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Road space rationing
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Road space rationing (; ) is a travel demand management strategy aimed to reduce the negative externalities generated by peak urban travel demand in excess of available supply or road capacity, through artificially restricting demand (vehicle travel) by rationing the scarce common good road capacity during the peak periods. This objective is achieved through restricting access into an urban cordon area or city center based upon the last digits of the license number on pre-established days and during certain periods, usually, the peak hours.
The practical implementation of this policy is common in Latin America, and in many cases, the road rationing has as a main goal the reduction of air pollution, such as the cases of México City, and Santiago, Chile.
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Encyclopedia
Road space rationing (; ) is a travel demand management strategy aimed to reduce the negative externalities generated by peak urban travel demand in excess of available supply or road capacity, through artificially restricting demand (vehicle travel) by rationing the scarce common good road capacity during the peak periods. This objective is achieved through restricting access into an urban cordon area or city center based upon the last digits of the license number on pre-established days and during certain periods, usually, the peak hours.
The practical implementation of this policy is common in Latin America, and in many cases, the road rationing has as a main goal the reduction of air pollution, such as the cases of México City, and Santiago, Chile. São Paulo, with a fleet of 6 million vehicles in 2007, is the largest metropolis in the world with such a travel restriction, implemented first in 1996 as measured to mitigate air pollution, and thereafter made permanent in 1997 to relief traffic congestion. More recent implementations in Costa Rica and Honduras have had the objective of reducing oil consumption, due to the high impact this import has on the economy of small countries, and considering the steep increases in oil prices that began in 2003.
Alternative rationing policies
Congestion pricing
Transport economists consider road space rationing a variation of road pricing, and an alternative to congestion pricing, but road space rationing is considered more equitable, as the restrictions force all drivers to reduce auto travel, while congestion pricing restrains less those who can afford paying the congestion charge. Nevertheless, high-income users can always avoid the restrictions by owning a second car.
Mobility rights or congestion credits
A more recent and acceptable policy on automobile travel restrictions, proposed by transport economists to avoid inequality and revenue allocation issues, is to implement a rationing of peak period travel but through revenue-neutral credit-based congestion pricing. This concept is similar to the existing system of emissions trading of carbon credits, proposed by the Kyoto Protocol to curb greenhouse emissions. Metropolitan area or city residents, or the taxpayers, will have the option to use the local government-issued mobility rights or congestion credits for themselves, or to trade or sell them to anyone willing to continue traveling by automobile beyond the personal quota. This trading system will allow direct benefits to be accrued by those users shifting to public transportation or by those reducing their peak-hour travel rather than the government.
Applications of road space rationing
Road space rationing based on license numbers has been implemented in cities such as Athens (1982), Santiago (1986 and extended 2001), Chile, México City (1989), São Paulo (1997), Bogotá (1998), Colombia, La Paz (2003), Bolivia, San José (2005), Costa Rica, and countrywide in Honduras (2008). All these cities restrain a percentage of vehicles every weekday during rush hours or for the entire day. When the restriction is based in two digits a theoretical 20% reduction of traffic is expected. Cities with serious air quality problems, such as México City and Santiago use more digits to achieve greater reductions in air pollution, and even the prohibition can be for more than one day a week.
Bertrand Delanoe, the mayor of Paris, proposed to impose a complete ban on motor vehicles in the city's inner districts, with exemptions only for residents, businesses, and the disabled, as a three-part plan to implement during a seven year period. This proposal was made in 2005, in the context of Paris' bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics which ended up being won by London.
During the discussions regarding the proposal to introduce congestion pricing in New York, the commission created in 2007 by the New York State Legislature to evaluate other traffic relief options, considered road space rationing based on license plates as an alternative to congestion pricing. As of April 2008, the proposal is stalled as the legislature decided not to vote the proposed plan.
Proposed restrictions during next Summer Olympics
Beijing 2008
On July 20, 2008, Beijing implemented a temporary road space rationing based on plate numbers in order to significantly improve air quality in the city during the 2008 Summer Olympics. Enforcement is being made with automated traffic surveillance network. The rationing will be in effect for two months, between July 20 to September 20, as the Olympics will be followed by the Paralympics from September 6 until 17. The restrictions on car use will be in place on alternate days depending on the plates ending in odd or even numbers. This measure is expected to take 45% of the 3.3 million car fleet off the streets. In addition, 300,000 heavy polluting vehicles were banned from July 1, and the plan also prohibits access to most vehicles coming from outside Beijing. Authorities decided to compensate car owners for the inconvenience, by exempting them from payment of vehicle taxes for three months.
A pilot test was conducted in August 2007 for four days, restricting driving for a third of Beijing's fleet, some 1.3 million vehicles. A 40% daily reduction of vehicle emissions was reported. A previous test carried out in November 2006 during the Sino-African Summit show reductions of 40% in NOx auto emissions.
London 2012
The 2012 Summer Olympics organization, with support from the Mayor of London office, announced in 2007 that they are planning auto exclusion zones around all venues, including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Glasgow and Cardiff. London authorities hope this measure will work as an experiment to change the public's travel behavior, allowing thereafter a shift from automobile to mass transit or bicycling. This severe policy has been publized as the "First Car-free Olympics". During the peak events it is expected a crowd of 800,000 people. Those attending will have to travel by public transport, mainly through the Underground, bicycle or traveling on foot.
See also
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