Road Charge, Tolling, and Pricing

TSRC conducts research on road charge, tolling, and pricing, such as equity and travel behavior impacts of these strategies.

Featured Publications:

Advancing Road User Charge (RUC) Models in California: Understanding Social Equity and Travel Behavior Impacts

2022

California is currently exploring a mileage-based road user charge (RUC) program as an alternative to the existing gas tax. This research explores the potential social equity implications of this change through a literature review, expert interviews (N=21), general population survey (N = 3,489;...Read more about Advancing Road User Charge (RUC) Models in California: Understanding Social Equity and Travel Behavior Impacts

An Equitable and Integrated Approach to Paying for Roads in a Time of Rapid Change.

2019

A brief overview of transportation user fees (historically and in a contemporary context) is presented followed by a discussion on how segmenting travel into three categories – long haul, the last mile, and at the curb – creates a new typology for transportation...Read more about An Equitable and Integrated Approach to Paying for Roads in a Time of Rapid Change.

Policy Brief: Road Usage Charging (RUC)

2018

Pricing transportation infrastructure, either to achieve a desired outcome or to raise revenue, is a concept that has been present in economics and transportation since the early to mid-20th century. Different approaches to pricing (e.g., area-wide pricing, vehicle miles traveled, express...Read more about Policy Brief: Road Usage Charging (RUC)

Policy Brief: Spatio-Temporal Road Charge, A Potential Remedy for Increasing Local Street Congestion

2018

In the early ages of the mobile Internet, routing apps appeared as a viable tool for the few motorists equipped with an in-vehicle navigation system or an aftermarket navigation device. With market penetration increasing, and recent market consolidation, a few companies are now the sole...Read more about Policy Brief: Spatio-Temporal Road Charge, A Potential Remedy for Increasing Local Street Congestion

Policy Brief: Preserving Privacy in Road User Charge (RUC) Architectures

2018

One of the major concerns for the technical implementation of a RUC is the ability to collect the mileage of motorists in a way that preserves and protects individual privacy. With the widespread use of connected devices/smartphones and the growth of connected vehicles and the existence of...Read more about Policy Brief: Preserving Privacy in Road User Charge (RUC) Architectures