3 Draft criteria for assessment Criteria General description Application to road pricing 1. Economic efficiency Maximising societal welfare, particularly in the presence of market failure. Incorporates triple bottom line considerations incorporating economic, social and environmental costs and benefits from a perspective. For transport policies and projects this is principally driven by changes in demand through travel patterns/behaviour. Likely demand impacts of different pricing models need to be considered including how each option contributes to more efficient use of existing transport infrastructure. Adverse impacts to travel patterns at a pricing boundary should be considered. 2. Beneficiary alignment User or beneficiary pays principle –aligning the charging associated with provision of infrastructure with users and those who benefit from the infrastructure. Road pricing policy should aim to ensure those who use the roads the most are the ones who contribute to the cost of the infrastructure. Contribution should be proportionate to benefits received. Those with similar levels of benefit should be treated similarly. 3. Fairness This incorporates affordability and fairness. Fairness allows for socioeconomic and demographic factors as well as spatial impacts. people live, how far they travel to work and how often they travel are informed by socio-economic factors. Pricing policies should consider social equity and distributional impacts and be affordable so that we do not facilitate transport disadvantage. 4. Environmental impacts Environmental considerations including greenhouse gases, noise, impacts on urban separation, heritage, flora and fauna. Pricing policies can affect the demand for travel, which in turn will impact on greenhouse gases, noise and the amenity of the natural environment. This includes consideration of pricing models that may divert traffic onto local roads with adverse amenity impacts
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