ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the idea of urban road pricing by examining why it should be considered and how it could be implemented. It describes the main issues surrounding the acceptability of urban road pricing by comparing past road pricing schemes and proposals. Road pricing has its theoretical foundations in the neoclassical approach to microeconomics. The design of an urban road pricing scheme depends upon the policy objectives of the operating authority. The chapter critically examines the issues of acceptability that have arisen to identify the current state of knowledge regarding how acceptably to implement a scheme. It provides a starting point that indicates what types of ideas need to be discovered to meet the research objectives and improve acceptability. In the DoT programme, the effect on the economy was considered in depth. The London Congestion Charging Research Programme investigated feasible options for congestion charging and what the impacts would be on London, its people and its economy.
