Demand Management
Since the early 1960s, there have been
proponents of systems to reduce the demand
for travel, at least during peak
times when travel conditions fall below
acceptable levels.2 As Dawson suggests,
such a system might involve “a small
charge that makes the marginal (least
valuable) road user think again about
making a particular trip in that particular
way to that particular place at that particular
time.’” In the early 1970s, the
Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey proposed introducing pricing regimes
that had the potential to influence
demand levels. More recently, discriminatory
pricing systems have been introduced
in Singapore and Hong Kong in
an attempt to manage demand and delay
the need to build new roads.’
A 10-15% reduction in peak period
trip generation can, according to Orski,
have a dramatic effect on local traffic
conditions.’ A reduction in demand of
this magnitude would markedly improve
travel conditions when roads are oversaturated
and could mean “the difference
between free-flowing and stop-andgo
traffic on approaches to a suburban
office park.”