Devil's advocate on Dutch road pricing

After decades of hollow promises, at the end of last year the Dutch Transport Ministry announced actual implementation of a road pricing scheme. The long awaited revolutionary measures have been known as 'pay-as-you-drive', as 'kilometre levy', and are now officially called 'Different Payment for Mobility' (though only by the ministry itself), or simply kilometre pricing.

Now that Government has fallen, last Saturday, nobody knows whether the plans will be implemented at all. At least they're on a hold. But that is no reason not to assess their sustainability on various levels.

We've reported on the current upheaval about support for the plans by Dutch automobile association ANWB. That affair was created by the press, but responded to not very cleverly by Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings, which, for the first time in his career, seriously lost him credit. Apart from the points at stake then, several possible objections to the planned road pricing scheme come to mind.

Eurlings was his own best advertisement for his plans, but Petrouschka Werther, project manager at the Ministry’s organisation responsible for preparing the kilometre price, is unwilling to comment on devil's advocate-like objections to the plans.

Fair to whom?
A platform of commercial, governmental and social organisations, headed by the late Paul Nouwen, former director of the Royal Dutch Touring Club (ANWB), investigated various alternatives to the plans in 2005 and advised the minister. The platform lives on in the form of a sound board.

Government, in its policy intentions 2007, considers the recent plans a step towards "a fairer system of paying for mobility in which car drivers no longer pay for car ownership but for car use instead." What exactly is 'fair' about that?

Will stimulating car ownership help the environment? Won't this be the end of car sharing schemes like Greenwheels? As it is now, it is relatively too expensive to own a car if you don't use it several times a week, but that is about to change. Good news for car manufacturers, of 'clean' and gas guzzling cars alike.

Of course advocates will point out that it will be cheaper to drive less polluting cars. Let's hope such financial stimulation will still be a major factor if money is not the issue any longer when deciding whether it pays off to buy a car or not. Once you own a car, you'll use it. And are more fuel efficient cars on the road an improvement if they lead to less public transport use?

Thoughtful
A Transport Ministry's dedicated web page states: "A great deal of research has been carried out into the effect of the kilometre price. This research showed, in part, that the kilometre price will encourage motorists to be more thoughtful in their choices, such as selecting different routes or different departure times, choosing other means of transportation (bicycle, public transport, carpooling, etc.), or picking a low-emission car.

"The research also shows that the kilometre price results in a 10 to 15% decrease in kilometres driven as opposed to the options not involving a kilometre price. Recreational traffic drops by approximately 29%, and commute traffic is reduced by approximately 17%."

But at the same time Mr Eurlings has solemnly declared that, in total, driving will not become more expensive than today (government revenues will not rise). On the contrary, driving will become cheaper for 59 per cent of car drivers. So no need to cut back on kilometres or choose alternatives.

Nothing to hide
There is more: what about privacy? The University of Groningen write in a press release on their website: "Privacy infringement has become one of the most important issues in the discussion about the introduction of kilometre charging."

But truth is not many people are worried about their personal travel details being stored somewhere – whether in their own car or centrally. Groningen researchers show that people hardly have any objections as long as driving doesn't get more expensive.

"I've got nothing to hide," is the most heard argument, "and who would be interested anyway?" If the first part were true, feel free to leave your PIN number in the comments section below. But seriously, does that mean everyone should feel happy knowing all their moves could be traced?

As for the second part: what if you or someone close to you would become famous for whatever unpredictable reason? Suddenly all your current personal details could become valuable. Even as it is now, many commercial and governmental organisations are interested in your behaviour. Eastern Europeans can tell us how asphyxiating that can be.

“The on-board unit in your car is designed to only transmit to your provider the kilometres driven and the corresponding tariffs. Data on where you have driven stay in the car,” the kilometre pricing web page on privacy states. By the way, if you choose to store them, a prosecutor may demand the unit and obtain the movement data after a serious offence.

Mutual
So travel details are not centrally stored, at least for the time being. They can only be stored inside the unit, and only if the car owner chooses to do so.

Lease companies or employers can only see where you've been driving based on mutual agreements with the driver. But how mutual will these be? Is the relationship between lease company or employer and employee equal? Can employees refuse permission? Third parties only have access to said information with the car owner's permission, but the owner can be that same lease company.

And how long before someone urges for a 'yes-unless-you-object system' (as is already in place in the Netherlands for personal details in local government administrations and for medical information) or before it turns out that the police summons the data anyway? (They turned out to demand personal public transport travel details even before the new payment system was introduced nation wide.) Lease companies wont object.

Fear of misuse would seriously deminish if it would not be possible to store the movement data at all.

Cross-border
Another question remains: will the Dutch system be internationally compatible? In the early 1990s several other European countries introduced electronic toll systems often using on-board equipment to collect and process data. But various incompatible systems were set up at national or even local levels. To travel from Portugal to the Netherlands five units might be needed, according to urban transport and mobility web portal Eltis.

In 2004 the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union adopted a directive on the interoperability of electronic road toll systems, which has been strengthened since. Does that mean that cross-border travelling won't be a problem as far as payment for mobility is concerned? The decision on the exact system for charging foreign vehicles has yet to be made. Will it come into effect simultaneously with the national system?

The Ministry's website states: “[T]he Dutch system is being developed in observance of various European directives. For example, in the future a single on-board unit will allow you to drive and pay road charges anywhere in Europe.”

ANWB are polling amongst their members. If you don't wish to immediately influence politics, you can also give your opinion on kilometre pricing here on our website. But maybe it is wise to wait and see who the next transport minister will be first. Well, at least Eurlings has not fallen over his plans.