VPP Projects Involving Tolls
Category: Systemwide Pricing

Project - VIRGINIA: The Public Acceptability of Road-Use Pricing

The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board (TPB) in partnership with the Brookings Institution received a VPP grant in 2011 to investigate issues related to the public acceptability of road-use pricing. Using the Metropolitan Washington Region as a case study, this project will conduct five invitation-based deliberative forums to explore attitudes toward a variety of pricing options, ranging from variably priced toll roads to system-wide vehicle-based pricing systems. These forums will occur in the winter of 2011-2012. They will be designed to include between 50 and 100 members of the general public and will last 3-4 hours. At these events, participant feedback will be recorded and monitored as information is shared and discussions ensue. By engaging the public in an extended exchange of ideas, opinions and reactions, the project will identify challenges and opportunities that decision makers would face if they were to move forward with implementing options for road-use pricing.

October - December 2011 Update

During the final three months of 2011, the study team conducted four out of five planned deliberative forums, which are the primary research vehicle for the project. A total of 231 people attended these four events.

The forums, which each lasted 4½ hours, included presentations on the current and projected state of transportation funding and congestion, and asked participants to consider three scenarios for congestion pricing. These scenarios include: 1) a regional network of variably priced lanes on all freeways, as well as some other major roadways; 2) pricing on all streets and roads (based upon a Brookings Institution proposal from 2009) using vehicle-based GPS systems; and 3) zone-based charges in which drivers pay a fee to enter (or to drive within) a designated area or zone (a "cordon"). Participant opinions about these scenarios were documented through keypad voting and through notes that were taken at each discussion table by scribes (mostly graduate students) recruited by TPB staff. Paper surveys were also used to measure the relative impact of key factors (e.g., concerns about privacy or equity) in determining the intensity of participant reactions to various scenarios.

The study team selected forum participants to reflect a representative cross-section of the region. Therefore, the team developed a "profile" for each forum that identified desired targets for the demographic and travel characteristics of participants. A variety of techniques were used to recruit participants, including canvassing door-to-door and outreach to a variety of list-serves. Participants received a stipend in the form of a $100 gift card.

In addition to the TPB staff, the study team includes staff from America Speaks, which is the subcontractor responsible for conducting the deliberative forums, and staff from the Brookings Institution, which is the TPB's research partner on this project.

For More Information Contact

John Swanson
Principal Transportation Planner
Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments
Phone: (202) 962-3295
E-mail: jswanson@mwcog.org

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