Does anyone know of other cities / areas using this type of pricing? It sounds like this is pretty new, and I'd be interested in seeing any research / studies on the long term impact of this kind of pricing.
I could see how it is both useful and could have a disproportionate, negative impact on lower social-economic classes.
I-95 in South Florida. Currently it maxes out at $10 but I heard they are increasing it to $20.
Not sure if there has been any research, but yes I have heard on the radio how some people are against the express lanes because it does have a negative impact for those who can't afford it, and it's quite dangerous.[1] The latter might be due to a bad implementation however.
It seems like a positive impact for people who can't afford it here in Northern Virgina. The express lanes didn't take capacity away from the normal lanes, but they do take away some traffic, so in theory people who don't use them should still be better off.
Yeah, that's a substantial difference. If it's purely additive then at worst there's some sort of opportunity cost. If they transform normal lanes into paid lanes then it's a whole different sort of thing.
MnDoT also added it to I-35E northbound out of St. Paul. There's talk about adding it to I-35W northbound out of Minneapolis, too. I think MNPass entirely managed by the state of Minnesota, though, which may help keep the prices down.
IMHO MnDoT has actually been doing a pretty good job over the last 15-20 years at smoothing out traffic flows considerably in the north metro without adding much in the way of metering/tolls. SW Metro traffic flows still suck from what I hear, although to be fair the topography has something to do with that (i.e. HOW many bridges do we need to build over the Minnesota River?)
Austin, Texas has dynamic pricing on TX-1 express lanes.
I think the algorithm there is probably similar to this one and would ratchet up the price if a slow truck/construction/plow created a condition that looked like congestion.
I've heard both ways, that it helped considerably and that it didn't. (Because London doesn't have many through roads and few vehicles were there that didn't have to be?)
I could see how it is both useful and could have a disproportionate, negative impact on lower social-economic classes.