Parliament’s decision on continued development of the transportation system emphasizes
adaptation to provide a sustainable transportation system. The planning is based on subgoals
of the transportation policy and parliament’s vision of what they desire to achieve.
The planning has to satisfy both the need of transportation and the ambition to
accomplish sustainable solutions. New effective combinations of established, as well as
new and untried policy measures and inputs must be considered and used in order to
attain stipulated goals. In this respect, the National Road Administration has made use of
a method involving the so-called four-step principle, with focus on gradual testing of
measures, starting with "soft" measures that affect the need of transportation, choice of
mode, and efficiency. It is not until such measures have been found insufficient for
solving a problem that other measures such as new road constructions or improvements
are taken into consideration.

Considering this background, road pricing in urban areas is an interesting measure.
Parliament has also opened an opportunity for implementation of road pricing in
interested municipalities and regions. The government has asserted that this issue will be
dealt with if there is a proposal to implement road pricing as part of a strategy to solve
congestion and environmental problems. The Stockholm Transport Commission has also
been appointed by the Swedish Government to investigate the issue.

Road pricing in urban areas is still an untried measure in Sweden. However, when the
issue is debated there are many opinions on its suitability. With this review the National
Road Administration wishes to establish a joint basis for the continued debate on road
pricing.

This review is an English translation of a report written in Swedish, in some parts it
therefore has a Swedish perspective but we still believe it can be of interest also to
readers outside of Sweden. Since the original report was written in the fall of 2002 the
report is not entirely up to date with the latest developments – such as experiences from
the start of the road pricing in London.