The Optimal Mix of Pricing and Infrastructure Expansions to Alleviate Traffic Congestionand in-bus crowding in grand Casablanca

Anas, Alex ; De Sarkar, Sayan ; Timilsina, Govinda

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: TRAFFIC CONGESTION;    URBAN TRANSPORT;    INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT;    ROADWAYS;    BUSES;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8501
RP-ID  :  WPS8501

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Like in many large cities in developingcountries, traffic in Grand Casablanca, Morocco, iscongested and public buses are crowded. These conditions arealleviated by a combination of supply-side infrastructureexpansions, such as more buses and new road capacity, anddemand-side pricing instruments, such as parking and fueltaxes. Using an empirical urban transportation mode choicemodel for Casablanca, this study finds a mix of theseexpansion policies and pricing instruments to alleviatecongestion and maximize aggregate social welfare. Theoptimal mix is sensitive to the marginal costs of theinfrastructure expansions. If the city were to spread out inits periphery where land constraints do not exist and landis available at lower prices, a supply-side instrument,particularly the optimal expansion of roads, would be farmore effective in achieving welfare gains than the use ofoptimal pricing instruments without new roads. By contrast,if the city were to densify in already built-up areas, landand other physical constraints and the high price of landmay leave expensive “elevated roads” as the only option. Inthis case, demand-side instruments together with theelevated roads would equally contribute to reduce trafficcongestion and in-bus crowding.