Economic Reasons for Congestion Fees: Case of Moscow

Transportation is one of the sharpest problems of modern society. Car congestion appears in every megalopolis due to tremendous overabundance. One of the recent developments to overcome congestion is implementing fees for entering the city center. Stockholm and London are examples of the successful introduction of the policy, in terms of reduction traffic volumes, increasing travel speeds, as well as economical perspective. Their examples showed, that effective implementation of the policy is feasible. Moscow, as my hometown, always was a point of my interest in terms of improving transportation policy. Moscow is one of the most congested cities in the world. Recent movement in the government transportation policy (parking charges, bus lanes) inducted public debates on the topic of reasonability of implementing congestion fees in Moscow. In my research, I will review experience of other cities and try to develop effective scheme for Moscow, focusing on economical benefits.