Quotes of the Day

It has taken him almost five hours, but Arnold Schinkel and his 50-ton truck have finally reached the front of the line at the Germany-Switzerland border, past the customs and passport controls and the gridlock in the parking lot. Now there's one last hurdle: the red-haired Dutchman needs a receipt from a Swiss machine the size of a soft-drinks dispenser that wants to know the weight limit of his truck, its exact mileage — and his credit card details. "How does this thing work?" Schinkel asks in frustration, looking over his shoulder for help.

The number of heavy goods vehicles on Swiss roads has quadrupled over the past three decades, and with the increase has come growing congestion, pollution — and political controversy. Despite heavy spending on railways, numerous official efforts to limit the growth in trucks have failed. Until now. The machine that temporarily flummoxes Schinkel is part of an innovative — and so far successful — attempt to attack the congestion problem with a basic economic premise: use aggressive pricing to manage demand for road usage.

Two years ago the Swiss began charging all vehicles over 3.5 tons a fee that is calculated according to three criteria: how far the truck travels, its maximum admissible weight and the amount of emissions it produces. The amount per kilometer was calculated taking into account economic effects such as the cost of truck traffic to the environment and the housing market, as well as the wear and tear on the roads themselves. And it's expensive. A cross-country trip from Chiasso on the Italian border to Basel costs a dirty 34-ton truck 1188, and the tariff will rise by about 40% in 2005.

The results could be out of an economics textbook. After increasing steadily by about 7% annually, the number of trucks on Swiss roads dropped by 5% once the fee was introduced, and continued falling last year. The weak economy may have contributed to the decline in 2002, but all evidence suggests that "hauliers are avoiding empty runs," says Ueli Balmer, a senior government transport official. The Swiss scheme is working so well that Germany is planning to introduce a similar fee for trucks on highways later this year, Austria will do the same starting in 2004, and Britain is considering a version, although it hasn't yet set a timetable.

Bernhard Oehry, a traffic consultant who helped design the scheme, says proudly that the outcome is "impressive." But he's still not satisfied. Standing at the border, he watches one lane of trucks sail through customs and head north into Germany with nary a delay. The lane is for vehicles with no cargo. "People continue to drive air around," Oehry gripes. "It's still too cheap."

• PETER GUMBEL/Basel
• How the Swiss lightened the load of heavy goods vehicles