Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects (2011) / Chapter Skim
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From page 18... ...
These include • Issues of coordination and timing (such as who will perform the data collection and when as well as what are the available resources to do so) • Confirming goals set for a facility and expected service standards • Identifying measures for evaluating and managing project performance • Performance measures used in practice Sections 3.2, 3.3, and 3.4 are devoted to performance measurement and the selection of performance measures for the three forms of congestion pricing: variably priced managed lanes, toll facilities with variable pricing, and cordon or area pricing, respectively.
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From page 19... ...
This would allow Guidelines for Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects 19
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From page 20... ...
3.1.3 Identifying Performance Measures and Their Use Once the performance monitoring team has identified project goals and areas with performance specifications, it should proceed with the identification of individual performance metrics to be used in the performance monitoring plan. The optimal set of metrics will enable the project sponsor to have a clear understanding of how well the congestion pricing project is performing and to what extent it is meeting its various goals and standards without being overly costly or requiring an inordinate amount of staff or consultant time to collect.
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From page 21... ...
The findings of equity analyses depend on how equity is measured, the way in which user groups are defined, the specifics of different locations, and to what congestion pricing is compared.2 Priced managed lanes are likely to generate fewer equity concerns compared to other pricing forms since they provide drivers with a new priced travel option without taking away the free parallel lanes; they may also involve transit improvements. With respect to toll facilities with variable pricing or the use of cordon or area pricing, equity impacts largely will be driven by where lower income people live and work and the extent to which people have no choice but to drive on priced routes or are forced to forgo certain trips because they are too expensive.
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From page 22... ...
Section 3.2 examines performance measurement for variably priced managed lanes, Section 3.3 looks at toll facilities with variable pricing, and Section 3.4 evaluates cordon and area pricing. The full set of performance measures identified among the supporting research's 12 project case studies and used in these analyses is shown in Table 3-1, organized by evaluation area.
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From page 23... ...
Home zip code Demographics/ socioeconomics Trip Characteristics Frequency of use Time of day/ departure time O-D/ travelshed determination Toll spending/price paid (self-reported) Trip length Trip purpose Facility Users Traffic Performance Public Perception Performance Measures Violations/ revenue Table 3-1.
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From page 24... ...
System Function Incidents Facility availability Equipment availability Mean time to respond/ repair Air Quality NAAQS criteria pollutants/ VOCs GHG/ CO2 Noise Noise levels Performance Travel time/on-time/excess wait Average speed Occupancy Ridership/ boardings Average vehicle occupancy Finance Farebox revenue O&M Cost Service Quality/satisfaction/reliability General Gross regional product/ economic indices Benefit-cost analysis Business Impacts General performance/openings/closings Specific sectors/services/populations Business costs and prices Retail traffic & sales Tourists/ visitors Property Residential sales/rentals/values Commercial sales/rentals/values Residential Housing decisions Commercial Business locations Performance Measures System Operations Environment Transit Economics Land Use Incident response time/ duration Table 3-1. (Continued)
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From page 25... ...
Their interests will also be influenced by whether or not the project involved • The conversion of an existing HOV lane to HOT operation • The expansion of an existing HOT lane facility • The construction of new highway capacity used as a priced managed lane • The implementation of a new priced managed lane that involves a combination of new construction and the conversion of existing HOV or general-purpose lanes There are many different audiences with an interest in the performance of variably price managed lanes. These are likely to include the following groups: • HOV motorists, transit riders, and drivers of other qualified vehicles who used the managed lane prior to its conversion to HOT operation • SOV motorists who pay to use the managed lanes • The agency sponsoring the managed lane projects and other transportation agencies and organizations • Transit agencies providing service on the managed lanes • Safety and law enforcement agencies providing these services on the managed lane facility • State legislatures and other local government bodies who may have approved the use of managed lanes and who may be the recipients of legally mandated reports documenting the performance of the facility • Local governments • Community boards and neighborhood groups • The media • Any number of local interest groups, including chambers of commerce, trucking organizations, environmental organizations, and the like Guidelines for Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects 25 Performance Monitoring and the Management of Congestion Pricing Facilities The metrics included in these Guidelines are used for two primary purposes: monitoring and managing the performance of congestion pricing projects.
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From page 26... ...
Presence of Other Toll Facilities The presence of other toll facilities or the lack thereof is a fundamental factor influencing the development of variably priced managed lane projects and, to a lesser degree, performance monitoring programs for them. If a region has other toll facilities, interoperability of the ETC systems will be a high priority and rather than reinventing the wheel it is more likely than not that the new managed lane facility will use the same back office accounting system as the existing facility.
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From page 27... ...
Sponsoring Agency The performance monitoring programs established for variably priced managed lane projects can be expected to be developed based on the existing monitoring practices of the agencies that implement them. However, these projects are sponsored by various sponsoring agencies around the United States, including DOTs, MPOs, transit agencies, and toll authorities.
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From page 28... ...
Traffic Performance 20 8 6 Public Perception 15 5 7 Facility Users 14 5 9 System Operations 15 13 2 Environment 3 0 1 Transit 7 2 4 Economics 9 0 0 Land Use 2 0 0 Table 3-2. Total performance measures by evaluation area.
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4 4 4 Facility Users User Characteristics Home zip code 4 1 2 1 2 Facility Users Trip Characteristics Frequency of use 4 1 4 1 3 Facility Users Facility Users Facility Users Trip Characteristics O-D/ travelshed determination 4 3 4 Finance Total transactions 4 2 2 1 3 Safety Collisions/ accidents 4 4 4 Safety Incident response time/ duration 4 4 4 Customer Service Inquiry activity (call, email) 4 4 4 System Function Equipment availability 4 4 4 Traffic Performance Speed & Travel Time Travel time savings 3 3 3 Traffic Performance Volume Tolled trips/ untolled trips 3 2 3 Traffic Performance Parking Park-n-ride activity (lot counts)
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From page 30... ...
making the facility's case to the public and other interested parties. Operations: Using Traffic Performance Measures in the Daily Operation of Variably Priced Managed Lanes.
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A stronger case for the benefit of priced lanes can be made when a throughput or speed comparison across both a corridor's priced and unpriced lanes is available. Validation: Using Traffic Performance Measures to Validate Variably Priced Managed Lanes.
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Gauging public perception is at the heart of goals that seek to validate a variably priced managed lane project. Representative goals may include achieving or sustaining a prescribed level of satisfaction with the facility's operation.
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From page 33... ...
Validation: Using Public Perception Performance Measures to Validate Variably Priced Managed Lanes. All public perception measures serve a validation capacity and play a secondary role to those measures that dictate a facility's operation -- at least among operating facilities that have provided the foundation to these guidelines.
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From page 34... ...
34 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects Performance Measures Total No. of Measures Used Operations Validation Key Secondary User home zip code 4 1 2 1 2 1 4 1 1 3 3 4 2 1 3 3 Frequency of use (trips)
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From page 35... ...
For example, user vehicle classification or the number of HOV registrations may help predict when an adjustment from HOV2+ to HOV3+ may become necessary. Validation: Characterizing Facility Users and Their Trips to Validate Variably Priced Managed Lanes.
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From page 36... ...
Many validation measures can also be used to make operational changes to the facility, such as 36 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects Example: Surveyed User Characteristics WSDOT has conducted an online survey of Good To Go! account holders who use the SR 167 HOT lanes to obtain a representative cross section of its users.
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From page 37... ...
Operations: System Operations Performance Measures as Direct and Indirect Inputs to Facility Operations. Among the five categories of system operations performance measures, financial performance data is often used in the operation of priced managed lanes.
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From page 38... ...
, as discussed above, can also be used in a validation capacity to show that certain levels of income are helping to make the case that implementation of a priced managed lane project was a wise investment. Safety is frequently a primary concern of departments of transportation and other roadway facility operators.
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From page 39... ...
Environment Performance measures to evaluate a variably priced managed lane facility's effect on the environment are not widely used in practice, given that the overall effects of improved efficiency in heavily traveled highway corridors are not likely to generate meaningful improvements to such environmental conditions as air quality or noise. This is in sharp contrast to area or cordon pricing schemes, which can reduce regional emissions by an order of magnitude not imaginable for single highway improvement projects -- the Stockholm Congestion Tax trial reduced carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide emissions within the city by 14 percent and within Stockholm County by 2.5 percent.
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From page 40... ...
As such, performance measurement for variably priced toll facilities is also likely to have a more concentrated focus on toll revenues and financial performance compared with variably priced managed lane projects. This reflects the fact that most toll facilities are self-financing facilities built with debt leveraged from future toll proceeds.
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From page 41... ...
Electronic Toll Collection Toll facilities using variably priced tolls could feature several different collection methods: open road tolling, a toll barrier-less system whereby vehicles' transponders are read by overhead gantries at the speed of traffic; transponder-based collection at a toll plaza, with or without barriers, but requiring traffic to slow or stop; manual toll collection (cash) , either by a toll booth operator or collection machine; or combinations thereof.
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From page 42... ...
Congestion Pricing on New Versus Existing Toll Facilities It can be expected that the operator of almost any toll facility would have an established set of metrics it uses to monitor the performance of the facility, enabling it to track revenue generation, user base, operational performance, and customer satisfaction. If variably priced tolls are introduced on an existing facility, these established monitoring programs would provide a wealth of baseline information and a platform for the ongoing monitoring activities.
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From page 43... ...
These measures may not have been captured by these guidelines' research; however, the issues discussed for each evaluation area can be applicable to those performance measures not identified. Guidelines for Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects 43 Total Measures Identified Measures Used in Facilities Examined Traffic Performance 20 6 Public Perception 15 1 Facility Users 14 5 System Operations 15 4 Environment 3 0 Transit 7 1 Economics 9 0 Land Use 2 0 Table 3-9.
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From page 44... ...
As with variably priced managed lanes, traffic volumes are critical to understanding facility usage. Other key measures include travel times and vehicle miles traveled (which relate more to toll roads than tolled crossings)
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From page 45... ...
From an operations standpoint, vehicle volumes, as with variably priced managed lanes, are a must-have traffic performance measure. This measure fundamentally describes the usage of the facility and is a common input measure for making toll rate adjustments, dynamically, or periodically to a fixed toll rate schedule.
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From page 46... ...
All public perception measures can be characterized as serving a validation capacity, as well as playing a secondary role to those measures that dictate a facility's operation -- at least among operating facilities that have provided information for these guidelines. It is possible, however, that an agency contemplating the implementation of a variably priced toll facility project may view certain public perception measures as key to the performance evaluation program if, for example, a particular issue, such as user equity, is expected to be highly visible.
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From page 47... ...
Validating a variably priced toll facility is also accomplished through measures of system users. Measures of user characteristics, especially demographics and socioeconomics, help facility operators understand their customer base.
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Finance. Among the five categories of system operations performance measures, financial performance data is universally used in the operation of variably priced toll facilities.
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From page 49... ...
If the operation of the facility is provided by a private entity to collect tolls and manage customer service, evaluation measures and reporting requirements can be specified in the contract with the entity. Based on the findings for variably priced managed lanes (which are also deemed applicable to variably priced toll facilities)
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From page 50... ...
Measured transit data would be used to validate the toll facility's performance monitoring plan, by documenting reliable and/or improved transit service, as measured most often by travel times, on-time arrivals, delay, and ridership. If the variably priced toll facility sponsor or operator is also the agency responsible for transit service, acquiring transit performance data is not difficult.
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From page 51... ...
In addition, cordon and area pricing programs are also likely to have important effects -- both real and perceived -- on other important issues, such as regional emissions and air quality, business impacts, and economic competitiveness -- issues that are not likely to be high-priority concerns with other forms of congestion pricing and are likely to require creative approaches in order to be monitored in a meaningful way. Given the regional nature of their influence on travel patterns and congestion, performance monitoring programs for cordon and area pricing projects should involve the collection of comparable sets of data in different locations around the region, both within the pricing zone and outside it.
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From page 52... ...
Performance monitoring programs for cordon or area pricing schemes should track utilization, crowding, and travel times on all relevant rail and bus lines likely to be affected by the new programs. Equity is also an inevitable concern with cordon and area pricing programs.
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From page 53... ...
Performance monitoring programs for cordon or area pricing schemes may need to be developed to track and compare the performance of these different toll collection technologies in terms of accuracy, reliability, cost, and public perception. Cordon Versus Area Pricing There are two approaches for collecting entry fees with cordon and area pricing programs.
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From page 54... ...
As with the performance measures identified for variably priced managed lanes and variably priced toll facilities, the table also identifies whether the measures are generally applied in an operations or validation capacity, 54 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects Total Measures Identified Measures Used by 2+ out of 3 Schemes Measures Used by 1 out of 3 Schemes Traffic Performance 20 7 9 Public Perception 15 1 3 Facility Users 14 3 1 System Operations 15 3 8 Environment 3 2 1 Transit 7 3 3 Economics 9 3 6 Land Use 2 0 2 Table 3-11. Total performance measures by evaluation area.
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From page 55... ...
VMT/VKT VMT/ VKT 1 Congestion Delay/ wait times Mode Share Mode share (SOV, HOV, transit) 2 1 Bike/Ped Bike/ped traffic counts Public Perception Social Impacts Specific activities/populations 2 2 1 1 Facility Users Trip Characteristics O-D/ travelshed determination 1 1 2 Facility Users User Characteristics Vehicle classification 2 2 2 1 1 Facility Users Trip Characteristics Trip purpose System Operations System Operations System Operations Finance Revenue (toll/ charge)
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From page 56... ...
Traffic Performance Traffic performance describes the fundamental purpose of a roadway network: its ability to provide mobility to people and goods. An important distinction among cordon and area pricing programs compared to variably priced managed lanes or toll facilities is the greater emphasis placed on including transit, bicyclists, and pedestrians among the users of the roadway network and measuring "traffic" performance for these modes.
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From page 57... ...
In one example, the priced zone may contain a mixture of low-speed city streets, arterials, bridges, tunnels, and highways, unlike variably priced managed lanes or toll facilities, which are uniform road type. How Are Traffic Performance Measures Applied?
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From page 58... ...
The public's knowledge of a program's purpose and acceptance of it as a new paradigm for managing access to the selected priced zone are critical to address prior to implementation. The roles of area and cordon pricing facilities before and after implementation, along with satisfaction with the service these schemes provide, are characterized qualitatively through public perception.
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From page 59... ...
Surveyed public perceptions can be collected prior to the start of an area or cordon pricing program, either Guidelines for Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects 59 Example: Public Perception Leads to Significant Operational Changes A major proposed change to London's Congestion Charge in 2010 was the elimination of the Western Extension, which had effectively doubled the original Central London charging zone when added in 2007. The proposed retraction was initiated by Mayor Boris Johnson, elected in 2008, and a public vote/survey was used to inform the decision.
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From page 60... ...
Facility Users The term facility users refers to other characteristics of those who make trips into, within, and out of the area or cordon pricing zone and the characteristics of the trips themselves. (For consistency with the other two forms of pricing, the term facility is retained, but in actuality a priced zone is not a facility per se.)
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From page 61... ...
Comprehensive travelshed determinations may even require travel demand forecasting or modeling efforts. Guidelines for Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects 61 Performance Data in Stockholm Underpins a Successful Referendum Stockholm became the second major urban area in Europe to implement congestion pricing with the permanent implementation of the Stockholm Congestion Tax on August 1, 2007.
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From page 62... ...
Safety is also an important goal for all transportation infrastructure. Finally, priced zone sponsors may want to achieve established levels of customer service or targets of system equipment availability/accuracy.
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From page 63... ...
Area and cordon pricing schemes expected to result in significant reductions in urban traffic levels often are accompanied by similarly aggressive Guidelines for Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects 63
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From page 64... ...
That more comprehensive metrics are used for priced zones than for variably priced managed lane or toll facilities indicates the greater role transit plays in successfully operating these schemes and the importance of documenting the results. How Are Transit Measures Applied?
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From page 65... ...
Unlike with variably priced managed lane or toll facilities, economics is likely to be an important consideration for area or cordon pricing projects because the expected significant reduction of vehicular traffic within the zone could have a measured impact, perceived or otherwise, on economic activity -- both at a macro scale and individually on certain sectors. Goals may include (1)
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