Combining Tradable Credit Schemes with a New Form of Road Pricing: Producing Liveable Cities and Meeting Decarbonisation Goals

Jo-Ann Pattinson, Gillian Harrison, Caroline Mullen and Simon Shepherd
Additional contact information
Jo-Ann Pattinson: Institute for Transport Studies, Faculty of Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Gillian Harrison: Institute for Transport Studies, Faculty of Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Caroline Mullen: Institute for Transport Studies, Faculty of Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Simon Shepherd: Institute for Transport Studies, Faculty of Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 14, 1-22

Abstract: This paper considers how the implementation of a tradable credit scheme (TCS) may be used to reduce road traffic and to contribute to the formation of liveable cities and global climate change commitments. The concept of applying TCS to individual road transport is familiar to transport researchers as a measure to regulate congestion and reduce transport-related emissions. Yet, it is not a strategy currently being considered by policy makers in the UK, despite the electrification of the road vehicle fleet and the associated loss of tax revenue presenting a rare opportunity to alter the economic instruments, which apply to road traffic. We consider how transport researchers can capitalise on this unique moment in transport history to shape transport policy. Our study uses qualitative methods, including a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with transport stakeholders and experts, in addition to a literature review and document analysis. Data analysis is inductive, permitting the formation of new ideas about the potential benefits of TCS and the barriers to the application of TCS to real-world policy. Building upon the results of TCS experiments and the results of our analysis, we propose a novel potential form of TCS combined with road pricing to maintain government revenue, which incentivises road users to decrease road vehicle kilometres travelled and reduce pollution and congestion. The proposal contributes to the discussion on the governance of road transport and taxation.

Keywords: road pricing; tradable transport credit; road user charge; decarbonisation; congestion; transport permit; climate change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8413/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/14/14/8413/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:14:p:8413-:d:859012

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().