Road pricing in a polycentric urban region: Analysing a pilot project in Belgium

In order to cope with growing car use and congestion, academics often suggest road pricing as a way to reduce car use and internalise external costs (such as congestion and air pollution). However, implementations of road pricing schemes are rather limited and mainly focus on large cities (i.e., cordon charges). Recently, the three regional governments of Belgium − a highly urbanised and polycentric country - have commissioned a pilot project of an area-wide, time- and location-differentiated road pricing scheme, hence differentiating charges according to the time of the day and the type of road used. Results of this project indicate that kilometres travelled by car mainly reduce in urban areas, while car use on motorways only reduces to a limited degree. Furthermore, results indicate that urban residents adapt their travel behaviour more than suburban and rural residents, probably because urban dwellers have more alternatives to travel than driving personal cars only, especially on the short run. In this paper, we will analyse the preliminary outcomes of the conducted pilot project, look into the limitations of this project and suggest an alternative road pricing scheme.