‘Pay-Per-Use’ vehicle tax in the Netherlands: a spatial accessibility perspective

Abstract

Instead of paying taxes for car ownership, a Pay-Per-Use policy has been proposed in which Dutch car owners would have to pay taxes for the number of kilometres they drive their car. Attention for available mobility alternatives to the car in different areas of the Netherlands lacks in research commissioned by the government so far. The objective of this thesis is to identify whether people living in either urban, suburban, or rural areas will be most financially affected by this potential new policy, while assessing the spatial equity aspect of accessibility for public transit and cycling.

A multi-part accessibility equality method has been developed following the iterative Research through Design approach for the Groningen-Assen region as a case study area. Representing various scale levels, accessibility has been measured for bakeries, HEMAs, McDonald’s, and IKEA based on network analysis using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Using origin-destination cost analysis, the final method offers insight in travel time inequalities for public transit and bike as opposed to the car and connects resulting equality scores to the different degrees of urbanisation and population density. Due to the complex nature of tax effects, the final method offers insight in possible financial effects of the PPU policy for three fictional personas living in respectively urban, suburban, and rural areas.

Rural residents in the RGA face high travel times for public transit and cycling, compared to car travel times. Spatial patterns of accessibility equality scores – representing differences in travel time for public transit and bike as opposed to the car – differ per scale level of the destinations. Low scores and thus high inequalities are mainly observed in rural areas. Depending largely on the type of car and the annual mileage of a person, the PPU tax will be disadvantageous as opposed to the current MVT for two out of three personas. Overall, MVT and PPU tax expenses for the rural persona are much higher compared to the urban and suburban personas, while accessibility equality scores are low, indicating that public transit and bike are no valid alternatives.

This thesis underlines the importance of addressing the sufficing or lacking presence of alternative modalities among regions to account for spatial equity in the potential PPU. Car dependency is probably overlooked by current research commissioned by the government. The PPU policy could actually be beneficial when the car is left parked a little more often, which appears possible in areas with high accessibility equality scores such as the cities Groningen and Assen and big villages.

Limitations of this research include lacking statistical inequality measures and relying mainly on travel time. Future research could consider implementing multi-modal trips as well as costs of alternative modes of transport.