University of California Institute of Transportation Studies

Transportation pricing strategies aim to manage vehicle travel demand, collect revenue, or force drivers to internalize the costs they impose on other persons (e.g., delayed travel time) and physical infrastructure. Pricing strategies include parking pricing, cordon- and area-based congestion pricing, road-usage charges (RUCs), and high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane pricing. These pricing strategies were, however, designed before the advent of ride-sourcing companies (i.e., Transportation Network Companies or TNCs) and automated vehicles (AVs). Hence, the efficacy of existing pricing strategies in a world with TNCs and a future world with AVs is unclear. Moreover, future pricing strategies must consider the behavior of TNC fleet operators in addition to private vehicle drivers.