Pollution Free Cities: Impacts of Road Tolls, Parking Rates and Lane Reductions on Urban Pollution

Friday, January 7, 2011

Impacts of Road Tolls, Parking Rates and Lane Reductions on Urban Pollution

Traffic control policies to reduce pollution in Perth CBD ( 24 page pdf, 25th Conference of the Australian Institutes of Transport Research, 2003)

The article reviewed today looks at the impact of varying four traffic controls on pollution levels: fixed and varying road toll charges, parking rates and lane reductions. The results indicate a combined pollution reduction of 23-33% and traffic reduction of 51%.

Key Quotes:

“The main objective of this study is to suggest policies to reduce air pollution in urban areas by reducing traffic flow“

“We can see that $1.0 per trip extra charge would reduce average daily traffic by 11%, which would lead to reduction in CO and NOx levels of 4% and 6% respectively“

“Impacts of variable charges on pollution levels are generally similar to those of a fixed charge. However the proposed charges would reduce pollution levels more than the fixed charge”

“The suggested parking fees would reduce daily traffic by 18% leading to 7% and 10% reductions of average daily CO and NOx levels respectively”

“the study considers 25% reduction in lanes open to private vehicles. This means that the left lane of any 4-laned road in the city would be closed to private vehicle users and restricted to public transport, pedestrians and cyclists.. There would be 21% reduction of private traffic leading to 9% and 13% reductions of CO and NOx from a 25% lane restriction policy”

“The measures would have significant impacts in reducing CO and NOx levels in Perth city. This study also estimated the combined effect of the policies and found significant improvement of air pollution in both short and long run”