ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to study the public policy decision-making process with respect to road user charging as a means of combating road traffic congestion in urban areas. More specifically, it aims to deal with how the decision-making process could be undertaken in order to achieve political acceptability and therefore overcome potential barriers to implementation. The book offers an explanation of the situation with respect to road user charging and assists practitioners in decision-making in the light of both the existing literature and research findings. It utilises two examples of road user charging schemes. One is congestion metering, which failed to advance beyond a field trial in the city of Cambridge UK (between 1990 and 1993) and the other is congestion charging which was successfully implemented in Central London in February 2003.
