Editorial
Greater foresight needed on road to eliminating expressway tolls
The government has announced the roads on which tolls will be abolished under a plan to provide free access to Japan's expressways. A total of 50 sections on 37 routes, mainly covered by regional two-lane roads, will be made free of charge. The 1,626 kilometers covered by these 50 sections accounts for about 18 percent of Japan's network, though it excludes the Tokyo Metropolitan Expressway and the Hanshin Expressway.
Given that the budget for making Japan's expressways toll-free was slashed to 100 billion yen -- roughly one-sixth of the amount requested -- it was evident that the scale of the toll-free move would be limited. But can we expect the elimination of tolls on small pieces of road mainly in rural areas to provide any results worthy of the title of a social experiment?
Officials say the latest move takes into account the congestion caused by an earlier 1,000 yen cap on expressway tolls on holidays, while bearing in mind the effects of a toll-free system on other transportation facilities. But if the move is to be an experiment, then one would expect a target and investigation of the actual situation. It remains unclear how the government selected the routes for the latest move.
Originally, one would expect that the idea behind making Japan's expressways toll-free was to lower the cost of distribution and other related expenses, and vitalize the economy. Doubts remain over whether proper results will be seen from an experiment that focuses on eliminating tolls on rural routes with light traffic and introducing sections mixed with toll and toll-free roads.
The elimination of tolls on Japan's expressways was one of the pillars of the Democratic Party of Japan's general election manifesto, but there is a shortage of funds to carry out the measure. It appears that the government may have gone ahead with the latest move to avoid criticism that it was violating its public pledge.
It is said that the toll-free move will begin in about June, and that the government will abolish the current system of restricting road tolls on holidays to 1,000 yen. But since doing so would increase toll charges on more than 80 percent of Japan's expressways, the government is apparently poised to limit tolls nationwide based on vehicle type.
Still, in implementing the measure, the government needs to sufficiently consider the effects on other modes of transport such as trains, buses and ferries. Though the effects of eliminating tolls through the latest measure may be restricted, blanket toll caps could produce a nationwide shift to expressways not just on holidays, but throughout the year.
There have also been moves to use funds that are currently injected into expressway companies to fund expressway toll discounts for the construction of expressways. Naturally, roads that are necessary should be constructed, but at the same time, it is feared that such a move may spur the construction of ineffective roads that provide no economic benefits.
Since maintenance of Japan's expressways, bullet trains, airports and ports has been performed in a disjointed manner without consideration of how the transportation facilities are related to each other, Japan's transportation policies have come to a dead end. With the change of government, we hope to see reconstruction of Japan's transportation network with consideration of how to divide up the roles of Japan's transportation facilities.
Rather than introducing a measure to avoid criticism for not carrying out an election pledge, we want the government to go ahead with the elimination of tolls in a manner that makes the measure worthy to be called a social experiment.
(Mainichi Japan) February 4, 2010