As the Bipartisan Policy Center’s new transportation report makes clear, there should be no question that moving to a more performance-based federal surface transportation funding system would improve system performance and efficiency. However, until now efforts to create a more performance-based funding system were limited by inadequacies in information collection. Fortunately, new information and communications technologies are making it much easier to collect and analyze system data in order to hold stakeholders more accountable for actual results. In fact, the principle reason it is now feasible for Congress to consider moving to a performance-based transportation program is that it is… Read more
As Chair of the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission, I sat through countless hours of discussion and debate about the promise and potential pitfalls of PPPs. The Commission, which represented a wide range of perspectives and interests, ultimately came to the unanimous conclusion that PPPs were a useful tool in the tool box of transportation agencies struggling to deliver better transportation performance with fewer resources. The Commission developed a set of recommendations to ensure the different kinds of PPPs would protect the public interest, a goal we broke down into numerous specific goals. Specifically, the Commission recommended 1) the Federal Government allow tolling on the National Interstate System… Read more
I want to thank everyone for your comments and questions. However, I want to respond to Robin's note here. It's not clear that other stand-alone devices could be used effectively as payment systems. One key feature is avoiding fraud and non-payment, and stand alone devices designed for other purposes (e.g., cell phones) might not meet this requirement. One note on fleet transition. In our vision, vehicles would be required to have an OEM installed device after some date and a few years after that, these vehicles would start paying a VMT (and not the gas tax that others pay). As each… Read more
mhicks 11.9999 Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} In his post Ken Orski made several observations on the forthcoming report by the National Surface Transportation Infrastructure Financing Commission which I have had the honor to chair. In particular Ken called into the question the wisdom of the calling for a 10 cent increase in the gas tax. I should note that the Commission has not yet issued its final report (we expect… Read more
mhicks 11.9999 Normal 0 false false false MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} Getting prices right is an important, but insufficient step for improving our nation’s transportation system and reducing carbon emissions. It is important because like any product or service consumers buy, the price of transportation services affects the demand for them. As we have seen last summer, when prices are high, consumption declines. Moreover, transportation users do not pay the full costs of using the… Read more
Related Link: http://www.innovationpolicy.org
