Humphreys pioneers Eurotoll test

Howard Humphreys Transport Planning, the specialist transportation arm of Brown & Root, is working in partnership with the Transport Research Laboratory on the Leicester Environmental Road Tolling Scheme.

Part of the Eurotoll project, it will examine driver responses to road pricing.

The Leicester experiment is based on a single corridor, the A47 road into the city from the west. It involves simulated tolling linked to a planned new park-and-ride scheme and bus-priority corridor to the city centre.

In-car units, activated by roadside beacons, will use debit cards to charge motorists driving in the corridor. Toll charges will be visible on variable message signs alongside the A47.

Volunteers will be asked to keep travel diaries to record their reaction to different price signals. Later trials will include an air pollution penalty, with higher tolls on days when air quality is poor.

Robert Burton, Howard Hum-phreys' transport telematics manager, said: "We needed a test site in the UK to gather the reactions of British drivers to road charges in urban areas."