Photo/Illutration The Metropolitan Expressway in central Tokyo around the Edobashi Junction (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The transport ministry is mulling over whether to introduce “road pricing,” a kind of dynamic-pricing system for expressways that would raise tolls when they become congested.

The ministry said it will conduct a major review of the current toll systems and consider making major changes such as ending holiday discounts during busy periods.

It submitted its midterm draft proposal at a meeting of experts held on July 26.

The road pricing system would charge higher tolls for road sections when traffic is expected to be heavily backed up. 

The ministry is also mulling whether to set time frames where tolls would be lowered to help manage the number of expressway users to decrease traffic congestion.

The road pricing system is currently in place for the Metropolitan Expressway during the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.

During the Games, the toll is higher by 1,000 yen ($9) during the daytime and nighttime for passenger cars, while it is halved from late night to early the next morning.

The transport ministry will consider introducing the system for some time periods and days of the week for congested sections of large urban areas.

It assumes that the tolls will be changed flexibly depending on the congestion situation.

But the specific road sections, time frames and prices have not been decided on yet.

For instance, the variable road pricing could be implemented on holidays in fiscal 2022 or later in areas notorious for congestion, such as near Kobotoke Tunnel on the Chuo Expressway or the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line.

The current holiday discounts would end for the long holidays and the Bon holidays. But late-night discounts would be applied for longer time frames.

The draft proposal also proposes postponing the legally stipulated plan of making highways toll-free by 2065.

The transport ministry is seeking to remove the specific dates from the law but insists it will “maintain the principle of making highways toll-free in the future.”

It also revealed a policy that would basically switch the current toll-free sections to toll roads.

The government has long made the appeal for toll-free highways in the future to help build new expressways now.

When the entire Tomei Expressway was completed in 1969, the construction fees were supposed to be recouped within about 30 years, and the expressway was then supposed to become toll-free.

But later, the government adopted a pooling system of highway tolls under the idea of considering the expressway network across Japan as one service.

The tolls were raised repeatedly, and some road sections with little traffic were constructed. But if the government can collect the tolls endlessly, it raises the issue of how it should proceed to avoid building useless roads.

(This article was written by Takaoki Yamamoto and Takehiro Tomoda.)

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