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Traffic congestion persists despite São Paulo’s municipal no-drive days based on license numbers, implemented since 1997. São Paulo downtown, Brasil.

Road space rationing (Spanish: Restricción vehicular; Portuguese: Rodízio veicular) is a travel demand management strategy aimed to reduce the negative externalities generated by peak urban travel demand in excess of available supply or road capacity, through artificially restricting demand (vehicle travel) by rationing the scarce common good road capacity during the peak periods. This objective is achieved through restricting access into an urban cordon area or city center based upon the last digits of the license number on pre-established days and during certain periods, usually, the peak hours.

The practical implementation of this policy is common in Latin America, and in many cases, the road rationing has as a main goal the reduction of air pollution, such as the cases of México City, and Santiago, Chile. São Paulo, with a fleet of 6 million vehicles in 2007, is the largest metopolis in the world with such a travel restriction, implemented first in 1996 as measured to mitigate air pollution, and thereafter made permanent in 1997 to relief traffic congestion. More recent implementations in Costa Rica and Honduras have had the objective of reducing oil consumption, due to the high impact this import has on the economy of small countries, and considering the steep increases in oil prices that began in 2003.

Contents

• 1 Alternative rationing policies
  • 1.1 Congestion pricing
  • 1.2 Mobility rights or congestion credits
• 2 Applications of road space rationing
• 3 Proposed restrictions during next Summer Olympics
  • 3.1 Beijing 2008
  • 3.2 London 2012
• 4 See also
• 5 References
• 6 External links

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Alternative rationing policies

Congestion pricing

Further information: Congestion pricing

Transport economists consider road space rationing a variation of road pricing, and an alternative to congestion pricing, but road space rationing is considered more equitable, as the restrictions force all drivers to reduce auto travel, while congestion pricing restrains less those who can afford paying the congestion charge. Nevertheless, high-income users can always avoid the restrictions by owning a second car.

Mobility rights or congestion credits

A more recent and acceptable policy on automobile travel restrictions, proposed by transport economists

Applications of road space rationing

Road space rationing based on license numbers has been implemented in cities such as Athens (1982),. All these cities restrain a percentage of vehicles every weekday during rush hours or for the entire day. When the restriction is based in two digits a theoretical 20% reduction of traffic is expected. Cities with serious air quality problems, such as México City and Santiago use more digits to achieve greater reductions in air pollution, and even the prohibition can be for more than one day a week.

Bertrand Delanoe, the mayor of Paris, proposed to impose a complete ban on motor vehicles in the city’s inner districts, with exemptions only for residents, businesses, and the disabled, as a three-part plan to implement during a seven year period. which ended up being won by London.

During the discussions regarding the proposal to introduce congestion pricing in New York, the commission created in 2007 by the New York State Legislature to evaluate other traffic relief options, considered road space rationing based on license plates as an alternative to congestion pricing.

Proposed restrictions during next Summer Olympics

Beijing 2008

On July 20, 2008, Beijing implemented a temporary road space rationing based on plate numbers in order to significantly improve air quality in the city during the 2008 Summer Olympics.

A pilot test was conducted in August 2007 for four days, restricting driving for a third of Beijing’s fleet, some 1.3 million vehicles.

London 2012

The 2012 Summer Olympics organization, with support from the Mayor of London office,

See also

• Common good (economics)
• Commons dilemma
• Congestion pricing
• Externalities
• Public good
• Rationing
• Road pricing
• Tragedy of the Commons

References

1. ^ Victoria Transport Policy Institute. “Vehicle Restrictions. Limiting Automobile Travel At Certain Times and Places”. TDM Encyclopedia. Retrieved on 2008-04-09. See Equity Impacts section
2. ^ Verhoef E, Nijkamp P, Rietveld P (1997). “Tradeable permits: their potential in the regulation of road transport externalities”. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design 24(4) 527 – 548. Retrieved on 2008-04-11.
3. ^ José M. Viegas (2001). “Making urban road pricing acceptable and effective: searching for quality and equity in urban mobility”. Transport Policy, Vol 8, Issue 4, October 2001, pp. 289-294. Retrieved on 2008-04-11.
4. ^ Kara M. Kockelman and Sukumar Kalmanje (2005). “Credit-based congestion pricing: a policy proposal and the public’s response”. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Vol. 39, Issues 7-9, August-November 2005, pp. 671-690. Retrieved on 2008-04-11.
5. ^ “LEDA Measure: License plate based traffic restrictions, Athens, Greece”. LEDA database. Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
6. ^ “Los choferes públicos acataron la restricción” (in Spanish). La Prensa (2003-01-07). Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
7. ^ Ángela Ávalos (2005-08-03). “Hoy empieza restricción para autos en centro de San José” (in Spanish). La Nación. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
8. ^ Mercedes Agüero (2006-04-12). “Evaluarán restricción vehicular en capital” (in Spanish). La Nación. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
9. ^ “Unos 39.000 vehículos dejan de circular en Honduras para ahorrar petróleo” (in Spanish). La Nación (2007-04-07). Retrieved on 2008-04-09.
10. ^ Henley, Jon (2005-03-15). “Paris drive to cut traffic in centre by 75%”, The Guardian (London), Guardian Media Group. Retrieved on 2008-04-26. 
11. ^ Bremner, Charles (2005-03-15). “Paris bans cars to make way for central pedestrian zone”, Times Online. Retrieved on 2008-04-26. 
12. ^ William Neuman (2008-01-25). “Traffic Panel Members Expecto to Endorse Fees on Cars”. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-04-07.
13. ^ Nicholas Confessore (2008-04-08). “$8 Traffic Fee for Manhattan Gets Nowhere”. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
14. ^ “Car restrictions begin in Beijing”, BBC News (2008-07-20). Retrieved on 2008-07-25. 
15. ^ Andrew Jacobs (2008-04-14). “Traffic Beijing Stops Construction for Olympics”, New York Times. Retrieved on 2008-04-14. 
16. ^ a b Stephen Wade (2008-06-20). “Beijing sets restrictions on cars during Olympics”, National Examiner. Retrieved on 2008-06-23. 
17. ^ Anita Chang (2008-07-21). “Beijing has first workday under car restrictions”, The Washington Post. Retrieved on 2008-07-25. 
18. ^ Reuters (2008-06-23). “Beijing to launch Olympic ‘odd-even’ car ban”, ABC news. Retrieved on 2008-06-23. 
19. ^ Edward Cody (2007-08-11). “Beijing To Test Plan to Cut Cars: Measure Intended For ‘08 Olympics”. Washington Post. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
20. ^ “Pequim vai adotar rodízio de veículos durante os Jogos” (in Portuguese). Agencia Xinhua (2008-03-28). Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
21. ^ Yuxuan Wang, Michael B. McElroy, et al. (2007). “Traffic restrictions associated with the Sino-African summit: Reductions of NOx detected from space”. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 34. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
22. ^ “The 2012 Olympic Games and the environment”. Mayor of London official website. Retrieved on 2008-04-10.
23. ^ “Car-Free Travel: London Olympic Organizers Hope to Reform Britain”. Spiegel ONLINE (2007-10-23). Retrieved on 2008-04-10.
24. ^ “London 2012 Olympics the first to be “car-free”". AutoBlogGreen (2007-10-31). Retrieved on 2008-04-10.

External links

• Online TDM Encyclopedia – Vehicle restrictions

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