Travel Efficiency Strategies:
Transportation Pricing
Air quality in the United States has improved over the years as
w emission control technologies have reduced emissions from all
pollution sectors. Yet the transportation sector continues to be a major
source of criteria pollutant and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions across
the country. While emissions per mile traveled have decreased, growth
in travel activity has offset some of those reductions and presents a
challenge to achieving and maintaining air quality and protecting public
health.1 Investing in and implementing programs that reduce travel
activity can help to achieve state and local air quality and climate goals,
while creating a more accessible and sustainable transportation system.
£0
&Q
X
""It
U
-------
This document provides an overview of transportation pricing strategies and implementation
approaches.
Transportation Pricing Strategies
Transportation pricing is a category of TE strategies that use price as an incentive or disincentive
for using specific modes of travel, and/or at specific times. For example, changing the user costs of
driving could have an impact on emissions by altering travelers' choices towards modes like transit,
ridesharing, bicycling, or walking. Some pricing strategies may also encourage travelers to take
alternate routes or travel at non-peak times of day, decreasing congestion and associated air pollution.
Examples of transportation pricing are:
• Fuel Tax: A tax added to the sale per
volume of fuel.
• Parking Prices: A direct fee on
motorists for the use of a parking facility
typically in specific locations, such as
downtown areas or college campuses.
• Roadway Tolls: A pricing mechanism
where the motorist pays an access fee
for using a road or bridge. This category
includes congestion pricing, sometimes called value pricing, where a demand-based price
for use of certain roadways is applied; and zone-based pricing, also known as cordon or area
pricing, where road users are charged a fee to enter specific areas.
• VMT Fees: Also called mileage-based user fees or road usage charging, VMT fees charge
drivers for the use of roadways based on the number of miles traveled.
In the TEAM case studies, EPA partnered with state and local agencies to assess various strategies.
These included potential transportation pricing strategies, which were estimated to provide
significant VMT' reductions3 Other potential benefits from these strategies include:
• Reduced criteria pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions; and
• State and/or local revenue for transportation and other expenditures.
Implementation Approaches
The following table provides examples of how transportation pricing might be implemented at a
local or regional scale.
3 Transportation pricing strategies, like VMT fees and parking pricing, showed the biggest potential impact on
regional light-duty VMT in case study areas. Hypothetical pricing strategies of $0.05 -$0.10/mi resulted in 3.83% -
9.56% decrease in VMT and emissions compared to the future Business as Usual (BAU) cases. See EPA's factsheet,:
Travel Efficiency Assessment Method: Key Takeaways from State and Local Case Studies to Reduce Transportation
Emissions, EPA-420-F-20-042, July 2020.
-------
Fuel Tax
Increase state fuel
taxes, e.g., to account
for roadway costs
and/or air pollution
impacts
Parking Prices
Increase parking rates
for parking structures
located within a
downtown business
district
Use adaptive parking
pricing to adjust
parking prices in
different locations and
at different times of
day based on demand
Restructure employee
parking permits
Decrease or remove
parking subsidies in
business districts
Roadway Tolls
introduce a dynamic
tolling system that
varies prices in real
time based on current
traffic, to moderate
demand on different
roadways
Charge fixed
congestion fees
for driving in busy
districts during peak
hours
Adjust or add flat tolls
on specific facilities
(highway corridor,
bridges, tunnels, etc.)
VMT Fees
Impose a per-mile
fee for all light-duty
vehicle travel in the
region via a VMT
pricing program
Promote the use
of pay-per-mile
insurance plans
X
u
1
I
Implementation Example: San Francisco's Demand-Responsive Parking Program
Since 2011, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation
Agency has implemented SFpark, a demand-responsive
parking program at over 1,600 city blocks and ofl-street
parking facilities. Through "smart pricing," the program
periodically raises or lowers the price of parking based off
the average occupancy to match demand. Parking rates
can vary by block, time of day, and weekday or weekend,
but the price of parking is bound by a maximum and
minimum hourly rate. The demand-responsive pricing
encourages drivers to park in underused areas and
garages, which reduces the demand for parking in highly
utilized areas.4
See the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's Demand-Responsive Parking Pricing website (https://
www.sfmta.com/demand-responsive-parking-pricing).
See the SFpark Pilot Project Evaluation Summary (https://www.sfmta.com/sites/default/files/reports-and-
documents/2018/04/sfpark_eval_summary_2014.pdf).
In 2014, SFpark was evaluated as a pilot program and
showed that demand-responsive pricing worked to readjust parking patterns in the city so that
parking was easier to find. The improved parking availability meant that blocks were less frequently
full, and overall drivers spent less time and fewer miles looking for parking. Other benefits were also
realized. The average parking rate decreased overall for both on- and oft-street parking, the city issued
fewer average parking citations per meter, and there was a reduction in double-parking, which led to
increased road safety for all users.5
3
-------
Implementation Example: VMT Road Usage
As transportation revenue from fuels taxes
decrease due to an increasingly fuel-efficient,
fleet, several states have started to explore
VMT pricing programs that may raise revenue
for transportation improvements while
incentivizing motorists to lower their personal
VMT. As of 2022, 14 state and regional pilot
projects (in California, Delaware, Hawaii,
Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire,
Ohio, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington,
and Wyoming) have received federal grants to
explore alternative funding mechanisms such as
road usage charges.6
More Information
For more information about EPA's work on travel efficiency (including 1 EAM user guide, technical
documentation, and detailed case studies), please visit EPA's Travel Efficiency website.
Charge
TOLL
W ALLJ^rtES
Washington^
T0 South
* For a series of Road Usage Fact Sheets developed by the National Conference of State Legislatures, please visit their
website (https://www.ncsl.org/transportation/state-road-usage-charge4oolkit).
------- |