Public support for tradable peak credit schemes

Abstract

–Congestion charging is generally regarded as an effective tool to manage the ongoing growth in car use and to battle congestion. However, public support is generally lacking and congestion charges have therefore barely been implemented. The novel concept of tradable peak credits (TPC), which is based on the cap-and-trade principle, is revenue neutral, cheaper for road users than a congestion charge and therefore may lead to stronger public support. This paper is the first that aims to quantify the support levels of TPC among the public and to explore the influence of scheme design, socio-economic characteristics and attitudes on support levels. To that end, a stated choice experiment is conducted in which respondents were asked whether they would vote for implementation of different TPC schemes. The discrete choice model shows that 32% up to a small majority of 52% supports different TPC schemes. A rather large share however (dis)likes TPC regardless of the scheme design since attitudes have more explanatory power than scheme characteristics. The results of this study do not indicate that TPC can count on strong public support. Nevertheless, this is a first exploratory study and hence this short paper ends with recommendations for further research.

2934 words