The Stockholm Congestion Charging Trial

1. The Stockholm Congestion Charging Trial BACKGROUND SOLUTION DESIGN MAIN CHALLENGES PERFORMANCE IMPACT ON PUBLIC OPINION TRAFFIC IMPACT LESSONS LEARND

2. BACKGROUND Situation in Stockholm Inhabitants • 1,9 million in the county of Stockholm • 760 000 in the city of Stockholm • 275 000 in the Stockholm inner city Travel & transportation • 560 000 vehicles cross the inner city cordon per working day • 73% of all personal trips across the inner city cordon during rush hour is by public transport • 2,5% car ownership increase per year • Lack of capacity in between the northern and the southern halves of the region (road and rail)

3. BACKGROUND Situation in Stockholm

4. BACKGROUND 73% of all personal trips to the inner city during rush hour is by public transport - but the road congestion still cause the society huge damages External impacts • Congestion estimates cost 600 to 800 million Euro per year • 361 severely injured & 18 traffic deaths • 10 – 100 cases of cancer caused by atmospheric pollution • 50 000 inhabitants exposed to over 65 dBA

5. BACKGROUND Estimated traffic speed relatively to free flow speed Classifications of speed reduction; • RED = 65 -100% • BLU = 50 - 65 % • GREY = 0 - 50% Mission: Find a way to keep the congestion at the present level but take into account the estimated socio-economic and demographic changes for the future “Present situation” Future

6. BACKGROUND There are now way to sustainable reduce the congestion in the City of Stockholm without Congestion Charges Conclusion: • Just building new road lanes generate more traffic and new bottlenecks – takes long time to implement and cost a fortune • Improved public transport services do not reduce congestion as it do not attract car users significantly - and cost a fortune • A combination of Congestion Charges, road investments and improved public services is needed to reduce congestion - and is a win-win solution

7. SOLUTION DESIGN The Stockholm Trial project • Trial period from Jan to July 2006 • Referendum Sept 2006 • Revenue used for public transports • Charges • Variable charges, 0-2 Euro per passage in or out of the city • No charges during low traffic period • Max charge 6 Euro per day • Lidingö exemption rule Congestion Charges New Park & Ride Improved Public Transport

8. Call-centre operations managed by IBM 2 IBM has designed, built, implemented integrated and runs the congestion charging system Information is matched with registered vehicle. Fee is added to the owner’s account The gateway registers the vehicle 3 A Way of payment • Transponder/direct debit • Bank/Giro • 7-eleven/ Pressbyrån ABC 123 1 Picture is taken of the vehicle’s licence plate. B How does the system work?

9. MAIN CHALLENGES To design a “state-of-art” OCR solution to meet the agreed service levels was a challenge

10. MAIN CHALLENGES To coordinate partners, 200 change requests and deliver an “end to end” solution & service in time was a challenge Ministry of Finance Ministry of Industry … Transport of Stockholm City of Stockholm Swedish Road Administration IBM Tax Authority Enforcement SAP NOFA Riz IT eWork Q-Free Connecta Manpower Bravida Stokab Focus Neon Nordea Posten Courts Sweco VBB AB Elan IT Resource FORTUM DISTRIBUTION AB VÄGBELYSNING I SVERIGE AB Reitan Servicehandel Sverige AB VÄGVERKET PRODUKTION

11. PERFORMANCE Efficient payment cannels and low number of appeals (Jan-July 2006) Payment channels • Transponder/direct debit 63% • 7-eleven/ Pressbyrån 24% • Bank/Giro 13% Transaction and appeal volume • Passages at control points 46 500 000 • Passages liable for the tax 33 500 000 • Number of tax decisions 14 400 000 100% • Appeals to the tax Authorities 13 000 0,09% • Appeals to the County Administrative Court 665 0,005%

12. PERFORMANCE 99.99% operational reliability is a result of built in redundancy Total number of lane hours 148 174 Lost operational time, number of lane hours 57 (0,038%) Non-identified vehicles 1%

13. IMPACT ON PUBLIC OPINION Media was very critical before ”go alive” System launching day Focused on the expected chaos

14. IMPACT ON PUBLIC OPINION The congestion charging policy and solution was a target for media Before the launching date Solution, transponders and project costs

15. Immediate positive press focused on the huge impact One day after

16. IMPACT ON PUBLIC OPINION System performance exceeds all expectation Some weeks after System performance exceeds all expectation

17. IMPACT ON PUBLIC OPINION The swing in the opinion came after 3 months Referendum in the City och Stockholm YES:51,7% NO:45,6%

18. TRAFFIC IMPACT Number of passages reduced by 90 000 to 115 000 per day (20 – 25%) compared to last year 2005 2006 End of trial period

19. TRAFFIC IMPACT Peak traffic was reduced and accessibility improved

20. TRAFFIC IMPACT The impact exceeded all expectations Improvements also for non car users • 40,000 new daily public transport passengers • Congestion reduced by 30 – 50 % in the City Centre • Increased efficiency in public bus transports • Taxi drivers increased revenue by 10-20% • Inner-city retailers not negatively effected • Better environment - emission reduced by 12-14% in the City Centre • Attitudes was changed from negative to positive • Revenue EUR 90 M per year

21. LESSONS LEARNED Why is the Stockholm project a success? Policy and scheme design • The clear defined objective was exceeded • The charging scheme was simple and fair • The impact was visible for everybody and well communicated Technical system • The users were well informed before the start • The system worked from day one • Very low number of errors generated by the system