Urban road charge in European cities: a possible means towards a new culture for urban mobility? (NEW UPDATE)
The high traffic rates in European cities have a great impact on environmental and economic damages. Air pollution, noise and greenhouse gas emission, delays and traffic accidents are good for a 100 billion euros each year, corresponding to about 1% of the EU’s GDP.
European awareness; The Green Paper ‘Towards a new culture of urban mobility’
The attention for this problematic damage to economies, people and the environment grew slowly. In the beginning of the concept mobility the focus laid at enhancing car transport infrastructure. This was seen as the only possibility to fulfill the existing need for mobility. The Commission recognized the problems of damaging economies and environments and presented in 2007 a Green Paper entitled “Towards a new culture for urban mobility”. A new culture of mobility must be created aimed at sustainability, environmental protection and a high quality of life with economic development and accessibility of cities.
The ‘polluter pays’principle
Making users pay directly for the use of urban roads or the entry of cities is a possible policy response to this problem. This way users are directly confronted and become more aware of the use of polluting forms of mobility. By applying the ‘polluter pays’ principle environmental targets can be achieved and money can be made available to enhance local public transport which supports a better accessibility of the city.
Explore the possibilities: CURACAO
To explore the potential of urban charging and tackling problems, the Commission funded the project CURACAO (Coordination of Urban Road User Charging Organisational Issues). In the report of the CURACAO programme became clear that a city charge only can produce effects in terms of transport and environmental policy if it is a part of an integrated set of measures. A city charge has to be part of a set of regional transport and environmental policy measures in order to be successful and to meet with a wide public acceptance. The report identifies different measures required for a successful implementation of a city charge system. Otherwise the report also shows that a single recipe for success does not exist. Only with a combination of different measures and instruments can a comprehensive strategy be established.