Research project MD/DD/04 (Research action MD)
Objectives
The aim of the project is to estimate the marginal external costs of transport vehicles in Belgium. The project considers all main means of transport, except transport by air and by sea. Both for passenger and for freight transport a distinction is made between transport modes (road, rail, inland waterways), vehicle types (size, type of propulsion, fuel type, emission technology) and other characteristics of transport use (type of road infrastructure, occupancy rate of infrastructure, driving style). A distinction is made each time there may be a significant difference in external costs.
Four types of external costs are taken into account: congestion, environmental costs, road damage and accidents. The project focuses on the external costs generated by the use of transport vehicles.
Methodology
All marginal external costs are calculated according to the same scheme such that they can be aggregated easily. The external costs are disaggregated according to their impact scale: local (e.g., noise), regional, national, the EU and the world. The option is taken to calculate the external costs for typical situations in the recent past (1995) and for future situations (2005). Finally, we aim to obtain external cost functions rather than point estimates, because for policy purposes the external costs have to be known with and without policy measures.
As regards congestion, the emphasis lies on the one hand, on the monetary valuation of marginal time losses in the Belgian context and, on the other hand, on the dynamic aspects of congestion, on the impact of information provision (new information technologies) and on the interaction between congestion and other marginal external effects.
Concerning the marginal environmental costs a distinction is made between air pollution, noise and solid waste. In a first stage, the external effects are expressed in terms of physical units, which in a second stage, will be expressed in monetary values. For the external environmental costs the project uses as much as possible the Extern-E methodology which in the recent past has been used in the European context for power stations.
As regards the marginal external costs associated with road damage, the emphasis lies on the application of the existing methodology with Belgian data.
Concerning marginal external accident costs, the methodology is reexamined and the external costs are calculated on the basis of Belgian data which take into account factors such as driving behaviour, traffic rules and the characteristics of insurance.
Potential users
- Policy makers
- Transport models
- Research
Link to Sustainable Development
The project analyses the four main impacts associated with transport use: congestion, environmental impacts, road damage and traffic accidents. For each of these cost categories an analysis is made of the effects of the different means of transport. Next, it converts the effects into monetary values using state of the art techniques, such that comparable estimates are obtained for the different external cost categories.
The external costs of transportation: final report
Brussels: OSTC, 2001 (SP0850)
[To download]
The external costs of transportation: summary report
Brussels: OSTC, 2001 (SP0851)
[To download]
De externe kosten van transport: synthese verslag
Brussel: DWTC, 2001 (SP0852)
[To download]
