Urban Transport Strategy. Management in Developing Countries John A Cracknell, страница 82

9.9.3.      Since fuel consumption is proportional to distance travelled, fuel prices reflect vehicle, to an extent, vehicle use.  However, increasing the price of fuel is an indiscriminate

⁴³  GTZ Study – 1998 – precise reference to be added

⁴⁴  Since the study was completed, the costs of crude oil have risen and pump prices have increased inparallel; for example, the study gives UK gasoline prices at 111 US cents/litre; current prices (June 2000) are 133 US cents per litre

policy to address demand management.  Increases in fuel prices apply at all times, peak/congested and off peak/un-congested, and for all journeys and for all vehicles. Generally, while urban fuel surcharges have been used (e.g. Colombia), fuel price increases cannot be targeted to specific to specific times or to specific congested areas (such as city centres) and thus do not manage demand where and when that management is most needed.  Although, as noted above, urban differential fuel pricing has been applied there could remain issues of fuel would be bought in lower price zones outside a city to be used within the city and administration of city based fuel prices may not be straightforward in many countries.  It has been argued that as there is great disparity between marginal fuel cost per vehicle kilometre and the marginal social cost per vehicle kilometre, and as fuel taxes have limits (the recent public protests in UK demonstrate that fuel prices cannot be increased indefinitely particularly without commensurate improvements in public transport), then fuel tax cannot be relied upon as a restraint mechanism for congested urban areas.  It is generally concluded:

a)  Fuel prices may be an element of a national demand management policy and may discourage some unnecessary vehicle use generally but, although there has been little study on the effects in urban areas;

b)  As fuel prices do not address vehicle use at specific congested (city) locations nor specific congested times, they are not a responsive measure for reducing city traffic congestion; and

c)  Urban fuel surcharges can provide revenue which, with appropriate distribution, can be used to improve the transport system.

9.9.4.      It is noted that differential fuel pricing has been used to encourage the use of unleaded gasoline for environmental reasons, for example, in Mexico City.  While the policy appears to have been successful in commencing to alleviate harmful emissions, it is not aimed at demand management.

9.10       Pricing - demand management by restraint by taxes on vehicle ownership

9.10.1. Vehicle ownership, and thus car growth, may be influenced by import duties on vehicles, sales taxes and annual licence fees.  In 1986, the Bank stated^[41] “Excise and ownership taxes are not likely to provide an optimum (sic) solution to congestion.  Their chief value is that they can usually be adopted relatively quickly within the framework of existing legislation and thus can serve as stopgap measures until more effective control measures are devised and implemented”.  There seems little reason to change this view; as with fuel prices, generalised taxes on vehicle ownership are national in application, do not address the specific problem of congestion and pose political and equity problems.

9.10.2. The major exponent of taxation to restrain vehicle ownership is Singapore.  Singapore imposes high costs on vehicle ownership within the context of a balanced transport policy which also includes increasing the capacity and the quality of the Island’s public transport and highway systems and the management of demand through road–use pricing and parking controls.  Initially, Singapore exercised control on car ownership through high import duties and high annual charges, with a charge–structure designed to encourage the scrapping of older cars and to discriminate against company car–