Los Angeles drivers may face congestion charge following study

After a century as the city of the automobile, Los Angeles is taking a major step on the road towards congestion charging. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LAMetro) is to explore road pricing and is also thinking about levying fees on ride-share companies for their part in creating gridlock. The moves are part of LAMetro’s ‘Re-imagining of Los Angeles County: Mobility, Equity and the Environment’ plan, which seeks policies to make transport sustainable in the famously-cong
March 6, 2019 Read time: 2 mins
After a century as the city of the automobile, Los Angeles is taking a major step on the road towards congestion charging.


The 1795 Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LAMetro) is to explore road pricing and is also thinking about levying fees on ride-share companies for their part in creating gridlock.

The moves are part of LAMetro’s ‘Re-imagining of Los Angeles County: Mobility, Equity and the Environment’ plan, which seeks policies to make transport sustainable in the famously-congested US city.

LAMetro will now conduct a 12-24 month ‘congestion relief pricing’ feasibility study to evaluate potential models and locations for possible tests.

These will include a ‘cordon model which charges a fee for anyone travelling into a designated zone - as well as a vehicle miles travelled (VMT) model which will apply charges based on the number of vehicle miles travelled within congested areas. In addition, a corridor model will charge drivers based on VMT within a congested corridor.

Upon completion of the study, the LAMetro board will consider a pilot programme to test the concept.

At the same time, as part of an equity strategy, it will develop a plan to improve transit services and investigate potential toll and fare discounts for low-income users.

LAMetro says it will investigate the possibility of imposing charges on new mobility modes, like electric scooters, and ride-share companies such as Uber and Lyft, which contribute to congestion.

Sheila Kuehl, LA county supervisor and LAMetro board chair, says: “It’s easy for us to say ‘Fix traffic!’ but it’s going to take serious imagination and out-of-the-box thinking to actually do it.”

“We are ready to explore a whole panoply of ideas that can help reduce traffic, encourage shared trips and get more people on public transit,” Kuehl adds.

UTC

Related Content

  • October 26, 2017
    Data collection becoming a crowded market
    New ways of gathering data can revolutionise traffic and travel management, so is the writing on the wall for the traditional methods? Jon Masters reports. There are two big industries that stand to be revolutionised by massive increases in data – healthcare and transportation, says Finlay Clarke, the UK managing director of the smartphone sat nav traffic app, Waze. “At present we’re really only at the start of how cities, in particular, will be transformed,” he says.
    Read More
  • April 2, 2014
    The great pay divide
    Public acceptance is crucial for the acceptance of managed and express lanes as Jon Masters discovers. Lists of proposed highway expansion projects introducing variably priced toll lanes continue to lengthen. Managed lanes, or express lanes to some, are gaining support as a politically favourable way of adding capacity and reducing acute congestion on principal highways. In Florida, for example, the managed lanes on the 95 Express are claimed to have significantly increased average peak-time speeds on tolle
    Read More
  • February 20, 2025
    Legal streetfight brews as Trump 'saves' New York from congestion charge
    MTA lawyers challenge USDoT move to shut down Manhattan toll scheme
    Read More
  • December 19, 2018
    Elon Musk unveils Los Angeles tunnel plan
    Elon Musk, the boss of Tesla and SpaceX, has opened the first tunnel in a planned network under Los Angeles to help ease congestion in the US city. The world’s media was invited this week to travel in the mile-long tunnel – built by Musk’s Boring Company under the Hawthorne district - in an electric Tesla vehicle. The trip was described as “almost a white knuckle ride” by the BBC: “A bumpy two-minute journey in a modified Model X through a concrete tunnel with a blue neon light in the ceiling.” A C
    Read More

Highlighted Content