Congestion charging in Budapest - a comparison with existing systems

Abstract

Transport is undoubtedly an extremely important sector in Europe. Accounting for 10% of GDP, as well as 10 million workers, it is also a major source of pollution and noise emissions. The adverse effects of transport are amplified by congestion, resulting in traffic jams, aggravation for motorists and even more pollution. A number of different measures have been devised to address this problem, and to spare populated city centers from heavy traffic loads, while also promoting the ``polluter pays principle´´. One of these measures is congestion charging, already implemented in several cities across Europe and worldwide, and may soon be introduced in Budapest. The purpose of this paper is to find a common ground for the schemes introduced in London and Stockholm, comparing them to the possible scheme in Budapest.