This report reviews the case for congestion charging and provides a policy framework for assessing charging systems. At this time, congestion charging schemes are still in their infancy and evolving in concert with changing policy priorities and system technologies. While individual circumstances determine when and where congestion charging is in the interest of the wider community, some important general lessons can be drawn.

Update August 2009

Responses to the discussion of personalised promotion of alternatives to solo driving (pages 26–7), as one of the existing strategies to manage congestion, have drawn our attention, firstly, to some larger-scale current initiatives of Australian jurisdictions and, secondly, to more recent literature on the effectiveness of the travel behaviour change approach in relation to its various objectives, particularly reducing motorised trips and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

For information on existing activities in two states, see About Travelsmart and Travelsmart General Information. On the effectiveness and impact of the travel behaviour approach, as implemented in Australia and the United Kingdom, see in particular: Australian Greenhouse Office, Evaluation of TravelSmart Projects in the ACT, South Australia, Queensland, Victoria and Western Australia 2001–2005, Department of Environment and Heritage 2006; Brog W. And Ker I., Myths, (Mis)perceptions and reality in measuring voluntary behaviour change, 8th International Conference on Survey Methods in Transport, Annecy, France, May 2008; Department for Transport (United Kingdom), Making Personal Travel Planning Work: Research Report, Integrated Transport Planning Ltd, December 2007; Department for Transport (United Kingdom), Impact assessment of the carbon reduction strategy for transport, July 2009; and Stopher P., Clifford E., Halling B., Evaluating a voluntary travel behaviour change by means of a 3-year GPS panel, Proceedings of the TDM2008 Conference, Vienna, Austria (forthcoming).

• Moving urban Australia: can congestion charging unclog our roads?
  

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