The congestion charge policy that has been mentioned many times will be "real" in Beijing this year. The Beijing Municipal Political Consultative Conference held a consultation meeting on smog control last week. The relevant departments in Beijing said that they have initially formulated the policy scheme and technical scheme for traffic congestion charging, and are currently in the stage of further in-depth research and demonstration. In addition, they have initially formulated the charging policy and scheme by learning from the experience of Singapore and London. So in Singapore, London and other cities with similar congestion charges, has the traffic situation improved?
Singapore: ERP system charges per time
Singapore is the first country in the world to expropriate congestion charges. In 1998, Singapore began to implement the Electronic Toll Collection System (ERP), which charges vehicles according to the real-time traffic congestion. But long before ERP, Singapore has restricted the time for vehicles to enter the city center every week by issuing permits. Simply put, ERP system is to set up toll gates on busy roads and highways. Each gate is marked with the charging standard for entering the road section during this period, and vehicles will have to pay the fee as long as they enter the road during the charging period. Different types of vehicles implement different charging standards.
At present, ERP is a per-charge, that is, every time you enter a toll road, you need to pay a fee. However, the charging standard of each road at different time periods changes in real time. Specifically, the system will calculate the charging standard according to the average speed of the area. If the average speed in urban areas is less than 20km/h (20km/h to 30km/h is the best speed range for keeping traffic smooth), or the average speed of expressways is less than 45km/h, congestion charges will start to increase. The lower the speed, the higher the price, and the charge of each gate is adjusted every half hour during busy hours.
According to the experience of the Global Times reporter, between 8: 00 am and 9: 00 am, and between 5: 00 pm and 7: 00 pm, the ERP of busy roads in urban areas will be as high as S $3 each time (S $1 is about 4.77 RMB), and the highest is S $6. Generally speaking, vehicles passing through busy roads will not only pass through a toll gate, so the daily congestion charge is really not a small expense.
Although the number of vehicles is strictly limited by the high car license, with the increase of the total number of vehicles, the number of gates of ERP in Singapore is also increasing. From 2004 to 2014, the number of ERP gates in Singapore increased from 45 to 77. The amount of ERP fees has also been continuously raised.
In order to rationalize the charges as much as possible, the calculation formula of ERP in Singapore will be adjusted every three months. For example, the Singapore Land Transport Bureau has just announced that during the school holiday in June, 23 toll gates on 13 sections of the island will be lowered by 50 cents to S $1. And this amount will be adjusted again in August.
Although the high fees make drivers dissatisfied, data from the Singapore government show that ERP has really changed the public’s travel habits. According to statistics, ERP has reduced the traffic volume in downtown Singapore by 13% and increased the average speed during rush hours by 20%. In 2014, the average speed of expressways in Singapore was 64.1 km/h, and the speed of CBD and main roads was 28.9 km/h, both reaching the standards set by the Land Transport Bureau. In addition, the Singapore government is also actively developing the second generation ERP, which will be more scientific and reasonable based on the global positioning system and the actual distance traveled by vehicles on congested roads.
It is worth mentioning that the success of ERP system in Singapore is based on its developed and convenient public transport system. According to statistics, the number of public transport passengers in Singapore has increased for ten years in a row, and the public’s satisfaction with the public transport system services is as high as 91.8%. It can be said that it is the comfort and convenience of public transportation that is the prerequisite for ERP to play a role in traffic congestion control.
London: The "congestion charge" is 250 million pounds a year.
The Global Times reporter observed that most Londoners choose subway, train, light rail, bus and other public transport or ride bicycles, and few people drive to work, which is not only because of the limited parking spaces and high parking fees in the city center, but also related to higher congestion charges.
Congestion charges in London has been levied since 2003, and it is implemented in the "congestion charging zone" covering the whole financial district and commercial and entertainment district of London from 7 am to 6 pm every Monday to Friday, except weekends and public holidays. The London traffic closed-circuit television camera network will capture the license plate of the vehicle entering the "congestion charging area", and the owner must pay the fee before midnight that day. If he fails to pay the fee on time, he will face a daily cumulative fine. The congestion charge in London was originally 5 pounds per day (1 pound is about 9.62 yuan), which rose to 8 pounds per day in July 2005 and 11.5 pounds per day again in June 2014.
When Livingston, then mayor of London, planned to levy congestion charges in 2003, he was strongly opposed by motor vehicle owners. However, in the past ten years, the expropriation of congestion charges did not cause traffic paralysis, but brought immediate effect, reducing the traffic volume in the heart of the British capital by about 15%.
According to the regulations, transport for london must return the collected congestion charges to the reinvestment of public transport, improve the urban environment, increase road safety and develop public transport. In the ten fiscal years from 2003 to 2013, congestion charges’s total revenue reached 2.6 billion pounds, of which 46% was reinvested in the construction of transportation system; According to transport for london’s annual report for the fiscal year 2014-2015, the congestion fee revenue was 257 million pounds, equivalent to 8.5% of the annual revenue of the Transportation Bureau.
Italy: Pass for Payment Office in Restricted Zone
In order to limit the flow of motor vehicles in certain places, such as downtown tourist areas, most cities in Italy have traffic restricted zones, which generally prohibit vehicles without permits from entering during working hours. For example, the traffic restricted zone in downtown Rome is closed from 6: 30 am to 6: 00 pm every Monday to Friday. Residents’ vehicles living in the restricted area are not affected by this restriction. In addition, public transport such as buses and taxis are also outside the restricted objects.
Italy is one of the countries with the highest motor vehicle ownership rate in the world, with an average of more than 60 motor vehicles per 100 people, and the ownership rate in big cities such as Rome and Milan even approaches or exceeds 1 per person. Driving is Italy’s favorite mode of transportation, but the establishment of traffic restricted zone has not affected the normal travel of ordinary residents. Because there are many one-way lanes and branch routes, you can still reach your destination by bypassing the no-go zone. If the owner must pass through the restricted zone within the restricted time due to special reasons, he can also apply for the restricted zone pass by paying about 2,300 euros per year (including the parking fee in the restricted zone, 1 euro is about 7.33 yuan). The unlicensed trespassing in the restricted area will pay a fine of about 100 euros each time.
Different from cities such as London and Singapore, the purpose of setting up traffic restricted zones in Italian cities is to limit the traffic flow and ensure the safety of tourists. Italy is a country with the largest number of world heritages. In order to ensure that tourists’ sightseeing is not affected by excessive traffic, most traffic restricted areas are located in the historical center of the city center.
Secondly, reducing the driving of motor vehicles will help to keep the pollution in the restricted area at a low level and reduce the damage to historical sites. Take the Colosseum in the center of Rome as an example. Due to the attack of automobile exhaust in previous decades, the exterior wall surface of the marble Colosseum gradually changed from beeswax to dark brown. The Italian cultural relics protection department spent about 20 million euros in the past two years to complete the surface cleaning work and make the Colosseum glow again. Because there are also many unexplored underground relics, a large number of motor vehicles will crush the ground and cause permanent damage to these relics. In addition to the restricted area, some areas will even be set as no-go areas, and all motor vehicles are prohibited from passing except public transportation.(Special correspondent of Global Times in Italy, Britain and Singapore Han Bingzhen, Sun Wei and Wang Zhe)
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