Causes and Countermeasures of Contradiction Between Supply and Demand on Toll Highway in China

Abstract

Applying economic ideas of Garys Becker to toll highway decision-making, the paper builds respectively supply model of toll highways from the perspective of the government and demand model of toll highways from the perspective of highways users. By comprehensive analysis of two models, the causes for contradiction are the differences in the utility function and the differences in budget line slope between government and highways users. The corresponding countermeasures for the differences in the utility function are to reduce the visibility of toll highways, to prevent collecting wealth from toll highways, to improve the income of highway users; the countermeasures for the differences in budget line slope are to increase repayment pressures of local government, to reduce the construction cost of the non-toll highways, to market maintenance costs of non-toll highways, to reduce toll of highways. If the above countermeasures are executed, the opposition to toll highway from the society can be reduced or avoided and toll highways can keep sustainable development.