Whenever we drive into the entrance of the highway, we always unconsciously think about the question: why do we need to charge, and sometimes it feels like it is expensive? On the face of it, highway tolls seem to be just a way for local or related businesses to gain financial benefits.
However, if we dig deeper into the economics and social logic behind it, we will find that highway tolls are far more complex than we think.
First of all, we need to understand that the construction of highways is extremely expensive. Take the Beijing-Harbin Expressway as an example, with a total length of about 3,000 kilometers, and its construction investment exceeds tens of billions of yuan. And that's not even counting the cost of maintenance and updates in the future. Highways require regular pavement repairs, bridge inspections, tunnel maintenance, etc., to ensure that vehicles can travel safely and smoothly, all of which require a large amount of financial support.
Charging is not only for the cost of construction and maintenance, but more importantly for the reinvestment of funds. As the demand for transportation increases and technology evolves, the highway system needs to be continuously expanded and upgraded. In order to alleviate the traffic pressure of the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway, China has invested in the construction of the Shanghai-Rong Expressway. These new projects also require huge investments, and a large part of this funding comes from tolls on existing highways.
Another important role of highway tolls is to promote the rational allocation of resources. From an economic point of view, free access to highways leads to the phenomenon of "tragic commons", where everyone uses as much of the resource as possible, ultimately leading to overconsumption and congestion of resources.
Tolling can regulate the frequency of vehicles using the highway to a certain extent, reduce congestion and improve efficiency. At the same time, through differentiated charging strategies, such as charging during peak hours during holidays and higher than during off-peak periods, traffic flow can be further guided and resource allocation can be optimized.
In addition, there is also an issue of fairness involved in highway tolls. If the highway is completely free, then all taxpayers, whether they use the highway or not, will pay for it. This is clearly unfair to those who live in remote areas and use little or no highways. By charging, users pay for their own use, which to a certain extent reflects the principle of "who benefits, who pays".
It is worth mentioning that highway tolls are not unique to China. Many countries, such as the United States, France, Japan, etc., have adopted a similar charging model. In France, for example, its highways are mainly operated by private companies, which collect tolls to invest and make a profit. This model not only ensures high-quality maintenance and service of the expressway, but also saves a lot of public spending.
The author believes that highway tolls are more than just tolls. It contains complex economic principles and social logic, aiming to achieve the highest cost, the rational allocation of resources, and the consideration of fairness. Although tolling may be a certain financial burden for us, in the long run, it is essential for the sustainable development of the highway system and for the overall social and economic benefits.
With the continuous improvement of policies and the progress of technology, I believe that we can find a more scientific, reasonable and fair toll model, so that the expressway can better serve the public and promote the progress and development of society.