An Equitable and Integrated Approach to Paying for Roads in a Time of Rapid Change

A brief overview of transportation user fees (historically and in a contemporary context) is presented followed by a discussion on how segmenting travel into three categories –long haul, the last mile, and at the curb–creates a new typology for transportation pricing and access mechanisms. A case study based upon California’s recent Road Charge Pilot Program demonstrates a quantitative example for a blended long haul/last mile approach using a parametric mileagebased user fee (MBUF); the case investigates distributional cost burdens under different pricing calibration scenarios. Thereare many ways to raise the same amount of money with a parametric structure, but compared to a gas tax and flat mileagebased fee,a parametric structure may produce a better distribution of cost burdens. Technical, political, legal, and other considerations for implementing anMBUFarediscussed, drawn from a literature review of current efforts; often these aspectscan direct the development of a pricing mechanism as much if not more than empirically derived goalsThe conclusion discusses how this approach can aid in the development of pricing mechanisms that move closer to the userpays principle.