Measure of benefits from a toll road facility/case study: the Tsitsikama toll road

Abstract

This project report examines the effects of toll on travel behaviour in an effort to predict the effect of alternative toll pricing policies on the toll revenue collected. The fundamental problem of transportation planning is to predict the behaviour of consumers faced with a particular choice set of travel opportunities, if the response of consumers can be predicted then the impact of alternative policies can be assessed and the best policy selected. Since travel behaviour is influenced by many factors the report endeavours to identify and obtain direct measurement of all factors concerned before concentrating on the sole effects of toll. The methods used in the report include field tests for obtaining information on travel costs, traffic surveys for establishing trip patterns and a roadside interview for ascertaining traffic behaviour. All work was carried out on South Africa's only toll road, the Tsitsikamma Toll Road in the Eastern Cape Province.