Who Uses Freeways and Who Pays for Them?: Model-Based Analysis of Distribution Effects of Toll Tariff Systems in Germany

Abstract

The introduction of a car toll on German freeways is a current political discussion and raises several questions, including whether particular car owner groups are financially disadvantaged by certain toll tariff systems. Analyses of this issue require a detailed knowledge of the frequency and intensity of freeway usage across the car fleet from a longitudinal perspective. Because such data were not available for Germany, this study developed an approach that extended a microscopic data set of car trips for a 1-year period by modeling the highway usage of those trips. The resulting annual toll expenses for every car in the sample were evaluated for three toll tariff systems: an annual fee, combinations of tariffs for different periods, and a tariff that depended on the vehicle miles traveled (VMT). The analyses illustrated that the toll expenses per car varied greatly between the systems. Car owners with low annual mileages were financially disadvantaged by the annual sticker toll tariff. Comparisons of toll expenses and the socioeconomic aspects of car owners and car characteristics showed similar results. Car owners with a low income and retired or unemployed persons would benefit notably from the VMT toll.