Urban Road Pricing

Also called road user charges (RUC), urban road pricing consists of direct charges levied for the use of roads, including  tolls, distance or time based fees, congestion charges and charges designed to discourage use of certain classes of vehicle, fuel sources or more polluting vehicles.  These charges may be used primarily for revenue generation, usually for road infrastructure financing, or as a transportation demand management tool to reduce peak hour travel and  associated traffic congestion or other social/environmental  externalities associated with road travel such as air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, visual intrusion, noise and road accidents.