A Study On The Policy Of Free Passage On Expressway During Holiday

In July,2012,the implement scheme of free passage for cars on the important holidays has issued by the State Council formally,cars with up to 7 seats can enjoy this privilege on toll roads approves by law during important holidays.The introduction of free passage on toll roads not only reduces traveling cost of public holidays,but also relieves the pressure from other means of transportation,and partly contributes to the development of new ways to travel,thus playing a considerably active role in stimulating the domestic economy and boosting domestic demand.However,the policy also exposed some drawbacks in the process of implementation.First,it causes traffic jams during holidays and seriously affects driving safety.Second,tourist attractions are under great pressure.Third,it affects the legal income of the expressway business units.Fourth,the beneficiaries of the policy are limited and it is unfair.Fifth,it contradicts the green environmental protection.To explore the causes of the above issues,there are mainly the following aspects,the increase of the holiday volume of private cars,the mismatch between the hardware of the expressway and the volume of traffic after free passage,concentrated holidays,limited toll-free time and so on.Combined with the issues during implementation and the reasons,the strategies are as follows,according to policy makers,the expressway business units and the public.First,strengthen policy evaluation and supervision,carry out a differentiated expressway toll policy,optimize holiday structure and promote the implementation of the systems of paid leave.Second,improve—road capacity and road emergency response capacity to ensure a clear road,advance the renovation and upgrading of road infrastructure,build an intelligent information platform and increase the promotion of ETC.Third,encourage the public to choose low-carbon public transportation to travel.We look froward to the above strategies can play a certain role in further optimizing the policy of free passage on expressway during holidays.