Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects (2011) / Chapter Skim
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San Diego Association of Governments I-15 Express Lanes 133 7. Washington State Department of Transportation SR 167 HOT Lanes 148 Toll Facilities with Variable Pricing 141 8.
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90 Introduction Colorado Department of Transportation I-25 Express Lanes Florida Department of Transportation 95 Express Harris County Toll Road Authority Katy Managed Lanes Minnesota Department of Transportation MnPASS Lanes Orange County Transportation Authority 91 Express Lanes San Diego Association of Governments I-15 Express Lanes Variably Priced Managed Lanes Washington State Department of Transportation SR 167 HOT Lanes Ontario Ministry of Transportation Highway 407 Express Toll Route Toll Facilities with Variable Pricing The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Congestion Pricing Program Central London Congestion Charging Singapore Electronic Road PricingCordon and Area Pricing Stockholm Congestion Tax Table A-1. Case study congestion pricing projects by type.
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Each case study consists of the following: • An overview of the agency sponsoring the congestion pricing project • A review of the agency's congestion pricing program Congestion Pricing Case Studies 91 Figure A-1. Case study congestion pricing projects by location.
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This approach was used to facilitate easy comparison of the monitoring procedures used for the 12 case studies and to facilitate a further distillation of best practices by type of priced facility. The matrices organize the performance metrics in the following broad categories: • Traffic Performance • Public Perception • Facility Users • System Operations • Environment • Transit • Economics • Land Use 92 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects
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93 Variably Priced Managed Lanes
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The intent of the conversion was to take advantage of under-used capacity on the managed lanes without affecting the express bus service. Given the importance of providing high-quality transit service in the corridor, express bus travel times are a key performance metric in the corridor and can trigger a toll adjustment if a degradation is detected.
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Traffic performance on the facility has been very constant and no adjustments to toll levels have been necessary to maintain bus travel times, even with the addition of license plate tolling in early 2009. Although there has been one adjustment to peak-period tolls on the Express Lanes since their opening, this was due to an increase in bus fares, rather than conditions on the lanes themselves.
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96 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects Congestion Pricing Case Studies 97 Table 1-1. Colorado Department of Transportation I-25 Express Lanes summary matrix.
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This dynamic was also reflected in the negotiations with stakeholder agencies, which focused on meeting the mandate of addressing the underutilization issue, rather than "testing the waters" of implementing congestion pricing on the I-25 Express Lanes. 98 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects
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It is also implementing a $1.8 billion expansion of I-595 on a public-private partnership basis. The expansion will feature a new three-lane reversible flow, 10.5-mile, variably priced HOT lane that, with the converted I-95 facility, will create the beginning of a network of priced lanes in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale region.
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100 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects
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FDOT's systems also allow it to identify the express lane travel speeds that occurred at any period of time, which enhances the ability to understand the relationships between toll rates, traffic volumes, and speeds on the 95 Express. In addition to revenue data, FDOT tracks both toll-exempt registrations and actual tollexempt trips by vehicle class.
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FDOT and its partners will continue to monitor transit performance as additional components of the 95 Express become operational. Lastly, FDOT tracks public perception of the 95 Express.
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It also allows FDOT to build credibility with local stakeholders both in its own abilities to implement congestion pricing and in the ability of pricing to help reduce traffic congestion and meet other needs. FDOT has articulated a vision of implementing a network of managed lanes in southeast Florida and the credibility it has established through the 95 Express will be an essential tool in advancing that vision.
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104 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects Congestion Pricing Case Studies 105 Table 2-1. Florida Department of Transportation 95 Express summary matrix.
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106 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects
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3.1. Overview of HCTRA's Congestion Pricing Program The Katy Managed Lanes are a 12-mile HOT-lane facility providing two travel lanes in each direction in the median of I-10.
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The new rate structure will be modeled after the SR-91 Express Lanes in Orange County, California, which have fixed variable pricing with different rates assigned to different days of the week and hours and direction of travel. HCTRA has not completed any formal analyses to determine how much toll rates would need to increase to cause drivers to stop using the managed lanes.
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HCTRA staff are not certain whether performance monitoring guidelines would have been helpful to them had they been available prior to the opening of the Katy Managed Lanes. From their site visits and investigations of other operating HOT lanes, they found that no one facility or location is the same.
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110 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects Congestion Pricing Case Studies 111 Table 3-1. Harris County Toll Road Authority Katy Managed Lanes summary matrix.
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112 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects
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The I-35W corridor improvements include the following elements: • Priced dynamic shoulder lanes on I-35W from 46th Street to downtown Minneapolis • Addition of a HOT lane in the Crosstown reconstruction project from 66th Street to 46th Street • Conversion of the HOV lane to HOT lane on I-35W from 66th Street to Burnsville Parkway, similar to the I-394 MnPASS lanes • Construction of additional park-and-ride lots along the I-35W corridor north and south of Minneapolis • Construction of additional dedicated bus lanes in downtown Minneapolis • Partnerships with major employers along the I-35W corridor to promote telecommuting programs • Use of additional Intelligent Transportation Systems technology 2AASHTO Center for Excellence in Project Finance Congestion Pricing Case Studies 113
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MnDOT also monitors transit ridership and carpooling activity and compares trends in these areas on its priced corridors to other non-priced "control" corridors in the Twin Cities region. Utilization data involves field or video counts of vehicles using the corridor, together with assumptions on average occupancy rates for 114 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects
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Through those studies, MnDOT developed different travel demand forecasts and assumptions on how travel behavior would be influenced by variably priced tolls. In addition MnDOT had a good understanding of public perceptions of congestion pricing in the Twin Cities.
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During their first year of operation, some important changes were made on the I-394 MnPASS lanes based on the performance data collected by MnDOT. In particular, the algorithm used to set the dynamically priced tolls was modified to be less sensitive to changes in traffic volumes and speeds on the HOT lanes.
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MnDOT surveyed transponder users on the I-394 MnPASS facility in 2006, but that effort did not include HOV or transit users. Transponder users only represent 25 percent of all trips on the MnPASS lanes, leaving MnDOT with an incomplete understanding of user satisfaction.
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118 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects Congestion Pricing Case Studies 119 Table 4-1. Minnesota Department of Transportation MnPASS Lanes summary matrix.
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5.1. Overview of OCTA's Congestion Pricing Program The 91 Express Lanes is a four-lane express toll-lane facility in the median of SR-91, a heavily traveled eight-lane east-west freeway.
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At the time this change was made, OCTA engaged in an aggressive media effort to educate the public about the policy and that increased rates were not tied to revenue generation, but rather to maintain constant speed flows of 60 to 65 mph. Complaints decreased over time, but there was a resurgence, particularly in the press, when the peak toll rate Congestion Pricing Case Studies 121
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Interviews were conducted in person and were designed to assess the following six issues: • Changes in utilization patterns among users • Customer satisfaction • Customer expectations and perceptions of OCTA's management of the lanes • Customer attitudes regarding the benefits of the lanes, toll policies, and customer service • Customer awareness of existing communication programs and their effectiveness The survey found that satisfaction with the lanes has grown, while there has been a modest decrease in the frequency of use due to the current economic climate. Users of all income groups have a positive perception of the Express Lanes.
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OCTA staff also stressed the importance of its customer service patrols and quick incident management given that the Congestion Pricing Case Studies 123 3Insights Worldwide Research, 2009 91 Express Lanes Customer Satisfaction Survey, Orange County Transportation Authority, September 2009, p.
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124 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects Congestion Pricing Case Studies 125 Table 5-1. Orange County Transportation Authority 91 Express Lanes summary matrix.
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Other agencies operating priced facilities should benefit from OCTA's use of regular customer satisfaction surveys and its ability to standardize their results to facilitate meaningful comparisons and trend analyses. 126 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects
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SANDAG has been a leading innovator in the use of congestion pricing and is dedicating a significant portion of the TransNet highway proceeds to developing a 75- to 80-mile network of managed lanes across four highway corridors identified in MOBILITY 2030, its $42 billion regional transportation plan for San Diego County. San Diego is the first metropolitan area in the United States to establish a long-range transportation plan featuring a regional network of managed lanes as one of its primary strategies to meet future mobility needs.
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SANDAG stated the term "reliable" tends to be qualitative, because customers' expectation when driving the road goes beyond travel time. 128 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects
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6.4. Why Performance Evaluation Takes Place and How Performance Monitoring Data Is Used As this research was being completed, the I-15 Express Lanes was at an important, yet protracted crossroads.
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130 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects Congestion Pricing Case Studies 131 Table 6-1. San Diego Association of Governments I-15 Express Lanes summary matrix.
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SANDAG staff observed that the data they have collected on the existing I-15 Express Lanes only enables them to determine the effects of congestion pricing on SOV utilization of the managed lanes. SANDAG's experience with the expansion of the I-15 from its straightforward original configuration to a complex 20-mile facility will be invaluable to other locations considering evolving existing HOT-lane facilities into more complex managed-lane systems.
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operates a total of 764 centerline miles of Interstate highway out of a statewide network of 174,430 miles of roads. There are only two toll facilities in Washington State: the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and the SR 167 HOT lanes, which is the subject of this case study.
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These include automated data on traffic volumes and speeds in both the managed and general-purpose lanes collected by loop detectors. WSDOT tracks volume and speed data in multiple timeframes and compares conditions in the general-purpose and managed lanes, as well as the peak and non-peak direction of traffic.
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This includes transit performance data of travel times and ridership levels provided by Sound Transit, which operates two bus routes on the corridor, as well as the South Sounder commuter rail service. Sound Transit confirms that travel times for its bus service did not change after the HOT conversion and that transit ridership has actually increased 8.4 percent since the opening of the HOT lanes.
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WSDOT is required to provide data on the use of the HOT lanes and review effects on 136 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects 5This approach is different from the dynamic pricing system used by MnDOT on the I-35W and I-394 MnPASS lanes, which uses a look-up table that has established toll rates based on speeds and volumes.
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Validating the Case for Congestion Pricing. Lastly, the collective data derived from the performance monitoring program enables WSDOT to validate the performance of the SR 167 HOT lanes to its stakeholders.
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138 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects Congestion Pricing Case Studies 139 Table 7-1. Washington State Department of Transportation SR 167 HOT Lanes summary matrix.
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WSDOT has a well-established culture of collecting comprehensive performance monitoring data, and the SR 167 HOT-lane facility is no exception. While WSDOT officials had access to comprehensive real-time traffic data derived from an extensive network of loop detectors and are accustomed to conducting before-and-after analysis for new improvements, they found it challenging to identify the right combination of performance metrics that would make a compelling case for congestion pricing's use.
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141 Toll Facilities with Variable Pricing
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The distinction between peak and off-peak toll rates was initiated by MTO on opening Highway 407, and Highway 407 International, Inc., retained this precedent when it took over the operation of the facility. MTO has examined the possibility of HOV-to-HOT conversions on other highway facilities in Ontario, but concluded that there was no business case for such conversions because of limited off-peak demand and the costs of implementing and enforcing HOT lanes.
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8.4. Why Performance Evaluation Takes Place and How Performance Monitoring Data Is Used The primary purpose for MTO's performance monitoring on the 407 ETR is to maintain the Province's Freeway Traffic Management System and verify that Highway 407 International, Inc.'s performance meets the standards established in the GLA.
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144 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects Congestion Pricing Case Studies 145 Table 8-1. Ontario Ministry of Transportation Highway 407 Express Toll Route summary matrix.
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These rates were reduced by 10 percent for ETC users and additional discounts were available to frequent travelers on any of the three bridges connecting Staten Island and New Jersey. 146 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects
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The Port Authority modified its toll regime again in March 2008, with the primary goal of revenue generation to support capital improvements. The new toll schedule also strengthened the agency's commitment to congestion pricing by removing the $1.00 peak-period discount for ETC users and charging all automobiles an $8.00 toll during peak periods.
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, a system which uses ETC readers and E-ZPass transponders as anonymous vehicle probes to provide link travel times and road speeds to roadway operators in the New York-New Jersey region. The Port Authority also tracks safety on its toll facilities and toll plazas.
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9.4. Why Performance Evaluation Takes Place and How Performance Monitoring Data Is Used The Port Authority has implemented a comprehensive effort to monitor the performance of its toll facilities following the implementation of congestion pricing.
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150 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects Congestion Pricing Case Studies 151 Table 9-1. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey congestion pricing program summary matrix.
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Guidance on the performance measures for pricing would be useful in moving beyond the consideration of congestion pricing on managed lanes to the use of congestion pricing on much more heavily traveled toll facilities where truck volumes have a fundamental effect on overall congestion and system performance. The Port Authority is also beginning to work on an approach to measure travel-time reliability, focusing on the variability of travel times.
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A congestion charge could then be assessed on vehicles that crossed a set boundary. They believed the system could be in place by September 2003.
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154 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects
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Why Performance Evaluation Takes Place and How Performance Monitoring Data Is Used The main purpose of performance evaluation was to assess the effects of the scheme and make necessary changes to its operation. Several principles guided the performance monitoring program: • Monitoring should robustly detect and characterize the main expected effects of congestion charging.
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Through mostly qualitative discussions, the report summarized the following: • Impacts on congestion within central London and outside the charging zone • Impacts on Londoners, especially low-income groups • Effects on public transportation, especially buses • Impacts on the economy and the environment • Remarks on customer service and enforcement • Net revenue to fund transportation initiatives The report concluded with recommendations for further monitoring and policy considerations for TfL. Although the report makes multiple mentions of future monitoring by the 156 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects
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This review by the London Councils was intended to act as an independent audit of the congestion charging scheme, as TfL's ability to carry out the scheme's primary performance monitoring was thought to potentially become influenced by its administration and collection of the charge. Five study elements were selected as a focus of the monitoring program, and data was gathered and analyzed before and after the scheme's implementation in 2002 and 2003, respectively: • An independent assessment of the impact of the congestion charging scheme on traffic levels inside and immediately outside the zone • An independent assessment of any traffic diversion to parallel routes around the charging zone • An examination of the impacts of the scheme on parking usage and revenue in and around the congestion charging zone • An examination of the effect of the scheme on parking around stations in outer London • An examination of bus occupancy levels following the introduction of the scheme Evaluation measures and performance metrics incorporated in this effort included traffic levels measured in vehicle kilometers traveled inside and outside the zone, along the cordon, and diverted to parallel routes around the zone.
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158 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects Congestion Pricing Case Studies 159 Table 10-1. Central London congestion charging summary matrix.
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11.1. Overview of Singapore's Congestion Pricing Singapore's Electronic Road Pricing system is a combination of area and cordon pricing that controls access into Singapore's CBD and along major access routes.
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The ERP program is administered by the Land Transport Authority. Performance monitoring documentation from the authority is not publicly available, but the performance monitoring criteria are communicated publicly.
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162 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects Congestion Pricing Case Studies 163 Table 11-1. Singapore Electronic Road Pricing summary matrix.
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164 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects
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Along with implementing the congestion tax on a trial basis, the Stockholm Trial expanded public transit service and park-and-ride sites within the city and county. Specific goals of the trial included • A 10- to 15-percent reduction in the number of vehicles that entered the central city during morning and afternoon rush hours • Improved access on the busiest roads in Stockholm • Reduced emissions of CO2, NOx, and particulates in central city air • Better street-level environment as perceived by people in the central city During the Stockholm Trial, the Swedish government commissioned a Congestion Charge Secretariat to plan, coordinate, communicate, and evaluate the trial.
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Additional metrics tracked throughout the trial period included total vehicle kilometers traveled (inside the cordon and along approach roads) , mode share, bicycle and pedestrian counts, transit ridership and service, road safety, and various indicators of public perception.
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Public transportation ridership and service performance is monitored and continues to show improvement with the permanent charge in place. Public perceptions and business impacts are also tracked and are generally favorable.
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168 Evaluation and Performance Measurement of Congestion Pricing Projects Congestion Pricing Case Studies 169 Table 12-1. Stockholm congestion tax summary matrix.
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