Tolling - bellevuewa/BKRCast GitHub Wiki

Bridge and Ferry Tolling

Tolls are collected on bridges, like SR520 bridge (both directions) and SR16 Tacoma narrow bridge (SB only), regardless of vehicle occupancy. Toll rates are set by time of day (AM, MD, PM, and NI) and vehicle classification (SOV, LOV, HOV, light truck, medium truck and heavy truck) on appropriate links. Ferry and vehicle fares are set by vehicle classification only. Toll rates and fare are saved in external files located in base_inputs/tolls folder. Filenames are self-explained.

Toll file and fare file format:

Column Description
1 i-node start node id
2 j-node end node id
3 SOV toll/fare
4 HOV2 toll/fare
5 HOV3 toll/fare
6 light truck toll/fare
7 medium truck toll/fare
8 heavy truck toll/fare

Toll rates and ferry fare are imported into link attributes (@toll1, @toll2, @toll3, @trkc1, @trkc2, @trkc3) during network contruction (network_importer.py). These extra attributes are created right before the rates are imported.

Future Rates

Toll rates/fare are in 2014 $.

Ferry Vehicle Fare

Future Year Rate Increase (from 2014)
2040 21%
2035 17%

Freeway Tolling

As of 2018, toll lanes only exist in SR167 and I405. In the master network database, toll lanes are flagged in @exist_hot for the existing (2014) HOT lanes and @imp_hot for any future HOT lanes. When populating a network for an horizon year, appropriate HOT flags are copied from @exist_hot and @imp_hot to @tolllane.

Values @tolllane/@exist_hot/@imp_hot
1 I405 north section, leaving Bel
2 I405 north section, going Bel
3 I405 south section, leaving Bel
4 I405 south section, going Bel
5 HOV
6 HOV2+ free (for SR167)

Toll rate, set in HOT_rate_dict variable located in emme_configuration.py, varies by toll lane section, direction, time of day, and horizon year.

Toll Rate by TOD and `@tolllane

Before the year 2044, the rate is defined as follows.

TOD 1 2 3 4 6
am 10 35 10 35 35
md 10 10 10 10 10
pm 35 10 35 10 35
ni 10 10 10 10 10

In or after the year 2044, the following toll rate is assumed.

TOD 1 2 3 4 6
am 15 50 15 50 35
md 15 15 15 15 10
pm 50 15 50 15 35
ni 15 15 15 15 15

unit: cents/mile

HOT lane tolling can be turned on/off using add_hot_lane_tolls variable, which is defined in emme_configuration.py. The actual toll by link is calculted by link.length * hot_rate and saved in @toll1 (SOV), @toll2 (HOV2) and @trkc1 (light truck). HOV3+ does not need to pay toll.

SoundCast assumes freeway toll rates to be constant over time, BKRCast also assumes no changes in freeway tolling.

Distance Tolling (VMT Tolling)

It is possible to test VMT tax by turning on the distance tolling. Set add_distance_pricing = True (defined in emme_configuration.py to turn it on. The default is off.

The VMT tax rates are given below. They include 3.5 cent carbon tax as well. The VMT tax rate is assumed to be constant over time.

TOD Rate (cents/mile)
am 13.5
md 8.5
pm 13.5
ni 8.5