Managing equity

Abstract

Several authors have pointed out the equity issue as one of the chief obstacles to public acceptance of road pricing proposals. In this paper the management of equity concerns in road pricing planning and decision-making is analyzed, using experience from four Norwegian cities. Two of these cities have implemented more or less sophisticated toll rings, one city has established a local petrol fee, and one city has rejected road pricing schemes on several occasions. The analysis outlines the different distributive principles that have been proposed, rejected or adopted as features of charging and revenue disposal. Changes in equity attention before and after implementation of the schemes are investigated. The use of impartial arguments as cover-ups for selfish interests are discussed. Responsiveness towards equity claims in the public discourse has been a prerequisite for the acceptance of road pricing schemes. Nevertheless, the contention is that the planners' handling of equity concerns certainly could be improved.