Indicator Fact Sheet

Progress in charge levels

Indicator Fact Sheet

Prod-ID: IND-115-en

Also known as: TERM 022

This is an old version, kept for reference only.

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Topics: Transport

This page was archived on 12 May 2015 with reason: No more updates will be done

Assessment made on 01 Aug 2006

Generic metadata

Classification

Topics:

Transport

DPSIR: Response

Identification

Indicator codes

TERM 022

Contents

Policy issue: Recover the full costs of transport including externalities from users

Figures

a) Overview of distance related charges in selected countries for road freight transport (EUR / vehicle-km) in 2004 b) infrastructure charges in selected countries for rail freight transport (EUR / vehicle-km) in 2005

Key assessment

For all transport modes, there is a gap between the marginal infrastructure and other external costs (MEC) and the variable charge levels. For HDV transport and rail freight transport, charges levied are generally less than MEC. For inland shipping, charges are virtually non-existent. There is currently insufficient data to assess the gap between noise, air emission and infrastructure charges and marginal costs for the air mode.

For road, precise trends could not be analysed due to the fact that reliable data on mileages is unavailable. It is therefore unclear whether increased toll revenues in countries are due to an increase in charges per kilometre or a general increase in vehicle mileage. It is clear however, that with new charging schemes being introduced, the average charge level is increasing.

Although an ECMT analysis confirmed that there are large differences between countries in net effective rates of transport charges in the EU-15, it found that differences in labour and capital taxation cancel out most of the variation (ECMT, 2003).