ROAD PRICING WITH A FUNDAMENTAL APPROACH - CHARGING BY MOBILE PHONE USE

As the percentage of mobile phone usage increases in developed countries, it is no surprise that almost everyone has at least one mobile phone at his/her own convenience of communication. At the same time, road users in these countries face continued congestions and delays. Road pricing is frequently proposed to relieve the traffic demands, but technologies supporting this policy of charging congestion are very expensive. Enforcing 100% vehicles to pay the congestion charge will create considerable costs for government and users. However, a easy way to charge road usage may save the effort and expense for the entire community. The proposed mobile phone approach is to use the roaming charging concept that anyone who leaves his/her base area will encounter service charges. This study examines the possibility of road pricing could be achieved by tracking mobile phone movement, and discusses the issues related to fairness and their technical feasibility. For the covering abstract see ITRD E134653.