The State and its role - Transport Policy and Planning in Great Britain - page 146

of the various attributes (along with speed, cost, reliability, comfort etc.) with which
operators would compete for business. In practice, because of the sensitivity of the
subject and the technical complexities involved, State intervention is commonplace
to impose safety regulations so as to safeguard travellers (i.e. to relieve them of the
responsibility of finding the necessary information themselves, and also to protect
them from unscrupulous operators).
3) Public goods
Public goods are commodities which cannot be supplied in a way which enables their
benefits to be enjoyed only by the people who choose to pay for them. Examples are
clean air or public policing. The possibility of 'free-riders' means that, without State
intervention compelling people to contribute to their cost, the provision of these
things - either at all or to the level which most individuals actually want - would not
be forthcoming.
Much activity by the State countering the adverse environmental effects of traffic
and transport has a 'public goods' justification, paid for out of general taxation. This
is because of the indivisibility of the various environmental attributes (clean air, quiet,
landscaping etc.) and the fact that it is not possible to exclude from these benefits
individual property owners who, if they had the opportunity, might seek not to pay
for them.
Local roads, streets and footpaths are also public goods. As we have seen (in Chapter
4) securing their maintenance was one of the first examples of State intervention in
transport matters. It is not practicable to adopt a 'pay as you go' (toll-road) approach
to such minor rights of way. In fact these are one of many such local facilities for which
an overall charge is levied on businesses and householders in an area (in the form of
the business rate or council tax). This leaves open the problem which has existed for
centuries that the costs involved may differ greatly from one area to another and that
some places are frequented more by 'outsiders' who do not contribute to local taxes.
This is resolved by equalisation formulae built into the system of financial support from
Central Government to local authorities, funded out of general taxation.
Motorways and other high-standard roads which have been built to supplement
the local road network and have few points of connection with it do not fall into the
category of public goods even though at present in the UK they happen to be publicly
owned and funded out of general taxation. This is because it would be perfectly
possible to charge users directly for the benefits they receive (e.g. via tolls, as is the
practice in several other countries). In theory this revenue stream would also allow for
the development of such roads and their standards of operation to be determined by
commercial companies (Newbery 1994).
There are however potential difficulties arising from the interaction between
traffic levels and conditions on and off tolled sections of the highway network (i.e.
a category of the external effects mentioned earlier) which, if they were developed
privately, would imply the need for some over-arching regulation. (Broader effects
on the economy, environment and spatial development mean that, as at present,
new highway proposals would need to be subject to development permission.) The
complexities of this issue are such that the current Government has preferred to retain
control over the specification of major new roads (mostly untolled) but in certain cases
to invite private sector consortia to bid for the opportunity to finance, build, operate
and maintain them over a defined concession period.