Circumventing traffic and pollution in Barcelona : why congestion pricing is
preferable to a low emission zone

Sanginés-Uriarte Dooly, Joel; Trepat i Izquierdo, Adrià

Circumventing traffic and pollution in Barcelona : why congestion pricing is preferable to a low emission zone

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Sanginés-Uriarte Dooly, J, Trepat i Izquierdo, A. Circumventing traffic and pollution in Barcelona : why congestion pricing is preferable to a low emission zone. 2020. handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10230/45288

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Abstract

As city traffic increases across the globe, congestion within cities is becoming more of an issue. Many cities have already implemented congestion charges, and the general consensus has been that it has brought about a positive impact for city populations as a whole. Considering the worrying rise in congestion - and pollution - in the city of Barcelona, and while commending the recent Zona de Baixes Emissions (Low Emission Zone) system approved by the city council to thwart this, we propose an alternative: applying a congestion charge to Barcelona. We collected data from four different cities that already implemented congestion charges: Singapore, London, Stockholm, Gothenburg. This data was used to build different linear and nonlinear regression models that were compared, and the selected model was used to forecast the congestion charge prices and their subsequent reductions in traffic. In this thesis we argue in favor of the implementation of the congestion charge based on both theoretical evidence and empirical evidence garnered through these statistical models.