Analysis of road user charging impacts on activity travel patterns in Libya

In Libya, studies state that there is an increase in car ownership and this increase in traffic movement causes congestion which affects and can increase travelling time in large Libyan cities, particularly in Tripoli and Benghazi. Because of this the Government are requesting the establishment of a new policy that could be effective in reducing traffic problems at the present time and avoiding the amplification of traffic problems in the future. Currently, road user charging policy (RUC) is considered as a suitable tool for tackling urban traffic problems. Because of the reasons stated above, RUC can be applied in the urban areas of large Libyan cities in order to reduce traffic congestion problems.This study attempts to ascertain and document the perceived impacts of road user charging on an individual's daily activity travel patterns in urban areas by using one of the large Libyan cities (Benghazi) as the case study. The research methodology has been designed with the aim of identifying the existing transport conditions and the characteristics of activity travel patterns in Benghazi; establishing the views of transport policymakers and consultants toward RUC, and establishing and documenting the perceived impacts of road user charging on individuals' daily activity travel patterns.A triangulation method was employed to collect data, a survey of a road user charging experiment in Benghazi was conducted with the road users in the central business district (CBD) and semi-structured interviews have been carried out with transport policymakers.The findings indicate that RUC policy can have a positive impact in reducing traffic congestion with a reduction in car trips crossing the restricted areas during the peak period by around 35.5%. However the road users had different choices to make; they could decide to pay the toll and continue with their current travel pattern, pay the toll for some days, or not pay at all. Around 68% of drivers chose to pay the toll for all days or for some days. On the other hand, 32% of the drivers did not pay the toll at all and avoided the payment by choosing other alternatives. The majority of driverswho decided to avoid the toll chose to change their travel time, to before therestricted period.Furthermore, the analysis of travel durations during the field study proved that thelognormal distribution is the best suited distribution for the data of the durations oftravel.Regarding the attitudes toward RUC, the study concluded that 70% of the transportpolicymakers, consultants and academics thought that RUC may greatly assist in thereduction of traffic congestion. However, more than a quarter of respondents (27%)stated that they did not have enough information or knowledge on how RUC couldimpact on the travel patterns of road users. In addition, the study concluded that themain reasons for non-implementation of a road user charging policy are a lack ofpublic transport, a lack of knowledge on RUC policy and the culture of thecommunity.It has been stated that although the Ministry of Transport in Libya has established anumber of projects aiming to improve the road conditions and public transportservices, the condition of roads still needs to be improved. Despite these limitations,there are a number of benefits which can be obtained from the implementation ofRUC in large Libyan cities, particularly in Tripoli and Benghazi.To implement the road user charging scheme successfully from the beginning thetransport policymakers could use the guidelines that have been developed in thisstudy to identify the main issues, requirements and needs of road user chargingbefore the process begins and these guidelines will be the first step in theimplementation of road user charging in Libya