Fostering the acceptance of congestion charges: Experimental evidence for Europe

Manuel Frondel, Viola Helmers and Stephan Sommer

No 1148, Ruhr Economic Papers from RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen

Abstract: Although there is ample empirical evidence that congestion charges can effectively reduce traffic congestion and its detrimental effects, this instrument has only been implemented in a handful European cities. On the basis of a randomized information experiment that was embedded in a survey across seven European countries, this paper empirically investigates whether information on their (i) effectiveness and (ii) a-posteriori acceptance may increase the public support for congestion charges. Relative to the control group, the results indicate that, on average, this information can raise acceptance by 9.3% and 7.1%, respectively. Moreover, while there is substantial heterogeneity in the acceptance across countries, attributing a concrete price level to the charge uniformly raises acceptance at low charge levels, but lowers it at high levels. Based on these results, we conclude that information campaigns on congestion charges and their benefits for commuters and city-dwellers are essential for fostering public support for this rarely employed transport policy instrument.

Keywords: Acceptability; congestion charge; public support; road pricing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C25 R48 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:rwirep:315484

DOI: 10.4419/96973331

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