assessments

• It depends on the goal
• General priority could be
• Cordon charging on the inner bridges C0
  alternative
• Cordon (or zonal) charging in the line of the
  Outer Ring Road (Hungária-gyuru) and the River
  Danube C2 or Z2 alternative
• Cordon (or zonal) charging in the line of the
  Inner Ring Road (Nagykörút) and the River Danube
  C1 or Z1 alternative
• Cordon (or zonal) charging in the line of the
  Outer Ring Road (Hungária-gyuru) and the Buda
  Ring (Budai körút) C3 or Z3 alternative
• Gradual introduction of congestion charging would
  be useful (e.g. 1. C0, 2. C2, 3. C3., 4.
  time-differentiation)

17
C0 alternative

• Affected daily traffic360.000 between
  700-1900
• Investment costaround 8 mEUR
• Additional investment needaround 10 mEUR
• Annual operational costaround 8 mEUR
• Estimated revenue25-60 mEUR depending on the
  fees
• Time diffentiation could make it fair
• Further development would be easier from the
  revenue
• However, there are socail issues

18
Conclusions

• Road congestion cannot be eliminated by physical
  measures alone (Eliasson, 2010)
• Even it wont be solved by the credit crunch
• Traffic calming isnt enough, structural reforms
  needed
• User or polluter pays principle
• Congestion charging is one of the possible
  measures
• Anyway we cannot expect that congestion charging
  will solve everything

19
Lessons learnt

• It is indispensable to have an explicit and
  relevant goal
• Formulating goals and restrictions is a job for
  policy-makers (in cooperation with transport
  professionals), while designing the charging
  system is a job for experts
• System design is not working with impossible
  restrictions or with conflicting interests
• After setting the goal(s) decision-makers have to
  consistently take the responsibility for it
• It needs time to plan and implement a congestion
  charging scheme, so plan the political process
  accordingly
• Communication conscious and well-timed
  stakeholder involvement are essential

20
References

• BKK Centre for Budapest Transport - TRENECON-COWI
  Ltd. (2013) Fovárosi személyforgalmi behajtási
  díj bevezetése, döntéstámogató tanulmány
  (Introduction of congestion charging in Budapest,
  Decision-support study)
• Eliasson, J. (2010) So youre considering
  introducing congestion charging? Heres what you
  need to know - An FAQ based on Stockholms
  experiences. ITF/OECD round table, discussion
  paper no. 2010-4
• Erhart, Sz. (2007) A budapesti közlekedési dugók
  okai és következményei (Reasons and consequences
  of road congestions in Budapest). Közgazdasági
  Szemle LIV. pp. 435458.
• Juhász, M. (2012) Budapest fováros XI. kerület
  (Újbuda) városközpont közlekedésfejlesztési
  kérdései A Hamzsabégi út fejlesztésének
  vizsgálata (Transport development issues of the
  city centre of Budapest XI. District (Újbuda)
  Examination of the development of Hamzsabégi
  Road). MSc thesis. Széchenyi István Egyetem.
• Monigl, J. Berki, Zs. (2001) Modelling the
  impacts of road pricing in Budapest. Transman
  Consulting.
• Orosz, Cs. Pásti, B. (2002) Kielégíthetetlen
  közlekedési kereslet fejlesztési és
  finanszírozási lehetoségek Budapesten
  útdíjakkal vagy nélkülük? (Insatiable transport
  demand development and financing possibilities
  in Budapest with or without road charges?)
  Városi közlekedés 2002/4.
• Pápay, Zs., Lukovich, P. Orosz, Cs. (1992)
  Útdíjfizetési rendszer alkalmazásának lehetõségei
  Budapesten (The possibilities in the application
  of a road pricing system in Budapest). BME
  Innotech Ltd.
• Smeed, R. J. (1949) Some statistical aspects of
  road safety research. Journal of the Royal
  Statistical Society, Series A (General), Vol.
  112.
• Smeed, R. J. (1964) Road pricing the economic
  and technical possibilities. HMSO.
• Városkutatás Ltd. (2008) Efficient transport
  management in Budapest (Hatékony
  közlekedés-menedzsment Budapesten)
• Városkutatás Ltd. (2009) A fovárosi
  személyforgalmi behajtási díj elozetes
  megvalósíthatósági vizsgálata (Pre-feasibility
  study of the congestion charging in Budapest)

21
Acknowledgement

• This research was realized in the frames of TÁMOP
  4.2.4. A/2-11-1-2012-0001 National Excellence
  Program Elaborating and operating an inland
  student and researcher personal support system
  convergence program The project was subsidized
  by the European Union and co-financed by the
  European Social Fund

22
Thank you for your kind attention!

• Mattias Juhász
• mjuhasz_at_sze.hu