Implementing the improbable urban road pricing scheme

Road pricing is a policy measure recommended by transport planners and economists, but considered infeasible by many due to political and public resistance. The Trondheim experience demonstrates how a crude road pricing scheme can be implemented in a moderately congested city while paying heed to democratic decision-making. Fair and democratic procedure requires that the planning include a responsive citizen participation process, that the political parties feed all the viewpoints of the main interest groups into the City Council decision-making, and that the public debate be open and admit all groups mass media coverage. Lessons from the Trondheim toll ring case are offered concerning (1) interests and coalition building, (2) pro and con arguments, (3) the viability of democratic procedure, (4) frequent forms of manipulation, and (5) main issues of design and revenue spending.     

The rationality of transport investment packages

Investment packages, involving several modes, emerge as a widely used element in urban transport policies. Package policies entail some specific possibilities and traps in the planning and decision-making processes. To assess these properties, the concepts of instrumental and communicative rationality are applied. These rationality concepts serve to structure the pro and con arguments concerning four crucial considerations in package planning: The use of formal impact assessment methods, the overall size and changeability of the investment packages, the share of road vs green modes investments, and the sequence of implementation. These issues are investigated by drawing on experience from transport investment packages in six Norwegian cities.