Modeling the Effect of Congestion Charge and Parking Pricing on Urban Traffic: Example of Jerusalem

Ben-Dor, Golan; Ogulenko, Aleksey; Klein, Ido; Benenson, Itzhak · 2022 · Crossref

DOI: 10.5194/agile-giss-3-26-2022

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Summary

This study investigates the efficacy of congestion charges and parking pricing as policy tools to reduce urban traffic congestion, specifically within the Jerusalem Metropolitan Area (JMA). The research is motivated by the failure of Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft to alleviate congestion, suggesting that Pigouvian taxes remain the primary mechanism for correcting negative externalities such as pollution and noise. The authors aim to determine if socially acceptable pricing schemes can effectively shift travelers from private cars to public transport (PT) and reduce arrivals in highly congested urban centers. To address this, the researchers employed the Multi-Agent Transport Simulation (MATSim) framework, an agent-based model that simulates individual traveler adaptation to traffic conditions. They developed a calibrated model for Jerusalem (JMATSim) using 2017–2020 data, including residential distribution, building attributes, and land-use layers. The simulation involved approximately 450,000 agents representing 30% of the metropolitan population, with activities assigned to over 100,000 facilities. The model was validated against ~1,500 traffic counts, achieving a high fit ($R^2 = 0.826$) and accurately reproducing the regional modal split. The study compared scenarios involving congestion charges (5€–20€ for entering the city center) and hourly parking prices (5€–20€/h), analyzing their impact on car trips, dwell times, and modal shifts. The results demonstrate that congestion charges and parking prices have distinct effects on traffic behavior. A congestion charge of 7–12€ decreased arrivals into the city center by approximately 25% but did not significantly reduce dwell time, which remained around 2 hours and 15 minutes. In contrast, parking prices primarily reduced dwell time; a modest price of 5€/hour cut the average stay in the city center by roughly one hour (to 1 hour and 15 minutes). Both mechanisms induced a significant modal shift, with a 10% reduction in car use for city center visits as travelers switched to PT and walking. Notably, combining both pricing strategies did not yield additional reductions in car trips beyond what was achieved by either measure alone. The percentage of congested links dropped significantly under both schemes, with 5€/hour parking prices achieving congestion levels similar to a 10€ congestion charge. The study concludes that urban policymakers have two distinct options for managing congestion, each targeting different behaviors. Congestion pricing uniformly influences all visitors by discouraging entry, whereas parking pricing specifically reduces the duration of stays, affecting activities like shopping and leisure. The findings suggest that a reasonable charge of 10€ for congestion or 5€ for hourly parking can effectively reduce congestion by 25% in the city center. These insights provide a quantitative basis for designing socially acceptable pricing schemes that could serve as a foundation for future Mobility-On-Demand arrangements, highlighting the importance of distinguishing between reducing entry volume and reducing dwell time in urban traffic management.

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• traffic density