Attitudes towards road pricing and environmental taxation among US and UK students

This study investigates the determinants of public acceptability of road pricing and environmental taxation policies. The strength and direction of causal paths between psychological determinants and the acceptability of these policies are measured with survey data from students in New Jersey, USA and London. The estimated models show that a number of well-established psychological determinants provide an explanation for the acceptability of both policies and in both locations despite various differences in the policy scenarios. Scenario fairness appears to be the most important direct determinant of acceptability in both countries. We further verify the effect of “specific trust in government” on scenario fairness and other direct determinants that indicate the important role of government performance for achieving acceptability for these measures. Our findings further suggest that awareness of wider environmental issues, such as climate change, can lead to the support of specific sustainable transport policies, such as road pricing, which do not address climate change issues directly.

► General environmental awareness influences acceptance of road pricing. ► Trust in government is found to be another important determinant. ► Determinants of acceptability of road pricing and environmental taxation are similar. ► There are some differences in determinants of hypothetical and implemented policies.