Terminology: Road user charging, tolls... what do people mean?

I've written about this before, but I thought it was timely to repeat the point...

Early on with this blog I bemoaned the plethora of words that have been created to mean different ways of pricing for road use, and the willingness of different jurisdictions to mix and match these terms.

I tend to use the following three terms to mean separate pricing concepts:

• Tolls: A fee, which may or may not vary by vehicle type, direction of travel or time of day, for using a specific segment of road infrastructure. Commonly bridges or tunnels, but also frequently new sections of motorway, superhighway to provide a faster, more direct connection than the pre-existing route. Tolls typically charge fees for passing specific points on that section, either a single entry or exit point, or multiple points. Most tolls exist to recover the capital costs of construction and the maintenance/operating costs of the tolled infrastructure, but some persist beyond the “payback” period for the road, and are used for other purposes. 

• Road User Charge (RUC): A fee which charges for use of a road network, based on consumption of road space through distance. It typically varies by vehicle type and may vary by location and/or time of day (but not necessarily except by identifying being on the priced network).  In some jurisdictions fees may vary by emissions category of vehicles. Fees are typically metered or by prepayment of distance. RUC exists to recover network wide road costs, and to reflect differences in consumption of road use, and for heavy vehicles different costs generated from network use.

• Congestion charging/pricing: Fees set based on time of use and location for the use of a road, set of roads, or network of roads (or a lane or lanes on a road). These may range from a single all day pass to use the priced road, or metered use of the priced roads. There will be a variation by time of day, with higher prices at peak times of demand, and there may be variations based on direction of travel. Congestion pricing is usually designed to change behaviour, reducing congestion or emissions. However, many jurisdictions design them to raise revenue to pay for specific infrastructure projects, including non-road infrastructure.

There are variations which crossover between these. Toll lanes and HOT lanes, look a lot like toll roads (but not all lanes) and congestion pricing (because they don’t operate a single price 24/7).  However, I will fail in having a universal application of these definitions because….

In Europe, road user charging is called “tolls” usually. Why? Because EU Directive 1999/62/EC… defines tolls (Section 2(b))

means payment of a specified amount for a vehicle travelling the distance between two points on the infrastructures referred to in Article 7(2); the amount shall be based on the distance travelled and the type of the vehicle

European Commission Directives call distance-based road charging “tolls”. This is why when “truck tolls” are discussed in Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Belgium etc, it isn’t meaning a handful of roads being tolled, but an entire network. Although most European countries don’t apply charges to all public roads (Switzerland and Iceland are notable exceptions), most of these systems resemble road user charging systems, not tolls.  Of course, Austria and Slovenia look a lot like toll systems, because they use toll technology (DSRC toll tags) to measure road use on motorways for heavy vehicles, with fees based by distance. That’s where tolling and RUC look similar, noting that the technology used in both systems is not scalable to the entire road network, unlike the GNSS telematics-based systems in Germany, Belgium, Denmark etc. 

What IS called a “road user charge” in the EU, is actually a “vignette”. It is defined as:

means payment of a specified amount conferring the right for a vehicle to use for a given period the infrastructures referred to in Article 7(2)

That is a time-based prepaid charge for access to a national highway network, based on purchasing a set number of days. The Eurovignette (which only applies in Sweden, Luxembourg and the Netherlands (until later this year)) is the most well known example. Vignettes are being phased out, but they are legally called a “road user charge”. Therefore if you talk about RUC with Europeans, they may think you are talking about vignettes. 

In the UK, congestion charging is legally called a “road user charge”. That being a fee imposed for using a specific road or area. Local authorities (and the Secretary of State for Transport) can set up such schemes. They might resemble tolls (the Dartford Crossing is a "road user charge”) or congestion charging (“Durham”), and could be distance based on the specific road or area, but that’s not quite network wide distance-based road user charging.

In the US, congestion pricing is often used to refer to managed toll lanes or high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, because there are around 40 of these, and only one actual congestion charging type scheme – New York.  That of course confusingly has been called the Lower Manhattan Toll but is now the Congestion Relief Zone.

Also in the US, there is RUC, which is called Road Usage Charging (not User), because that is what Oregon chose to call it. There are also five weight mileage taxes (WMT) which are essentially RUC systems for heavy vehicles. However, they are not related to what those states are doing on RUC, as in the US, RUC is almost always about light vehicles.

Just to add to the confusion, Australia has a Road User Charge, which is not a toll, congestion charge or distance based charge, but is the component of fuel tax that heavy vehicles are subject to pay (they are entitled to refunds of the remainder when travelling on public roads, and a full refund of fuel tax when travelling off public roads). Australia's Road User Charge is a fuel tax on heavy vehicles.  This is entirely separate from Australia's policy and political discussions about a distance based road user charge, whether for electric vehicles or heavy vehicles to replace the fuel based road user charge.

I could add the other confusion, which is that heavy vehicles in Australia cover any vehicles with a gross registered mass of more than 4.5 tonnes (whereas in Europe and New Zealand it is over 3.5 tonnes). In the United States heavy-duty vehicles are those over 26,000 US pounds (around 11.8 tonnes). Vehicles from 10,000 US pounds (around 4.5 tonnes) to 26,000 US pounds are medium-duty.  Medium duty vehicles are not a category in Europe or Australasia, which sees them all as heavy vehicles. 

Confused?

It would be easier to call everything the same.  RUC is a great term, except in the UK and Europe.  Tolling is a great term, except in the EU where it also means types of RUC.  What really matters is what is behind the title, meaning:

• What configuration of roads are being charged? (a single point or a whole network)
• What is the chargeable event?
• What is the basis of the fee?
• What is the purpose of the fee?
• How is the chargeable event measured?

What are the different types of road pricing?

The range of terms used to describe road pricing are vast and overlapping.   The main reason for such inconsistency is because road pricing terminology usually combines purpose (e.g. congestion charging), geography (e.g. urban, cordon, area), technology (e.g. electronic free flow, open) and vehicles charged (e.g. HGV only).  The separation I have made on the right hand column is based on geography, mainly because this tends to lend itself to the answers to the other issues as to purpose, likely technology and range of vehicles charged.  So my classification is as follows:

- Toll roads and toll lanes: Toll roads are the most common, familiar and oldest form of road pricing.   They are characterised as being single facilities with one or more tolling points.  Most often bridges or tunnels, but also motorways/grade separated highways.   In all cases the choice to users is to choose that road or crossing, or take an alternative route.   The tolls on these facilities are almost always about recovering the capital costs of the particular road.  Although in a few places such tolls are now being varied between peak and off peak times, to manage demand and reduce congestion, but also offering discounts at times of lower use.  This can be described as a form of congestion charging for that specific route only.  The Sydney Harbour Bridge and San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge both have higher peak charges to manage congestion.

Within this category I have included toll lanes, because they are about charging one facility.   This also includes High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes.  Toll lanes may be extra lanes added onto a highway, with the toll applied to help fund the new lanes, but also manage demand at peak times.  The Orange County 91 Express Lanes are in this category.

As such it is a form of congestion charging, but with the parallel uncharged lanes as a free alternative.   Toll lanes may also simply be tolls applied to existing lanes.  To date the only example of this are HOT lanes, with the existing lanes already set aside for buses and cars carrying usually 2 (or 3) or more people.  HOT lanes allow single occupancy vehicles to use such lanes at a charge, with the toll essentially managing demand so the lanes remain relatively uncongested.   The I-394 HOT lane in Minnesota is an example of this.

The common characteristic of toll roads, toll lanes and HOT lanes is that, generally speaking, motorists can choose other routes to make the trip (or other lanes).   The tolls are focused on the single facility, and are usually set to recover capital costs.  The alternatives may be slower or far more circuitous, but the road pricing component is the single trip on that road.   Some countries have extensive networks of toll roads that make up some of the best highways.  France, Italy, Spain, Japan and increasingly China have well developed national toll road networks.  Yet in all cases it still remains possible to drive long distances using other routes.   Some cities have extensive toll road networks, such as Sydney and Santiago, but still have alternative routes.   The chargeable event for such roads is passing a particular point on the road.

- Urban road pricing: Urban road pricing is distinguished from toll roads in that the tolls are not simply applied to individual routes or crossings.  In that sense, cities like New York (where crossings from Manhattan to New Jersey are tolled) or Sydney (where many main highways are tolled) do not have urban road pricing.   Urban road pricing is when there are no alternatives in driving to a certain part of a city at certain times without paying.   The best known examples of this are congestion charging in London, Stockholm and Singapore (although there are key differences between all three), but also the Oslo toll ring.  In most cases the road pricing is introduced to reduce congestion by managing demand.   In the Oslo case the road pricing was introduced to raise revenue to fund the road improvements and other transport infrastructure.   Cities typically consider forms of road pricing for these two objectives, reducing demand (and congestion) and generating revenue.  The chargeable event being crossing a certain point or movement within a zone.

- Network road pricing:  Network pricing is the unified charging of vehicles across a wide network that goes beyond a city.   Such pricing may only be heavy vehicles (e.g. Switzerland LSVA, German LKW-Maut), or all vehicles (e.g. electronic vignettes in Hungary).  It may be only on motorways (e.g. Austrian ASFINAG tolls), or on all roads (e.g. New Zealand Road User Charges).   Generally speaking, such pricing is about recovering infrastructure costs, but may also be about managing externalities such as congestion and pollution.   It does not include countries where large numbers of highways are tolled when such toll systems are discreet, run independently and unrelated to each other.  Chargeable events may be crossing multiple points, distance travelled or purchase of time to access a network.

The confusion can come from different terminology.  Road pricing can apply to all of these situations.  Tolls can be used to describe them all as well.  Road user charging would tend not to apply to individual toll roads or toll lanes.   Congestion pricing/charging is more about charging specifically to manage demand at peak times. 

So my point is this.  The key to understanding road pricing schemes is:

- Geography (what part of a network is being charged);

- Vehicles (what part of the vehicle fleet is being charged);

- Purpose (why does the charge exist); and

- Chargeable event (what triggers liability for a charge).

Look at that rather than the terminology used.