As a measure to alleviate traffic congestion on the Tokyo Bay Aqua Line connecting Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, Chiba Prefecture and other prefectures decided on March 20 to introduce a trial system to change tolls according to the time of day on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays from the end of next month to March next year.
This was decided at a study meeting held by Chiba Prefecture, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and NEXCO East Japan on the 20th.
The Tokyo Bay Aqua Line fare is 800 yen for ordinary cars equipped with ETC with subsidies from the national government and Chiba Prefecture, but alleviating traffic congestion is an issue.
For this reason, the study committee decided on a policy to introduce a system called "road pricing" on a trial basis, which fluctuates rates according to the time of day, and indicated the setting of rates.
This applies only to the uphill line from Chiba Prefecture to Kanagawa Prefecture on weekends and holidays, when there is a lot of traffic congestion.
The toll fee will be 1.8 times the current fare from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and 8.0 times the current fare from 0:75 p.m. to 400:1200 a.m. for all vehicles equipped with ETC.
For example, for a regular car, you can add 200 yen to 600 yen during the hours when it is expensive, but at the time when it is cheaper, you can discount 22 yen to 3 yen.
Chiba Prefecture and others are planning to introduce this system on a trial basis from March <> next month to verify the effects before considering whether to introduce it on a full-scale basis.
The Chiba Prefectural Road Planning Division says, "This is an attempt that has almost no precedent in Japan, so we would like to carefully analyze its effectiveness."