I Great Langdale Valley, Cumbria: An Analysis of the viability of road-user charging as a Demand Management Tool for motor-vehicle dependent recreation George Douglas Campbell Eckton This thesis is submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Master of Arts (by Research) degree awarded by the University of Central Lancashire. November 2002 ABSTRACT This research was focused on analysing the potential application of road-user charging to the Transportation Demand Management Strategy for Great Langdale Valley in the Lake District National Park. There were three research objectives: firstly, to investigate the response of motorists to the hypothetical imposition of monetary road-user charges for entry to Great Langdale Valley (Bovaird et al, 1984); secondly, observe the impact of road-user charging on the host community of Great Langdale Valley (Holding, 1998); thirdly, to examine the suitability of the Contingent Valuation Methodology to elicit monetary preferences for road-user charging in a non-laboratory setting. The research methodology employed to elicit behavioural responses to certain price levels for road use was the Contingent Valuation Method (Mitchell and Carson, 1989). Three stakeholder samples were surveyed: visitor, resident and business operator samples. All three were administered with mail-back questionnaires containing hypothetical Contingent Valuation scenarios. Willingness To Pay (WTP) questions to elicit monetary preferences for road use were posed to the visitor and resident samples, whereas the business operator sample respondents were asked for their Willingness To Accept (WTA) a compensation payment for the potential impact of the road-user charging scheme on their trade. The research findings determined that a road-user charge would result in a considerable reduction in the visitor sample's intention to use a private motor-vehicle on the Great Langdale valley road network. The residential population expressed limited support for themselves or visitors being subject to a road-user charge. In addition, the business operator sample demonstrated similar opposition to the road- user charging proposal. In conclusion, road-user charging was not deemed a viable Transportation Demand Management strategy for Great Langdale Valley due to the socio-economic equity implications involved exceeding any potential road network efficiency gains. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page No. List of Tables 4 List of Figures 5 Acknowledgements 6 Abbreviations 7 Chapter No. 1 Introduction 8 2 Background to the research 12 3 Transportation Demand Management Policies 18 4 Methodology 34 5 Discussion 58 6 Conclusion 89 References 98 Appendices 3 LIST OF TABLES Tahie No. Page No. 4.1 Location, Time and Date of the Visitor Questionnaires 52 Distribution 5.1 Overall WTP road-user charge stated by Visitor Sample 5.2 Behavioural Responses of those respondents expressing a zero monetary preference for road-user charging in Great Langdale Valley 5.3 Visitor Sample aggregated WTP in £ (excluding Protest 65 bids as zero bids) 5.4 Visitor Sample aggregated WTP in £ (including protest 65 bids as zero bids) 5.5 Cross-tabulation of intended number of revisits to Great Langdale Valley this year against generalized WTP 5.6 Cross-tabulation of total household income against 70 generalized WTP 5.7 Cross-tabulation of National Trust membership against 72 WTP W. Cross-tabulation of the area of permanent residence 73 against WTP 5.9 Overall WTP road-user charge stated by Resident sample 74 5.10 Cross-tabulation of state of residency against generalized 75 WTP 5.11 Resident Sample aggregated WTP in £ 75 5.12 Resident's opinion on whether tourists should pay a 77 road-user charge 5.13 Aggregated level of road-user charge Residents think 77 Tourists should Pay in £ 5.14 Cross-tabulation of resident's opinion on tourists paying Wt road-user charges against household income dependency upon tourism 4 LIST OF FIGURES Figure No. Page No. 3.1 The basic economics of Road Pricing 19 4.1 Map of Great Langdale Valley 35 4.2 National Trust Cars Parks, Great Laigdale Valley 37 4.3 National Trust Car Park, Stickle Ghyll 37 4.4 National Trust Car Park, Old Dungeon Ghyll 38 4.5 Example of Oral Auction Format 49 5.1 Reasoning behind stated zero monetary preferences 59 5.2 Discrete Maximum WTP a road-user char2e for Great 61 Langdale Valley from the visitor sample 5.3 Junction of B5343 and A593 near Skelwith Bridge Hotel 5.3 Visitor's attitude towards road-user charges for large M. towns and cities 5.5 Discrete Maximum WTP a road-user charge for Great 76 Langdale Valley from the resident sample 5.6 Discrete level of road-user charge Residents think Tourists 'Si Should pay in £ 5.7 Level of Support in Visitor Sample for Great Langdale 79 Valley resident's exemption from road-user charging scheme Resident's ranking of five potential TDM strategies 4 Resident's attitude towards road-user charges for large '1 towns and cities 5.10 WTA a Compensation Payment for Introduction of road-user charging in Great Langdale Valley 5.11 Acceptance of road-user charge for tourists by Business [*1 Operators 5.12 Business Operators Rankings of potential TDM strategies [*1 in order of preference 5.13 "I would like to see an increase in the number of tourists visiting Great Langdale Valley" 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks go to the following people/organisations: University of Central Lancashire - for awarding me a research studentship. Christine Williams - my Director of Studies particularly for her help and advice regarding the preparation of this MA by Research dissertation. Mike Clark - my second supervisor at the University of Central Lancashire for his thoughts and time. David Holding - my external supervisor for sparing me his time even though for the majority of this MA by Research degree due to my deferred registiation he was not in an official capacity. Phil Whyman - one of my initial supervisors for the first six months for his time. Ian Williams and Phillip Garside - for their opinions of my questionnaire drafts. The questionnaire respondents - everyone who completed and returned a questionnaire. The National Trust specifically Great Langdale Property Manager David Wilkinson for allowing me to distribute questionnaires on their car parks. Geographer's A-Z Map Co. Ltd - for allowing the reproduction of their material. Thomas Telford Ltd - for allowing the reproduction of their material. John Nash and Abby Tyler - for their correspondence and time regarding the transport policy of the Lake District National Park Authority. Bill Breakall - for his correspondence regarding traffic management in the North York Moors National Park. Peter Jones - for his correspondence regarding national attitudes on road pricing. David Ashworth - for his correspondence regarding public transport timetables. Andrew Jefferys - for his correspondence regarding road-user charging legislation. Jamie Singleton - for his correspondence regarding the proposed Upper Derwent Valley road-user charging scheme. John Ranson and Jane Gibson - for their correspondence regarding the Lake District Transport Strategy. Camilla Swiderska - for her correspondence regarding the Tourism without Traffic initiatives and the proposed Durham Peninsular road-user charging scheme Maggan Dahlstrom —for advising me to be tested for dyslexia My Family - for their love and support. ABBREVIATIONS CFIT - Commission for Integrated Transport CPRE - Council for the Protection of Rural England CRE - Centre for Rural Economy CTB - Cumbria Tourist Board DCC - Derbyshire County Council DETR - Department for Environment, Transport and The Regions FLI) - Friends of the Lake District CPS - Global Positioning Systems LDNPA - Lake District National Park Authority LDNPES - Lake District National Park Education Service MPC - Marginal Private Cost MSB - Marginal Social Benefit MSC - Marginal Social Cost NPS - National Park Service of the United States of America OCTALS - Oxford Centre for Tourism and Leisure Studies SKAT - Skye Bridge Anti Toll Protest TOM - Transport Demand Management VTPI - Victoria Transport Policy Institute, British Columbia, Canada WTP - Willingness To Pay WTA - Willingness To Accept YARTS - Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System Chapter 1. Introduction Aims and Objectives The aim of this research is to analyse the potential contribution of road-user charging to the management of motor-vehicle volumes within a specific area of the Lake District National Park as well as investigate the potential socio-economic equity implications for all stakeholders involved. The specific objectives are: 1. To investigate the potential response of motorists currently using Great Langdale valley to the introduction of a charge for entry. This will test the hypothesis that increasing the cost of a road-user charge will decrease motorists stated intentions to enter a specific area of the Lake District National Park for recreation (Bovaird et al., 1984; Weinberger, 1997). 2. To investigate the impact of road-user charging on thP host community of Great Langdale Valley. The values and attitudes of two subdivisions of the host community will be examined in relation to the road-user charging proposal; the residential population of Great Langdale Valley and the business community, whose revenue is dependent on the current temporal and spatial pattern of tourism. The host community of the Lake District National Park in it's entirety has previously been vociferous in their opposition to traffic management initiatives (Holding, 1998). 3. To facilitate a critical awareness of Contingent Valuation methodologies when applied to a complex environment. 9 Justification of Research This research is timely because road-user charging is one of the most contentious issues in a society, which Urry (2000) considers to be characterised above all by mobility (Jones, 1998; Ison, 2000; Thorpe et al., 2000; McDonald, 2002; Rutherford, 2002). Rationing access to a prime site of tourism consumption through the pricing of road use could have profound but differentiated implications for private motorvehicle dependent recreation users in addition to the distinct host community residing in the area (DTZ Pieda Consulting, 1999; SKAT, 2000; Monbiot, 2001).