Using Social Research to Measure, Understand and Predict Behavioral Responses to Road Pricing in the UK.

The Department for Transport (UK) has developed a program of social research to inform road pricing policy making, using both traditional and innovative research methods. The program addresses issues of public acceptability, the distributional impacts of road pricing policies, and behavioral responses to a complex pricing system. This paper discusses the methodological approaches used therein and sets out some emerging findings. The purpose is to review the use of this social research program and assess its potential for informing transport policy-making, an area where it has traditionally been under-utilized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]