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On July 24, 2012, the State Council of the People’s Republic of China implemented “a toll-free program for small passenger vehicles during major vacations. In the several months that followed, local governments issued implementation articles. The current Major Vacation Tollfree Program for small passenger vehicles (MVTP) pioneers the concept (Xu and Gao, 2016), “Benefaction to People.” The current MVTP has received considerable support from the nation. According to the survey, approximately 85.19% of respondents consider the MVTP an important measure to benefit people, which stimulates economic growth, boosts domestic demand, and improves the government’s social satisfaction. China’s highways are undergoing rapid development. The State Council of China approved the planning the National Trunk Highway System (NTHS) in December 2004. This plan aimed to build an expressway network of 85000 km over three decades, connecting all provincial capitals and cities with over 2 residents. The plan requires huge investment in terms of budget. Furthermore, nearly all expressways in the NTHS are toll roads run by firms owned by central/local governments (Xu et al., 2015). The toll-free highway program covers all tolled roads, bridges, and tunnels and involves motorcycles and small passenger vehicles with no more than seven seats. Major vacations include the Spring Festival, Tomb Sweeping Day, Labor Day, and National Day. The free period starts from 00:00 of the first day and ends at 24:00 of the last day of such vacations. Although the current MVTP receives considerable support from the public, the toll-free period also brings certain challenges, such as the surge of tourists in hot tourism areas, heavy traffic congestion on highways, and fast improved traffic accidents. Instead of enjoying their vacations, tourists have to spend ample time on the road, resulting in a social inefficiency (Bao et al., 2017). According to highway statistics of Jingjinji in 2013 and 2014, the number of daily accidents per year is 10.5. During holidays, the number is at 27.8, and during national vacations, the number is at 52.4. According to the statistics of the Transport Department of Shanxi province, 90% of accidents happen on highways during the Tomb Sweeping vacation and are caused by private cars. The toll-free program greatly promotes the growth of traffic flow, cars accounts for 89% of them, and gridlock was caused at National Day of 2012 (Li and He, 2015). Considering the challenges faced by the current MVTP, we propose a Flexible Major Vacation Toll-free Program for small passenger vehicles (FMVTP). The difference is that the fixed toll-free period in the MVTP can be adjusted by small passenger vehicle owners. Owners could apply the toll-free periods yearly based on their travel demand. However, owners should pay the toll normally if they have already availed themselves of the benefit and continue traveling during these major holidays. To continue the current MVTP, the excused vehicles i.e. motorcycles and small passenger vehicles with no more than seven seats, keep current definition. Received October 23, 2017

Implementation of a flexible Major Vacation Toll-free Program for small passenger vehicles in China