How to solve urban traffic congestion economics

(1) Increase road carrying capacity

Increase the traffic capacity of a city by increasing road supply, reduce traffic congestion, and reduce congestion. However, both domestic and foreign experience tells us that simply relying on increasing road traffic facilities cannot fundamentally solve the problem of traffic congestion. At the same time, Adams, an American traffic researcher, pointed out that the construction of new road facilities can reduce travel time, but at the same time, it will attract traffic from other roads and other modes to transfer to the new roads. After a period of time, Afterwards, traffic congestion on the newly constructed road will return to its original condition. Generally speaking, new road construction will not change the original congestion level, and the induced traffic will quickly occupy the newly added road facilities. Induced traffic is potential traffic that was previously unrealized due to road supply levels. Therefore, simply relying on increasing road traffic facilities cannot fundamentally solve the problem of traffic congestion.

(2) Levying congestion charges

“When external problems occur, relying on the market cannot solve the damage, and free competition cannot maximize welfare.”, in In this case, the government needs to intervene in the market and adopt appropriate economic policies of incentives and restrictions to overcome the deviation of marginal personal costs and marginal social costs. Specifically applied to the problem of traffic congestion, it is to directly tax travelers who experience traffic congestion. Through taxation, the external marginal cost MC× caused by negative externalities is added to the traveller’s marginal personal cost MCP. The travel cost of the last traveler is MCP'=MCP+MCX=MCS (marginal social cost). Therefore, under the influence of maximizing personal utility MCS=MRS=MRP, travelers start from personal interests, and the traffic volume will automatically reduce from Q2 to Q1, achieve optimal traffic volume, thus limiting the occurrence of externality problems through taxation. In the same way, on the other hand, the government provides subsidies equivalent to externalities to non-travelers, that is, victims of congestion, based on the number of eliminated externalities 02 to Q1, and encourages their number to increase from Q1 to Q2

Currently, many countries, such as the United Kingdom and Singapore, limit people's demand for vehicles by charging motorists high congestion fees or parking fees on key road sections, thereby reducing the number of vehicles on the road and improving traffic. London has decided to reduce the number of vehicles driving on Sundays by 15% in an effort to tackle traffic congestion on the capital's streets, and plans to charge a ￡5 fee to those driving into central London from January 2003. Singapore is the first country in the world to establish an electronic road pricing system (Electronic Road Pricing System) in urban areas. The system was officially put into use in September 1998. The current ERP system has replaced the Area Pass System (ALS), which was used in 1975, and the Road Pricing System (RPS) used on three major highways in the early 1990s. In Orlando, Florida, prior to 1994, daily rush hour traffic jams at the Holland East Toll Plaza on State Route 408 often stretched for a mile or more. However, since the introduction of electronic toll collection in 1994, passengers can pay without stopping their journey, and the throughput has increased from 3,400 vehicles/hour to 7,800 vehicles/hour.

(3) Other measures

1. Stagger the commuting time. Dispersing traffic demand over time can also alleviate traffic pressure and improve traffic efficiency. Staggering commuting times is ideal, but due to living and working habits, it is very difficult to operate and is not suitable for most industries. Therefore, its effect on alleviating traffic pressure is limited, and it may not necessarily achieve maximum economic efficiency.

2. Prioritize the development of public transportation. The promotion of public transportation is most in line with the original intention of urban transportation as a public product. It is also a practical measure that can play a role in reducing traffic congestion, reducing environmental pollution, and saving resources. However, it is not beneficial to a country. Development of the automotive industry. And for individuals, cars are always more comfortable and convenient than buses, and can better reflect personal identity and status. Therefore, as income levels increase, people have the desire to own their own cars.

3. The intelligent transportation system is an ideal traffic demand management model, which can not only alleviate and eliminate traffic congestion, but also maximize the use of existing roads, thereby achieving maximum economic efficiency; but In reality, most cities in most countries do not yet have such high-tech capabilities. Therefore, for most current cities, they can only stay on traditional line and parking demand control. 4. Conclusion

Through the economic analysis and countermeasure research on traffic congestion, it is shown that increasing road supply is necessary, but blindly increasing road supply cannot solve all problems, not to mention that increasing road supply is limited by land. , and it will cost a lot of money to build roads. Therefore, a more effective way to solve traffic congestion is traffic demand management. In traffic demand management, various methods have their advantages and disadvantages, and a single method cannot solve the congestion problem. We should see that there are many causes of traffic congestion. Building qualified roads and improving road efficiency are the keys to eliminating congestion. However, the main cause of congestion lies in insufficient urban planning. Insufficient urban planning results in more people and fewer cars, more cars and fewer roads. The traffic arteries cannot form a reasonable network, making the roads unable to fully function. The introduction of congestion charging will be an important measure to alleviate traffic congestion, but it needs to be carefully studied. In fact, since the concept of "traffic congestion charges" was proposed to the present, there have been countless controversies in various cities and even across the country. Analysis of a set of data shows that there are objective reasons why London implemented this measure and achieved success: while increasing road capacity, London not only vigorously developed public transportation, including 3,730 kilometers of bus lines and 329 kilometers of subways. , 28 kilometers of light rail and 788 kilometers of railways; there are about 8,500 buses and 700 operating lines, many of which operate 24 hours a day. Efforts are also made to improve the level of traffic management, and the level of informatization and intelligent management is very high. It was after all these works were completed and the traffic situation was still not ideal that the decision was made to introduce a "traffic congestion charge" to improve traffic.

Our country is the most populous country in the world. Once the income of urban residents increases to a level where they can generally afford to buy cars, our country's traffic congestion problem will become more serious. Take Beijing as an example. The number of cars in Beijing is increasing rapidly at a rate of 1,000 vehicles per day. Beijing's environment and transportation still face great difficulties. Therefore, the government accelerates the construction and improvement of the public transportation network with rail transit as the backbone, optimizes the layout of the bus line network, makes good connections between public transportation, and encourages the development of bicycle rental services to build a people-oriented public transportation network. *Transportation system. On this basis, traffic pressure will be alleviated by formulating economic policies including parking fees and license fees. Administrative policies such as traffic restrictions on odd and even numbers and staggered commuting limit people's travel choices and are difficult to implement in the long term. Economic policies use economic leverage to rationally allocate limited resources such as roads, transportation facilities, and parking spaces. Regulation to achieve the effect of managing traffic demand.