Aplanet road pricing

Last registered on June 06, 2024

View Trial History

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title

Aplanet road pricing

RCT ID

AEARCTR-0013170

Initial registration date

April 22, 2024

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published

April 26, 2024, 12:04 PM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Last updated

June 06, 2024, 8:06 AM EDT

Last updated is the most recent time when changes to the trial's registration were published.

Locations

Country

Norway

Region

Oslo area

Primary Investigator

Name

Alice Ciccone

Affiliation

Institute of Transport Economics

Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name

Gøril Andreassen

PI Affiliation

Institute of Transport Economics

Contact Investigator

PI Name

Cloé Garnache

PI Affiliation

University of Oslo

Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status

In development

Start date

2024-04-10

End date

2025-07-19

Keywords

Behavior, Environment & Energy

Additional Keywords

Transportation, road pricing, RCT, active transport, congestion, externalities, attitudes

JEL code(s)

C12; C8; C9; C93; H3; I12; R4

Secondary IDs

Prior work

This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.

Abstract

We plan on running an RCT in the field during the spring of 2024 with a representative sample of residents in the Oslo area (capital of Norway). We will investigate individual mobility and transport modes using surveys and an app tracking mobility. In particular we are interested in study the impact of road pricing (first best price differentiated on time and space for car driving) on travel behavior and on acceptability for such policies.

External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation

Andreassen, Gøril, Alice Ciccone and Cloé Garnache. 2024. "Aplanet road pricing." AEA RCT Registry. June 06. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13170-1.1

Sponsors & Partners

Partner

Name

University of Oslo

Type

URL

https://www.uio.no/english/

Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)

The intervention consists of a baseline survey, an RCT in the field on road pricing and active transport, and a post survey.
The aim of the intervention is to study the effect of road pricing on driving behavior and the role of policy packaging and information on acceptability.
The post survey will collect information on policy acceptability, including how experience with road pricing affect acceptability of such policies.

Intervention (Hidden)

Our RCT and surveys aim at addressing five research questions:
1: Are car driving externalities reduced with a road pricing (price differentiated between time and place) scheme compared to a control group?
2: Does a policy package (road pricing+ subsidy for cycling and walking) increase the effect of road pricing?
3: Does a policy package (road pricing+ subsidy for cycling and walking) increase acceptability for the policy?
4: Do exposure to road pricing scheme increase acceptability for the policy?
5: Does exposure to information* increase policy acceptability?

Intervention Start Date

2024-05-13

Intervention End Date

2024-07-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)

External cost in $ (for research questions 1&2) and Policy acceptability (for research questions 3-5)

Primary Outcomes (explanation)

For research questions 1&2: our primary outcome are the external costs associated with one's choice of travel, including congestion, accident risk, air pollution, etc. These costs depend on the transport mode, time and location of the trip.

For research questions 3-5: our primary outcome is policy acceptability. We want to understand which factors affect policies for reducing the external costs associated with transportation, in particular road pricing.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)

For research questions 1&2 only:
• Km driven total
• Km driven in rush h/total km
• Km driven in urban/total km
• Km public transport
• Km/min Cycle
• Km/min walk

Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

We want to track the number of kilometers driven during or outside rush hour, in urban and non-urban areas; as well as the number of kilometers travelled with public transport, with walking or cycling. The goal is to track how behavior for individual transport model, time, and location, changed between the observation period and the treatment period and between the control and the treatment groups.

Experimental Design

Our RCT will consist of a 2-week observation period and 6 weeks of treatment.

There will be two treatment groups and one control group. All participants will download and use a mobile app that automatically tracks their travel. The number of treatment arms will be finally decided based upon the number of users with an activated app. Inclusion/exclusion criteria will also be decided based on data collected during the observation period, before the experiment starts.

A representative sample of 200,000 people (over 18 years old) living in the Oslo area and several neighbour municipalities are randomly recruited by the Norwegian tax authority agency from the national Norwegian population.

These people are contacted with an online survey and, if they drive a car at least 2 days a week (during week days) and do not work off-shore or in the transportation sector, are offered to download our mobility app.

Of those who download the app, after about 2 weeks of observation, treatment begins and participants are randomized in the three groups: control, road pricing group, and road pricing and active transport group.

Experimental Design Details

Before the experiment start, we will send instructions and a short survey to check they have understood the instructions.

The control will have access to the app with a weekly email providing feedback on one's trips.

In addition to having access to the app and receiving weekly feedback on one's travels, the first treatment will be subject to road pricing such that kilometers driven during rush hour, non-rush hour, in urban areas, and outside urban areas will be taxed based on their external costs, including a congestion and air pollution, of driving in these locations and at these times.

Like for the first treatment, the second treatment will be subject to road pricing. In addition, this treatment group will also be subject to subsidies for active transport, i.e., walking and biking.

The treatment groups are offered a weekly budget corresponding to 105% of their average weekly external costs in the observation period. The treatment groups receive about every week an email with the summary of their travels (kilometers and transport mode and external costs, and remaining budget).

At the end of the RCT/ intervention period, everyone will be send a post survey to investigate factors affecting road pricing acceptability. This survey will further include an information treatment about road pricing, which will be randomized between the control and treatment groups.

Randomization Method

randomization done in office by a computer

Randomization Unit

individual

Was the treatment clustered?

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters

no cluster

Sample size: planned number of observations

3000 individuals

Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms

about 1000 individuals per arm

Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)

We based our power calculation on a similar study conducted in Switzerland. They observed an effect of about 5% reduction in external costs. Mostly driven by switching in/out rush-hour.

Supporting Documents and Materials

IRB