July 2007 Washington Post Article on Congestion Fee Research

Assessing Congestion Fees to Ease Washington, DC Traffic

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In a June 22 Washington Post feature, research by RFF researchers Elena Safirova, Winston Harrington, and Sébastien Houde illustrates the economic impact and commuter time savings if traffic congestion fees were imposed on motorists in downtown Washington, DC. Similar systems have been established in London and Stockholm, and New York City is considering a per-vehicle charge to reduce congestion in busy areas.

The Post presentation outlined how such a congestion pricing scheme would work in a cordoned area around downtown Washington and estimated the travel time savings on popular commuter routes, summarizing findings from Safirova, Harrington, and Houde's discussion paper, "Long-Term Consequences of Congestion Pricing: A Small Cordon in the Hand Is Worth Two in the Bush."

In that discussion paper, the authors evaluate and compare the long-term economic effects of several cordon-based road pricing schemes - a small, large, and double cordons - applied to the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. In a cordon toll scheme, a fee is charged for all car trips crossing a boundary around the city center. Travelers who want to cross the boundary and drive into the city during rush hour have to pay a toll. Alternatively, travelers can switch to public transportation or travel during other time periods.

Long-Term Consequences of Congestion Pricing: A Small Cordon in the Hand is Worth Two in the Bush"
Elena A. Safirova, Sébastien Houde, Conrad T. Coleman, Winston Harrington, and D. Abram Lipman
DP 06-42|October 2006

They found that all cordon pricing schemes increase welfare of the residents and lead to GDP growth. When toll charges are set at an optimal level, a large cordon and a double cordon both lead to higher benefits than a small cordon encompassing the downtown core. Nevertheless, the small cordon seems to be a safer bet because when the toll charge is set suboptimally, the net benefits from the small cordon compared to the optimum change negligibly, while the net benefits from the larger cordon decline sharply as the charge deviates from the optimal level.

The work uses a model called LUSTRE, a new, integrated model developed at Resources for the Future that simulates land-use, transportation, and economic activity in the nation's capital and was the topic of a daylong workshop at RFF in March entitled "Modeling Growth for the Nation's Capital: A Work in Transit."

LUSTRE (Land Use, Strategic Transport and Regional Economy) is an integrated and spatially disaggregated land-use and transportation model calibrated for the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. It combines two smaller models: Regional Economy and Land Use (RELU), which represents economic and spatial behavior of consumers, firms, and developers in a metropolitan area and was developed by Alex Anas and Safirova; and Strategic Transport (START), which provides details on transportation choices made by economic agents such as mode, time period, and parking. START was developed by Tony May and is now maintained by MVA Consultancy of the UK.

Modeling Growth for the Nation's Capital: A Work in Transit
LUSTRE Conference March 27, 2007

Unlike in other land-use/transportation models, the integration in LUSTRE takes place at the level of individual agents, who make trade-offs in housing, transport, and other goods based on their idiosyncratic preferences and the unique prices they face. The model also incorporates unemployment, taxes, and alternate transportation modes.