Sustainable energy management in urban transport: The public's response of road congestion pricing in Thailand

Fuel consumption of vehicles is one of the most vigorously debated issues in Thailand. Concerns about the effect of emissions from the vehicles and a significant reliance on imported oil provide legitimate reasons for government action to manage fuel consumption. There are several different policy measures available to affect the fuel-efficient vehicles as well as reduce the amount of driving. This paper presents the major policy measure studies namely congestion pricing, etc. In congestion pricing measure, we conducted a survey of 400 samples in Bangkok area. The purpose of the survey was to inform respondents about a policy designed to reduce freeway congestion and to estimate respondent support for this policy. After receiving extensive information about the policy, respondents were polled on whether they would support, i.e., vote for any or all of these options. The results of the congestion fee survey suggest that 22% of commuting motorists in Bangkok will support congestion fees on the freeways of the region. Public acceptance is substantially enhanced by promising to return at least some of the revenues in the form of reductions in other taxes. (author)