Road users get used to traffic

Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Moritz Leuenberger wants to prepare the Swiss for paying more when they use transport – public or private. Mobility pricing is rearing its head. An audit of the current state of Switzerland’s infrastructure and a plan for its needs way into the future were the occasion to bring up the subject of costs and funding, in a report presented by the federal Department of the Environment, Transportation, Energy and Communications (Detec) 3 November.

Switzerland has an enviable infrastructural base, among the most advanced in the world, and a mainstay of its competitive economy. The country’s roads, rail system, electrical grid, gas and telecommunications networks contribute 6.5 percent to GDP , or CHF28 billion per year. All together infrastructure employs 198,000 people, or 6.1 percent of the working population.

Infrastructure’s maintenance costs growing

But the demands on infrastructure are growing, through the growth in population and general economic growth. Demands are often partly offset by building a new road, for example. Often they are offset by technology: video conferencing instead of air travel.

Networks are becoming more complex, dependent and costly. A feature of the Swiss infrastructure is that it is also increasingly integrated into a Europe-wide road, rail and electricity network. Today’s road network is maintained by income from general taxation, taxes on fossil fuels, and heavy load tariffs paid by trucks, as well as the vignette, Switzerland’s motorway use sticker. By 2015, according to the report, the use of electric and hybrid vehicles and their reduced use of petroleum-based fuels will make itself felt on the public purse.

Leuenberger’s Detec is worried about the future, however. Detec faces two issues in its report. One is the cost to the economy if a network breaks down, or is simply inefficient. Commuters who spend their time on the A1 between Lausanne and Geneva will know what an inefficient network is. This cost to the economy is direct, but it is also a brake on economic competitivity generally. Congestion around the nodes has ripple effects on the entire economy.

Mobility pricing – pay for use

The solution for Leuenberger is mobility pricing. Users should pay for what they use. This simple concept is generally accepted when it comes to the use of water, electricity, or chocolate bars. But apply the principle to roads, which are deemed a public good, paid for by all and accessible to all, and the same people can become violently opposed to the principle. So the idea of installing special lanes on the motorway for people who share cars, or pay more for exclusive use of them, is deemed not fair. Paying more for a train ticket during the rush hour, in order to encourage people to travel at off-peak time is opposed, as well, although the same principle already applies to telephone calls.

Detec has floated the idea of mobility pricing in the past. Given the political opposition to it, charging for the use of the road according to the cost of using it doesn’t seem likely to fare well in the near future. But Leuenberger is keeping the issue in the public eye.

Links to other sites: Le Temps, NZZ

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