User Perspectives on Distance- and Time-Based Road Tolling Schemes: European Case Study

Understanding users’ attitudes toward national-level road pricing schemes is crucial for successful implementation. Despite the European Union (EU) policy agenda, there is a gap in understanding users’ attitudes toward distance-based (DB) and time-based (TB) pricing considering features of pricing technology, willingness to pay, and previous pricing scheme experiences. This gap is especially prominent in the southern and eastern European countries. This research explores factors affecting the maximum acceptable price for DB and TB pricing, as well as users’ experience and attitudes, using a case study of North Macedonia. The analysis framework uses statistical modeling of questionnaire data, including structural equation modeling. The findings show that the TB concept is more suitable for daily users, while a DB scheme is more suitable for less frequent motorway users. In addition to use frequency, income and previous experience with pricing technology were the strongest predictors of willingness to pay. The findings provide lessons on the distributive benefits and burdens of DB and TB schemes, as well as their implications for policy learning by considering context-dependent trade-offs between user and policymaker perspectives in medium-income transition European countries.