May 12, 2008

Hot Rod Foot Ferry Wows In Seattle Demo

Matt Rosenberg

Last week's fast foot ferry demo and regional foot ferry discussion forum in Seattle, organized by Cascadia Center, stoked the fires again. KOMO 4 TV, The Kitsap Sun and The Peninsula Daily News all weighed in with coverage. Participants came away energized by the ride on All American Marine's 50 mph River Gorge Explorer (right); determined to find a way to fund a regional network of state-of-the-art passenger-only ferries; and understanding that Puget Sound's health must be maintained at the same time. The common thread is the huge population growth headed our way in coming decades. Before we delve into last week's events, let's set the stage.

Off, Then On Again

The speedy passenger-only state ferry running between Bremerton and Seattle several years ago was a great ride but the heavy wake impact on shoreline properties led Rich Passage homeowners to sue, successfully ending the route. The ferry used then and a companion model are now being sold because the cash-starved state system is getting out of passenger-only ferry operations. Washington State Ferries is still operating a troubled, and badly aging fleet of car ferries.

Opportunities abound for local and regional operators of passenger-only ferries. The Port of Kingston will be launching a route to and from Seattle with a $3.5 million federal grant tied to variable-rate tolling SR 520, and possibly another $900,000 from the state. One-way fares will be about $13 and the Port predicts the route could be profitable as soon as four years out. King County's new passenger-only ferry district relies on a small hike in the property tax. They'll operate two current routes (between downtown and West Seattle and Vashon Island) and test out several more. Meanwhile, the Puget Sound Regional Council is deep into a study of how best to organize and fund a regional passenger-only ferry system, and Kitsap County will take delivery next year of a new low-wake high-speed foot ferry to be tested on the Bremerton-Seattle run. All eyes will be on Rich Passage.

Staggering Growth = New Marine Highway Plan

To top it all off, it's becoming clearer every week, that with 1.7 million newcomers expected by 2040 and as many as four million more by 2100 according to the Seattle Times, our region's approach to marine transportation needs to focus at least as much on vehicle-free passenger vessels as car ferries. So the idea of a regional passenger-only ferry network run by a consortium on cities, counties, ports, tribes and private operators is gradually moving from the "what if?" stage to the "how to."

A Regional Approach

In early December, at a summit on the state's underfunded and decaying car ferry system, Cascadia Center presented a draft interlocal agreement for regional passenger-only ferries. Bremerton Mayor Cary Bozeman (left) also then floated the idea of developing a joint funding vehicle for Puget Sound cleanup and passenger ferries. Little more than a week later, one of the state's mothballed 350-seat passenger ferries was pressed into service between Port Townsend and Seattle, after Port Townsend's economy reeled from the sudden forced retirement of the aged car ferry connecting it with Langley, on Whidbey Island. The temporary holiday season run between Port Townsend and Seattle proved wildly popular though economically unsustainable due to fuel costs of the big boat, and heavily subsidized fares.

"Salish Sea Express"

Cascadia Center Director Bruce Agnew stoked the buzz in February with a Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sunday op-ed titled, "Imagine A Network of Foot Ferries."

In it, he outlined a proposed regional compact to share resources and best practices to run foot ferries on the Salish Sea, the Native name for Puget Sound. Following Bozeman's lead, he also proposed this be coupled with more resources for preserving the Sound's water quality as growth and development take their toll.

Would You Leave Your Car Behind?

All this was the focus of a special gathering last week in Seattle, replete with a demonstration ride on a hot rod foot ferry. The sleek, 70-seat low wake River Gorge Explorer was manufactured by All American Marine of Bellingham as an eco-tour boat for the Tennesee Aquarium. A 149-seat version with a lower wake will be delivered by All American to Kitsap Transit next year for test runs between Bremerton and Seattle, through Rich Passage. The half-hour excursion on Elliot Bay last week left many riders convinced that demonstration runs across Puget Sound for commuters and leisure travellers would be a phenomenal sales tool. All American Marine CEO Matt Mullet agreed, saying special lease arrangements could make that possible.

In addition to Vashon to Seattle and West Seattle to Seattle, it's not hard to envision low wake fast foot ferries winning large riderships on other routes. Such as Southworth-Seattle, Kingston-Seattle, Everett-Seattle, Bremerton-Seattle, Kirkland-UW (on Lake Washington), Bainbridge-Des Moines (Sea-Tac Airport), and Vancouver-Seattle. For commuters especially, last mile connections would be key.

At the passenger-only ferry forum hosted last Thursday May 8 by Port of Seattle Commissioner Bill Bryant in the Port's meeting chambers, and organized by Cascadia Center, Bremerton Mayor Bozeman made the case for Puget Sound clean-up and more regional foot ferries, together:

Our ferry system should look a lot different. Should we be transporting people across Puget Sound, not cars? I think the proportion should be at least equal. At the same time, the environmental quality of this body of water is crucial. These two issues can come together, and they should.

Dan O'Neal, a board member of the Washington State Transportation Commission, said to the gathering:

There's a lot of enthusiasm for passenger-only ferries. We have an auto-centric ferry system, and you have to wonder if that's sustainable, given the costs of construction and operations of car ferries. But we don't want a range of different passenger-only ferry jurisdictions. We need a regional overlay.

Regional MVET: A Starting Point For Discussions

In a memo prepared for the event, Cascadia's Agnew states that a good starting point for the funding conversation is a voter-approved regional motor vehicle excise tax of $50 with a healthy percentage going for:

matching funds to ports and private vessel operators for ferry terminal construction and rehab;

pooled Sound-wide purchases of new high-tech, low-wake locally constructed passenger-only ferries, and creation of joint maintenance facilities;

multi-county surface water runoff and culvert rehab projects to aid Puget Sound water quality;

foot ferries on call for critical emergency transportation in case of a natural disaster or terrorist attack.

As a non-profit, Cascadia Center does not advocate specific legislation. We traffic in ideas. As such, we'll be conducting interviews of key stakeholders on regional funding options and governance framework for passenger-only ferries so that city, county and port elected officials bring forth their own unified proposal to the legislature in 2009.

You can get a good sense of the possibilities for routes and funding from this April 2008 consultant report prepared for the Puget Sound Regional Council's passenger-only ferry study. Pages 5-1 to 5-9 discuss federal, state, private and farebox funding options. Skeptics should take a close look. This is hardly a pipe dream. Like all our region's other transportation funding challenges, it's not a matter of scant resources; but rather vision, and leadership.

One thing's a pretty safe bet. As the teeming hordes continue to descend upon Puget Sound, we'll be seeing more passenger-only ferries on Puget Sound in coming years, not less. One way or another.

Cascadia Prospectus Marine Transportation archive.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

May 6, 2008

Private Capital Eyed For Transit, Roads

Matt Rosenberg

Drawing from $19.9 billion in Prop. 1B voter-appproved bonding authority, a California commission has allocated $3 billion to help fund 79 road, rail, bridge, transit and other transportation projects. The bottom line of this summary shows the projects will cost $8 billion to complete, necessitating the usual cost-sharing with other jurisdictions. Included are more High Occupancy and Toll (HOT) lanes on 1-15 in San Diego, arterial lane additions in Yuba City, various rehab projects for crumbling roads statewide, replacement of an unsafe bridge at Fort Bragg, crossovers between mainline freight train tracks, enhanced grade separation for Los Angeles-region commuter rail, rehab and addition of inter-city train tracks at L.A's downtown station, second-phase seismic upgrade work on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and microwave vehicle detection systems at 20 locations around Bakersfield to analyze traffic patterns and develop computer models to assess current and future highway system needs.

With the state's broader transportation needs in mind, officials say the $3 billion California Transportation Commission allocation is a step in the right direction but that there remain another 121 high-priority projects identified in the state's Goods Movement Action Plan, requiring another $47 billion. That's more than double the Prop 1B kitty, and the Goods Movement Action Plan only represents a portion of needed infrastructure projects. In their announcement (second link, above) officials say private capital will need to be part of the transportation funding mix.

California's transportation network is indeed vast. But the state's need for private partners to finance, fix and build roads, bridges and transit isn't unique. Many others are in the same situation. The federal gas tax trust fund is expected to go bankrupt next year. Political impetus for hiking federal or state gas taxes is nearly zero, thanks to rising gas prices and the economic slowdown. Gas tax revenues are levelling off anyway, as cars get better and better mileage. In many metro regions, tax fatigue is widespread. Yet the squeeze comes from the other end, too. Officeholders know they can't shirk responsibility for worn-out, overburdened roadways and in metro regions, for major transit improvements. It's all going to cost billions upon billions. New variable-rate tolling strategies are key to mananging traffic congestion, and the revenues will help fund roads, bridges, and transit. But there'll still be big funding gaps. Simply going hat in hand to the feds, the statehouse and the voters won't cut it anymore.

Fortunately, private resources for transportation investment are vast. U.S. Department of Transportation Sec. Mary Peters estimates there's $400 billion in private investment to be tapped by states and regions for road, bridge and transit projects. But to do so will require that states lay out the welcome mat. That's beginning to happen around the U.S., including the West Coast, where from Baja to British Columbia a slew of mobility improvements are urgently needed to support the economy and maintain quality of life. These should be paired with "Green Highways" improvements that Cascadia Center and others have championed.

Democratic California Assembly Member Anna Caballero (pictured, right) writes in the San Jose Mercury News that private partners can provide $100 billion of the state's $500 billion in overall infrastructure needs (transportation, utilities, public facilities) in the next 20 years.

As Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has recognized, California should be building bridges, roads, rail transit - or schools, libraries and fire stations - the way they are built in many places around the world. Using public-private partnerships, governments join with businesses to finance, design, construct, and sometimes operate and maintain, public facilities. It pays off in lower costs, better design, faster construction and better performance.....(officials) could employ partnerships on a (grand) scale: the proposed $4.7 billion extension of BART to San Jose; the realignment of the treacherous Highway 152 east of Gilroy; or making Caltrain an electric railway.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who also serves on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of Los Angeles County board, details in this recent press release the gathering impetus for private partners on LA transit projects. The backdrop: The MTA board has identified 23 transit projects that would increase ridership by 122,000 each year and cost up to $30 billion. The city council has adopted a motion commissioning a report on potential private finance options for the incomplete Purple Line Subway to the Sea, and other light rail and bus rapid transit projects. The MTA recently approved a motion of its own, sponsored by its vice-chair, Villaraigosa, requesting preliminary proposals for private finance plans on specific transit projects. This will lead to an MTA board decision this July on proceeding with formal requests for proposals (RFPs). More here from KNBC-TV. Under the plan, the MTA and its labor unions would continue to handle maintenance and operations of transit, while private partners would be eligible to head finance, design, construction and construction management of transit extenstions and additions.

How it will all shake out in LA remains to be seen, but it's significant that the mayor, city council and Metro board acknowledge private capital can help meet the region's bracing transportation needs. There's ample precedent, according to the mayor's office.

The Mayor’s motion is partially based on successful private efforts to revamp public transit throughout the United States and around the world. In London, a public-private partnership increased the capacity of the city’s transportation system by 20 percent and reduced costs by 17 percent. A similar model in Vancouver boosted rapid transit capacity by 33 percent – the equivalent of ten 11-mile lanes on city streets. In the US, public-private partnerships are being explored as a potential way to fund and build a new three-mile connection between Oakland International Airport to the Bay Area Rapid Transit system; a 5.4-mile extension of Houston’s rail service; and operational improvements to Denver’s commuter rail and bus stations.

In Metro's draft long-range transportation plan, agency CEO Roger Snoble (right) neatly ties together growth, mobility challenges, and private investment in transportation.

...The job of Metro is to make sure that mobility is maintained and improved in the face of growth in population and in the number of cars and trucks in the County. Population is expected to increase by another 2.4 million by 2030, while the number of vehicles has surpassed 7 million a day....No single solution works. It is a multi-pronged approach that includes the Metro Freeway Service Patrol, traffc signalization, freeway ramp metering, carpool lanes, intersection improvements and expanding public transit and other rideshare options that have staved off gridlock.
It is the right approach, but we have to do more. A lot more. We are falling short of the resources necessary to fund many of the critical projects needed for congestion relief and air quality improvements. And neither Sacramento nor Washington can be counted on to plug the shortfall.....we need to look to new ways of increasing transportation revenues. Public-private partnerships can stretch limited public funds. Joint development in transit corridors, congestion pricing, and developer mitigation fees are just some of the other options Metro is exploring with a renewed sense of urgency.

The new breed of private funding partners are a varied cast with which state and regional governments are becoming more familiar. Each state and region can pick and choose which players to deal with. Governments can and should retain ownership and fee/fare authority over their roads, bridges and transit systems. But those tolls and fares are a steady source of revenue with which to pay back private investors - who, unlike taxpayers these days - are ready to ante up, again and again.

There are a few different types of dance partners. Sovereign investment funds? Ah....thanks but no thanks. Privately held infrastructure funds, like, say, Macquarie, or Goldman Sachs? Yeah, maybe. Especially if on transportation projects they can partner with public employee union and construction trade union pension funds. This last group is attracting growing attention for investments made in transportation projects around the world, either directly, or through private infrastructure funds.

We'll have more on that in coming posts.

"Report On The Transportation Innovative Partnership Program," Washington State Transportation Commission, 1/07;

“Strategic Growth Plan: Performance-Based Infrastructure,” Office of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, CA, 1/9/08;

“Residents Agree – Public Infrastructure Projects Need Boost From Public Private Partnerships, Bay Area Council Poll Shows,” PublicWorks.com, 4/16/08;

“Train Builders Meet To Seek Private Investment For California Groundbreaking Plan For High-Speed Trains,” Business Wire, 3/26/08;

“High Speed Rail Bonds Heading For Ballot,” SF Chronicle, 4/20/08.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 28, 2008

Steady Progress On Congestion Pricing, Tolling

Matt Rosenberg

Suppose electricity was free, even at hours of peak usage. Think your power supply would be reliable, then? Exactly. Now apply the same common-sense approach to highway capacity.

Or consider the Environmental Defense Fund's Transportation Director Michael Replogle, who writes in the Washington Post:

Congestion pricing may be controversial to some people, but it's inevitable. Using tolls simply to build more roads is a costly way to end up with even more traffic and pollution....Done right, congestion pricing can boost the efficiency of our existing roads, raise revenue to invest in transit, and reduce pollution that causes asthma, cancer, heart disease, impaired lung development and global warming....In the long run, congestion pricing is the only effective and economically and politically viable solution to the chronic and growing gridlock in our nation's largest cities.

Support for road pricing isn't isolated. At all. A "survey of surveys" published by Johanna Zmud in the scholarly journal Tolling finds broad support for congestion pricing. (See especially the summary chart on p. 33).

Now the place that gave birth to road rage is getting in on the act. The L.A. Times reports the Metropolitan Transportation Authority will turn carpool lanes on the 10 and 210 freeways in the San Gabriel Valley into electronically-tolled High Occupancy and Toll (HOT) lanes by year-end 2010, with tolls varying according to time of day and traffic levels. This is one example of so-called "congestion pricing," also known as variable tolling, or time-variable tolling.

LA's commitment comes in return for $200 million-plus from the U.S. Department of Transportation for 60 high-capacity buses and improvements to light rail.

It's part of the department's Urban Partnerships Program to encourage expanded transit and "congestion pricing," together.

NYC's Loss Is LA's Gain

LA's access to the federal funds came after the New York General Assembly sank a cordon pricing proposal from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

That would have garnered an Urban Partnerships grant of more than $300 million.

Central Puget Sound Growth Management: Goals Versus Reality

Matt Rosenberg

The gulf between plans for regional urban density and the reality of dreaded "sprawl" is widening in Central Puget Sound, writes former Washington State Secretary of Transportation Doug MacDonald in Crosscut today. The Puget Sound Regional Council is poised tomorrow to approve Vision 2040, its updated growth plan. It predicts another 1.7 million people (the size of metro Portland, Oregon) will move to our four counties between 2000 and 2040. To protect the environment and limit traffic congestion, the elected officials and staff of PSRC propose ways to funnel most new residents to the close-in "metropolitan cities" of Seattle, Bellevue, Everett, Tacoma and Bremerton, plus 14 adjacent "core cities" such as Auburn, Redmond, Federal Way, Lakewood, Tukwila and unincorporated Silverdale.

But things aren't working out as planned. MacDonald comprehensively reviewed 2000-2007 population growth data for the region on a city-by-city basis, and found far more newcomers than hoped for are moving to our region's edges rather than its core, and that compared to the 1990s, the first- and second-ring target cities are now drawing a smaller percentage of population growth. If the trend continues, so will pressure on our natural lands, habitat, water and air quality. And traffic, already a huge concern, will worsen.

MacDonald reports that while Vision 2040 calls for 32 percent of Puget Sound newcomers to reside in the first-ring "metropolitan cities," only 13 percent complied from 2000 to 2007. The second-ring "core cities" were supposed to draw 21 percent of the newbies but again, only 13 percent complied. In the 90s, the same 19 cities drew 18 percent of the newcomers, so the 13 percent figure infers we're backsliding on density, according to MacDonald.

Where exactly are people settling in now, in greater numbers than planners would like? Mostly at the edges of the region, where housing prices are decidedly lower; places like Monroe, Arlington, Marysville, Dupont and Bonney Lake. (Those last two are respectively south and southeast off the regional map above, left). And in towns such as Sammamish, Duvall and Mill Creek, which while not cheap by any means, are at least more affordable than pricey Seattle and Bellevue.

As a metropolitan and regional transportation planning agency the PSRC by federal mandate must try to lay out goals and suggest strategies for managing growth. Vision 2040 is an ambitious plan with a bar set appropriately high. But the PSRC has never had decision-making authority. That's left to state, county and local lawmakers, and the swirling profusion of councils, boards and agencies overseeing transportation, growth management and economic development.

To abate the worrisome trend he sees, MacDonald prescribes development of beefier policies for affordable housing, better public schools and better bus transit in popular corridors. He also highlights the PSRC's own suggestion for unfied regional governance on Puget Sound water quality improvements, thus unavoidably also calling the obervant reader's attention to his own vocal role in advocating regional governance for roads and transit.

But no matter what exhortations and incentives are offered, high costs for single-family homes and the proliferation of family-unfriendly apartments and condominiums in first-ring Puget Sound cities - plus rapid urbanization in the second ring - will continue to drive many newcomers to the region's outskirts. Right now, that means longer commutes, more greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles and more traffic congestion. Not exactly a recipe for environmental quality and sustainability.

Regional governance on transportation remains a hot-button issue in Puget Sound. Some zealous commentators see the idea as a nefarious plot by business and Republican interests to torpedo light rail. This is as foolish as the belief that any one transit mode provides the silver bullet to slay traffic congestion. Regional transportation governance has been recommended by two successive state blue-ribbon panels under two Democratic governors (most recently here) and all but endorsed in a recent state performance audit under a Democratic state auditor. Democratic-sponsored legislation for regional transportation governance passed the Democratic-majority state senate last year before stalling in the state house.

True, regional transportation decision-making doesn't by itself guarantee enactment of the right solutions to traffic congestion. But an elected regional transportation decision-making board would provide a crucial framework for coordinated, decisive actions to ration our limited peak-hour road capacity, to fully fund crucial road safety projects, to pay for operations and maintenance, to grow transit, and to incent other alternatives to single-occupant vehicles. These are just the kind of on-the-ground approaches needed to tame snarled traffic as newcomers keep arriving, and the outward expansion of the region documented by MacDonald continues.

Whether regional transportation governance flies or not, elected officials will need to muster a lot of political courage to address growth's effects on mobility. Puget Sound needs to expand time-variable highway tolling, plus form financial partnerships with union pension funds and developers, deploy more new commuter rail service, and create more robust incentives for paratransit and telecommuting. Suburban park-and-ride lots need to be developed into future-facing hubs with robust intermodal connections and re-charging stations for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

As in all other regions our size or larger, the tab for must-have transportation capital projects runs well into the billions, to which must be added ongoing operations and maintenance costs. Just as the solutions are multiple, so are the ways we'll pay: time, money, and adaptation. We're seeing that many newcomers to the region would rather adapt their travel habits and costs to less central, less clustered and less expensive homes. Policy-makers, while still encouraging density, need to understand that countervailing tendency, and more fully address its implications for regional mobility.

TECHNORATI TAGS: PUGET SOUND REGIONAL COUNCIL, VISION 2040, DOUG MACDONALD, URBAN DENSITY, SPRAWL, HOUSING COSTS, TRAFFIC CONGESTION, TRANSPORTATION PLANNING, TOLLING, CONGESTION PRICING, REGIONAL GOVERNANCE, BUS TRANSIT, COMMUTER RAIL, TELECOMMUTING, PLUG-IN ELECTRIC HYBRID VEHICLES

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at 11:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

April 21, 2008

Gov. Kulongoski Eyes Congestion Pricing In Metro Portland

Matt Rosenberg

In a recent speech to the Oregon Environmental Council's Business Forum, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski (below, right) said the transportation plan he'll present to the 2009 state legislature will likely accent congestion pricing. It could also include a statewide low-carbon fuel standard in synch with California's, and incentives for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. More, first from from The Oregonian.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski...said he will likely advocate for rush-hour tolling and other tough measures to control traffic congestion in his 2009 appeal to the Legislature. "In plain English, tolls that vary by time of day, by location, or by congestion level, so that those who are using the highway at the most desirable time are paying more to do so," he said. Kulongoski didn't say which highways might be ripe for "congestion pricing." But the proposed Interstate 5 bridge over the Columbia River is an example of what he has in mind, said spokeswoman Anna Richter Taylor.
...For months, Kulongoski has said he will make his transportation plan a top priority when the Legislature convenes for a new session in January. He has called for improvements to highways and roads throughout the state, emphasizing the massive needs of a system that has failed to keep up with growth. And he has insisted that these improvements also answer concerns about global warming. He wants cleaner cars, more bicycle routes and more mass transit, among other "green" measures. "We cannot allow ourselves to fall into the trap of thinking transportation and climate change are conflicting policy priorities," Kulongoski said. He hasn't put a price tag on his plan, but admits a large new source of funding must be found.

The Portland Business Journal also reported on the Governor's speech, noting his comments on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles:

"We also need to find ways to make it easier for individual citizens to access and use plug-in hybrid and other alternative fuel cars so these become the vehicles of choice," he said.

Increased incentives for telecommuting may figure in to his package of proposed legislation as well, Kulongoski indicated. The Oregonian's report mentions that Pat Reiten, president of Pacific Power, will head a committee for the governor, tasked with developing the broader package of transportation legislation by November.

Gail Achterman, chair of the Oregon Transportation Commission, in a brief paper published at the Web site of the Columbia Crossing I-5 bridge replacement project, states that tolling is a key component of controlling greenhouse gas emissions in the transportation sector, as necessary large-scale infrastructure upgrades occur.

On the transportation side of the equation, reducing greenhouse gas emissions will require us to consider two key policies: significantly expanding mass transit service, and implementing tolling to reduce demand on the highway system. The Columbia River Crossing would do both. In that sense, it is a major forward step in our regional effort to reduce the carbon footprint of our transportation system.

What emerges from the '09 session remains to be seen, but Kulongoski is on the right track in highlighting congestion pricing, transit, and telecommuting, and especially in exploring how to move beyond oil in transportation.

RELATED.........

"Costlier Gas, New Hybrids Spur More To Go Green," Seattle Times, 4/21/08;

"Biofuel Use, Growth, Limited By Costs, Technology," Seattle Times, 4/19/08;

"Plugged In: The End Of The Oil Age," World Wildlife Fund, 4/2/08;

"Metro Portland: The I-5 Bridge Tolls For Thee," Cascadia Prospectus, 1/23/08.

TECHNORATI TAGS: TED KULONGOSKI, OREGON, PORTLAND, CONGESTION PRICING, GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, PLUG-IN HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES, I-5, BRIDGE REPLACEMENT, COLUMBIA RIVER CROSSING, TELECOMMUTING, TRANSIT

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 16, 2008

Commuter Rail Projects, Proposals Multiply Across U.S.

Matt Rosenberg

In Austin, Texas, Capital Metro's new 32-mile long commuter rail line using state-of-the art diesel multiple unit (DMU) cars will begin operations this fall. Officials from around the U.S. are flocking to Austin for demos. Among them were a transportation-focused Washington state contingent in early April organized by the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, including WSDOT Secretary Paula Hammond, King County Council Member Julia Patterson, Cascadia Center Director Bruce Agnew and Cascadia Senior Fellow Steve Marshall. Agnew is spearheading our Eastside TRailway commuter rail and recreational trail initiative, and Marshall is leading our charge on plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, which are gaining traction thanks in part to the outstanding work of Austin-based Plug-in Partners and their national grassroots initiative.

The new Austin commuter rail line came to fruition after a $1.9 billion light rail proposal was rejected by voters, according to this Austin American-Statesman article on outgoing Capital Metro Chairman Lee Walker, who championed the new line.

In the San Diego region, the newly-opened, 22-mile, $480 million Sprinter commuter rail line between Oceanside and Escondido, utilizing DMU railcars, is drawing more than 7,000 passengers per day and that number is eventually expected to exceed 11,000, as the San Jose Mercury News reports. The North County Times provides the backstory on development of the line.

Near Portland, Oregon the regional transportation agency Tri-Met will initiate DMU railcar commuter rail service (pictured, above left) next fall on a 14.7-mile line between Beaverton and Wilsonville in Washington County. The project cost $117.3 million and is expected to draw between 3,000 and 4,000 daily riders by 2020. (UPDATE: As The Oregonian reports on Sunday April 20, it's the state's first commuter line; called the Westside Express Service; and at Beaverton connects with two light rail lines into Portland).

The Northstar Commuter Rail project in the Minneapolis is progressing toward likely implementation. Expected to cover much of the funding is a newly-created multi-county transit improvement district that could generate $100 million per year after admininstrative costs. Initial station construction is underway.

North of Dallas, several towns are considering funding an approximately $100,000 feasibility study of a new commuter rail line on an underutilized freight corridor. The NBC-TV affiliate serving Dallas-Fort Worth has more in this report.

Here in Puget Sound, the Eastside TRailway proposal energetically supported by Cascadia Center and others continues to advance. It would run from the town of Snohomish south to Bellevue, Redmond and eventually Renton, connecting growing residential areas to burgeoning job centers. This week, King County Executive Ron Sims wrote to the county council affirming the county will hold to its reversal of an earlier recommendation to rip out the tracks. All this comes as part of a complicated deal with the Port of Seattle, which is buying the 42-mile abandoned rail corridor from BNSF to augment regional freight rail mobility and to facilitate a possible public-private venture for commuter rail with a parallel trail. That dual use is key, Sims said. More from The Seattle Times:

Just about everyone, including rail advocates, agrees that the old tracks would not work for a commuter rail line and will need to be torn out eventually. But keeping the tracks would preserve the ballast underneath and make it much easier to install new, modern tracks, said Bruce Agnew, director of the Discovery Institute's Cascadia Center think tank, which has pushed for commuter rail. Rail advocates were worried that if the tracks were removed, a trail would be built right down the middle of the corridor and leave no room for a rail line to return, Agnew said. The Legislature this year approved $100,000 for a study to see if potential ridership is high enough to pursue a commuter rail line on the BNSF corridor.

Additional funds for the study are expected to total as much as another $200,000 combined; coming from The Puget Sound Regional Council and Sound Transit. There's a growing recognition that keeping the railbeds intact is the right move, as The Seattle Times remarks in this editorial about the Sims letter:

For the plainspoken, there are also multiple, unvarnished commitments to preserve the 42-mile BNSF freight corridor for future use as a high-capacity passenger-rail line.In the spirit of safeguarding — in Sims' words — this tremendous regional asset, there are no immediate plans to remove the existing rails, even though their useful life may have expired. They represent a valuable placeholder to reinforce the passenger-rail potential. The continued, purposeful physical presence of the rails will help guide and shape public discussions as plans proceed with a parallel and complementary hiking-and-biking trail.

Cascadia gave a well-received presentation on Eastside commuter rail earlier this week to the Snohomish City Council. As elsewhere on the proposed line, there's a high level of interest but also an awareness that running commuter rail through a town takes careful planning. More here, in an an Everett Herald article previewing the council's public forum featuring Agnew and a team of Cascadia rail experts.

By the way, did we mention the Rail Runner Express commuter rail line that's been running since 2006, in the Albuquerque region? (It's above, right).

The upshot of all this: as traffic congestion and population continue to grow in major metro regions across the nation, transit solutions including commuter rail will become increasingly attractive to residents, employers and employees. As will ride-sharing strategies and time-variable tolling.

RELATED: "The Eastside TRailway: Making Trail And Rail Happen For Snohomish And The Eastside," Loren Herrigstad, for Cascadia Center.

TECHNORATI TAGS: EASTSIDE COMMUTER RAIL, SEATTLE, PUGET SOUND, COMMUTER RAIL, AUSTIN, OCEANSIDE, ESCONDIDO, BEAVERTON, WILSONVILLE, DALLAS, MINNEAPOLIS, ALBUQUERQUE, CASCADIA CENTER, RIDESHARING, PLUG-IN HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES, PLUG-IN PARTNERS

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at 3:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 14, 2008

Mobility 2.0 For Puget Sound

Bruce Agnew

With the recent meltdown of the New York City cordon pricing plan, Puget Sound is moving to the forefront of innovative transportation planning – if our region can get its act together. The success of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, adoption by the Legislature with support from the Governor of a tolling policy for the State Route 520 floating bridge, and the pending State Route 167 HOT lane pilot project combine to fuel possibilities for a strategic pairing of HOT lanes and bus rapid transit in the 405 corridor; in reconfigured I-5 express lanes; and in other critical corridors.

But to implement these and other roads and transit measures will take real money and a single point of accountability, namely a regional transportation decision-making board to plan, prioritize and fund projects. Elected and appointed representatives, covering King, Pierce and Snohomish counties would develop public funding tools for voter approval and - with keen attention to the public interest - would tailor roads and transit funding deals with pension fund investors representing building trades and public employee unions.

The region's private sector business acumen can help solve our mobility challenges. An example is Microsoft, which continues to forge into the transportation field, emphasizing innovation and sustainability. Expansion of Microsoft's popular Connector bus service (pictured above) for employees and the company's emergent in-vehicle Clearflow traffic management system could be part of an important first-phase public-private partnership to deal with Puget Sound road congestion.

USDOT Secretary Mary Peters was clearly impressed with what she heard from Microsoft and other business leaders in her recent visit. By moving to Puget Sound some of the $300-plus million previously earmarked for the Big Apple's failed cordon-pricing project, USDOT could double its $138 million federal Urban Partnership Agreement with our region. The congestion initiative could be expanded to include approaches like those being demonstrated by Microsoft.

Meanwhile, Sound Transit ponders whether it should go out for a public vote in November to fund expansion of regional light rail, following the rejection by voters last fall of a big-ticket light rail and roads measure. The business community, miffed that governance reform was not accomplished in the last Legislature, and worried about a deteriorating economy, is considering advancing a regional transportation governance initiative to consolidate decision-making.

So-called governance reform would foster fresh new approaches to our huge transportation challenges. Taking a page from the software industry and the Web development community, perhaps we should think of the next phase as Mobility 2.0. The idea is to empower the user with new and better tools. Is there really any good reason that new approaches to regional mobility should be set apart from the entrepreneurial spirit that defines the Puget Sound economy? Let's tear down that firewall.

TECHNORATI TAGS: PUGET SOUND, TRANSPORTATION PLANNING, TRANSPORTATION FUNDING, PENSION FUNDS, CONGESTION PRICING, HOT LANES, MICROSOFT, CONNECTOR, CLEARFLOW, CARPOOLING, USDOT, MARY PETERS, SR 520, SR 167

Posted by Bruce Agnew at 1:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

April 8, 2008

The Difference Between Cordon Pricing And Congestion Pricing

Matt Rosenberg

Sure, everyone called it a congestion pricing plan. But New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's ambitious proposal to charge drivers $8 to enter Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours was more about cordon pricing, literally drawing a line around downtown. Singapore, London (see map, right) and Stockholm have implemented similar plans. In contrast, the typical congestion pricing project in U.S. metro regions doesn't impose downtown cordon fees for drivers, but focuses on specific crowded highways, with variable fees keyed to traffic levels, and thus higher charges at peak hours. A related strategy involves a split between free lanes which are often more congested, and electronically-tolled High Occupancy and Toll (HOT) lanes allowing carpools, transit and for a variable fee, solo drivers to speed past traffic. Tolls are collected electronically by overhead gantries communicating with dashboard transponders.

The difference between cordon pricing and congestion pricing is detailed in this primer from the Federal Highway Administration.

In the Northwest online newspaper Crosscut Knute Berger today contends the New York setback could foreshadow growing opposition to expansion of congestion pricing in Puget Sound. Berger's certainly right that any type of new traffic-pricing scheme will provoke some degree of political resistance. However, metro Puget Sound is not considering downtown cordon fees, as New York was. More at issue here is how fast and far HOT lanes and possibly, broader-brush highway tolling strategies will grow, as the region experiences a projected 52 percent increase in population between 2000 and 2040.

A related concern in Pugetopolis, admittedly also a part of the opposition to New York's cordon pricing plan, is how soon and how well transit choices can be improved so that commuters and discretionary intra-region travellers can get around quickly without driving. The current hub-and-spoke transit system centered around downtown Seattle does little to serve growing suburb-to-suburb transit mobility needs.

So far, the biggest gripe here against congestion pricing has been that HOT lanes - coming later this month to a stretch of State Route 167 and within a year or two to the State Route 520 floating bridge and possibly the I-90 bridge as well - are really "Lexus Lanes" affordable only to the rich. In town last week, U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters responded to the criticism. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported:

...Peters....called the "Lexus lanes" label "an urban myth that isn't exactly true." She said congestion-based tolls benefit lower-income drivers more than some with higher incomes. Lower-income people, she said, often must live in less-expensive housing farther from jobs and are more likely to be hourly wage-earners who will benefit more by saving commuting time.

Nice sound bite. But is it actually supported by any sort of dispassionate analysis? Um, yes, actually. From The Democratic Leadership Council, the Washington Post and the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Here's something else that's revealing: tolling, of which HOT lanes are one type, is growing so rapidly across the country that states in the Midwest and Eastern U.S. have adopted a common transponder and billing tool set for interstate drivers and commuters who may use more than one system on the same trip. It's called E-ZPass. The Toldeo Blade has more.

E-ZPass itself is the trade name used by the Inter Agency Group, a multistate consortium that sets equipment standards, coordinates billing, and created the distinctive purple signs that identify electronic-toll lanes at members' toll plazas. Thanks to that cooperation, each toll authority's transponders work at everybody's tollgates, so there's no need to obtain a different tag for each.

E-ZPass works in Illinois, Indiana, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hamshire and Maine. The Cascadia Corridor will need a similar approach covering British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and California. Particularly with more HOT lanes coming to Puget Sound, and a new tolled bridge planned across the Columbia River on I-5 between Washington and Oregon.

As for the setback dealt to Bloomberg's cordon pricing plan, rest assured a revised proposal will be in the offing.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

April 4, 2008

U.S. Transportation Chief Visits Seattle

Mike Wussow

Seattle isn't always the first stop for U.S. Cabinet officials. But if U.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters' visit today is any indication, when the issue is transportation, Seattle is a natural top of agenda locale.

With the help of Cascadia Center and others, Secretary Peters swept into town on Friday for a series of meetings with business and policy leaders. The Cascadia Center, with its growing leadership in the alternative energy and plug-in hybrid, electric vehicle space, played a critical role in the visit by coordinating several meetings for the United States' 15th transportation chief.

Today's closed meetings and work sessions focused on the question of transportation technology, innovation, finance and the Northwest's leadership role in finding solutions to regional and nationwide transportation challenges. Phoenix Motorcars, an electric car company based in California, brought one of its prototypes to Seattle for Secretary Peters and others to see.

Cascadia Center has long argued that the U.S. reliance on foreign oil is not sustainable. As former CIA director James Woolsey has said, it's an addiction that funds both sides of the war on terrorism. Based on our research and analysis, the most sensible way to move beyond oil is to use clean electricity to power vehicles.

We'd like to see the Northwest lead in the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles. It's the best way to: achieve greater energy independence, cut greenhouse gases and help reduce our trade deficit. It's clear to us that a Northwest pilot project that showed the successful adoption of PHEVs by commercial and government fleets as well as consumers could set a workable, realistic example for other regions and the country.

We're working with the state and U.S. transportation departments on proposals that would test how to recharge PHEVs at park and ride lots. (The illustration to the right is one vision.) And we're also collaborating to encourage transit use and to introduce congestion pricing to replace lost gas tax revenues when gas consumption declines with the move to alternative fuels and electricity.

Today's visit by Secretary Peters is evidence that the nation's leaders are willing to look to the Northwest for ideas and examples of how to confront transportation challenges now and down the road. We believe the region's political and business leaders are up to the challenge.

Posted by Mike Wussow at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

March 25, 2008

Senate Committee Highlights Dodd-Hagel "Infrastructure Bank" Bid

Ken Orski

Clinton, Obama Co-sponsors

The problem of infrastructure deficit received prominent attention from the governors and state officials meeting in Washington during the month of February. But aside from agreeing that the needs for infrastructure funding are great, that present resources are inadequate, and that earmarks are a poor way to deal with the problem, few solutions were offered as to how to meet the revenue shortfalls. That's why a March 11 hearing by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs took on special significance. The hearing focused on a bill sponsored by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-CT) and Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) to create a National Infrastructure Bank (S. 1926).

Described by Sen Dodd as a "unique and powerful public-private partnership," the proposed Bank could potentially offer a fresh solution to the challenge of infrastructure financing.

The bill proposes to create an independent national bank financed with a $60 billion bond issue. Using the bonds to leverage private capital, the bank would supplement public spending and finance large capacity-building infrastructure projects "of substantial regional and national significance." Candidate projects would be brought to the Bank’s attention by state and local sponsors. Eligible projects would include roads, bridges, mass transit systems, wastewater treatment facilities and public housing.

"The federal government does not and will not have the resources to meet our future national infrastructure needs," said Sen. Hagel in his opening statement. "While the proposed legislation is not the entire solution, it can be part of the solution." The intent of the legislation is to create "an architecture," in Sen Dodds’ words, that would make it possible to address the challenge of modernizing the nation’s public infrastructure in a concerted and systematic manner.

Although the bill is not entirely clear on this point, we assume that preference would be given to income producing assets such as toll roads and bridges. Principal and interest on "project-based infrastructure bonds" issued for such assets could be repaid with revenue generated by user fees and make the projects self-financing. The tax-free bonds, backed by the full faith and credit of the federal government, would offer an attractive investment to institutional investors such as pension funds, whose liabilities and payout requirements would match the bonds’ long-term maturities.

The Dodd-Hagel proposal should appeal to the large majority of congressional lawmakers who are reluctant to vote for higher gasoline taxes but who nevertheless believe that the nation’s growing infrastructure deficit must not be left unattended.

The idea of separating capital spending from normal operating expenses and the concept of a national capital budget that would be immune from the vagaries of annual congressional appropriations, has a number of influential proponents. They include Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, and Felix Rohatyn and Warren Rudman, co-chairs of the Commission on Public Infrastructure of the Center for Strategic International Studies.

But the idea of a national capital budget is not without its critics. The Treasury Department might be opposed to the bonds if they became a new encumbrance on the U.S. treasury. The congressional appropriators might object to the Bank as usurping their prerogative to be the sole dispensers of the federal largesse. There might also be objections from those who believe that the answer lies in relying more heavily on market forces to direct private investment into the needed infrastructure rather than creating a new centrally directed bureaucracy.

Lastly, the sum of $60 billion in the proposed bond issue may appear as insignificant when contrasted with the $1.6 trillion national infrastructure deficit estimated by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

However, the bill’s endorsement by both Democratic presidential candidates, Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York and Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, should add considerable weight to the notion of a national capital budget and ensure its continued visibility in the policy debate.

What's more, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's support may earn the bill an early place on the House legislative agenda. At a news conference on March 12, Pelosi said she favors a national infrastructure plan and wants the House to take up legislation such as the Dodd-Hagel bill that seeks to leverage public funding with private capital to finance critical infrastructure.

RELATED: March 11, 2008 senate committee hearing testimony on the bill from Sen. Dodd, Sen. Hagel, and Mr. Rohatyn.

TECHNORATI TAGS: ROADS, BRIDGES, TRANSPORTATION, FUNDING, PENSION FUNDS, NATIONAL INFRASTRUCTURE BANK, S. 1926, U.S. SENATE, CHRISTOPHER DOD, CHUCK HAGEL, HILLARY CLINTON, BARACK OBAMA, FELIX ROHATYN, NANCY PELOSI

Posted by Ken Orski at 3:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 20, 2008

Bike-sharing, again

Linnea Noreen

We talked here recently about Velib, the Parisian bike-sharing service, and how excellent it would be to have something similar in Seattle environs. Apparently I'm not the only person to think of this... Michele, at the Washington State Department of Transportation, informed me that the University of Washington is launching a similar on-campus program with automated rentals of electric bikes, in partnership with Scootabella Incorporated and Intrago Mobility Corp. of Boulder, Colorado. First in the nation. We are so cutting-edge.

AND it's electric.

Sure, you can strap your own bike to the Metro bus, or just ride it hither and yon. But while some Huskies may not mind getting all fragrantly sweaty, many cubicle dwellers may. And that's where the "electric" part hits the jackpot. As "Dr. Go" explains in this Intrago "Last Mile" video.

Intrago CEO Larry Blankenship confirms that the UW pilot program is set to launch this coming fall. Many kudos to UW Director of Transportation Services Josh Cavanaugh, who was instrumental in advancing the pilot progam, according to Blankenship. UW's U-Pass program already provides a variety of incentives for commuters to cut single-vehicle travel.

Eventually, says Blankenship, the idea is to expand automated electric bike rentals to a range of metro locations within test markets such as Seattle. Like Velib, this would make intra-city walking a more attractive proposition, as well as transit.

Sign me up!

TECHNORATI TAGS: VEHICLE TRIP REDUCTION, ELECTRIC BICYCLES, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE, INTRAGO, WASHINGTON STATE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Posted by Linnea Noreen at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

March 18, 2008

Washington Legislature Advances Tolling For Puget Sound

Matt Rosenberg

In its election year "short session" concluded last week, the Washington state legislature took several important, albeit partial steps to advance tolling, commuter rail, passenger-only ferries and innovative transportation funding partnerships with non-government entities.

Let's review some key '08 transportation bills that made it through both legislative chambers, and now await the signature of Gov. Christine Gregoire.

ESHB 3096 (bill as passed - bill report - legislative history) has to do with the State Route 520 floating bridge connecting Seattle across Lake Washington to fast-growing Eastside business and residential centers such as Bellevue, Kirkland and Redmond. The bill report reminds us that the bridge carries 115,000 vehicles and about 150,000 people per day; it is 1.5 miles long and 44 years old. It's been widely noted the rickety span could suffer a catastrophic failure in a severe windstorm or earthquake. So 3096 firms up the intent of lawmakers to toll State Route 520 to help pay for replacement of the current bridge. It creates an SR 520 bridge tolling implementation committee to guide coming decisions by the state transportation department and state legislature.

The committee's charge includes making recommendations to avoid traffic diversion to other state and regional roads such as the parallel I-90. This could result in tolling on I-90 as well as 520. Tolling 520 and perhaps also I-90 would be a crucial second step toward regional tolling for Puget Sound - following on tolling which began last year on the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge, and the four-year SR 167 congestion pricing pilot project starting next month (SR 167 time-variable tolling sign, below right). While politically sensitive, regional highway tolling, and in particular congestion pricing to control peak hour flows, are crucial if we are to handle a projected 52 percent increase in population by 2040.

The committee must consider technology, too. That means, in accordance with the current industry standard and tolling on SR 167 and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, that electronic transponders and overhead gantries will be prioritized over tollbooths. Additionally, the bill requires that the SR 520 tolling committee consider "partnership opportunities." This is a clear reference to possible alliances limiting taxpayer exposure if costs will ultimately exceed available public monies. Partners would be non-government entities, perhaps labor or public employee union pension funds. Private transportation investment funds also enter into a variety of partnership agreements with willing government sponsors, but it's best if the public entity retains ownership of the asset and toll rates.

The 520 tolling committee must also consider input from the public and local elected officials, and report back to the governor and legislature by January of 2009. Then, the bill says, the state department of transportation may seek legislative approval for tolling the existing 520 bridge, and work with the feds to get around a generic prohibition of tolling on Interstates, barring a special agreement tailored to a facility. This is considered eminently do-able; and tolling on I-90 to limit traffic diversions is essential if tolling 520 is to work.

As noted in this Washington Post story yesterday, Seattle is one of five regions nationwide to receive a special federal "Urban Partnerships" grant for innovative solutions to road congestion. Here, it is $139 million, to help pay for implementation of congestion pricing on the new SR 520 bridge and various transit projects including $3.5 million to help launch a new passenger-only ferry in the metro region's western reaches, between Kingston in Kitsap County, and downtown Seattle. But for Puget Sound to get this federal largesse, there's a hook: the grant requires that "variable" tolling, levied at different rates depending on time of day or road congestion level, be approved by the state by September 30, 2009 for the 520 corridor.

To set the stage for that '09 legislation, state lawmakers in the recent session also approved E2SHB 1773, which sets a broader state policy framework for tolling (bill as passed - final bill report - legislative history). The bill states that the legislature must authorize any specific tolls; that tolls can be applied to bridges, highways, transportation corridors, approaches and bi-state facilities; and that the aims of tolling in Washington state will be to improve transportation system efficiency and provide funding, not only for construction but also for maintenance, operations and management. This last part represents an important acknowledgement that tolling is not just for getting things built; it is also now necessary for a big share of life-cycle costs. That's because federal and state gas tax revenues are in an irreversible decline as sources for construction and maintenance.

Without specificly mentioning the word, the bill leaves open the possibility that with legislative approval some future tolling revenues could be used to help fund transit. This is something Cascadia Center supports, as our director Bruce Agnew tells the Seattle Post-Intelligencer this morning.

HB 2730 (bill as passed - bill report - legislative history) advances regional passenger-only ferries, rescinding a state prohibition against their operations by port districts on Puget Sound. This bill is tailored to the above-noted Kingston-Seattle foot ferry route for which the Port of Kingston has received federal grant funding contingent on tolling of SR 520.

The Eastside commuter rail line which Cascadia Center has championed as part of a rails and trails partnership will get a closer look, under HB 3324 (bill as approved - bill report - legislative history). It directs Sound Transit and the Puget Sound Regional Council to examine existing reports and possibly commission a new analysis of the proposed north-south commuter rail between residence-rich east Snohomish County and the booming Eastside business centers of King County, along the abandoned BNSF freight rail line. In any event, under the bill, Sound Transit and PSRC would report to the legislature by February 1, 2009 on the line's estimated ridership, potential station sites, best routing options, track condition, regional benefits including tourism, and adjacent trail costs. The legislature has appropriated $100,000 for the study effort, in the conference committee supplemental transportation budget bill, 2878--S.E. AMC S6122.3 (p. 29, line 34). And as the HB 3224 bill report immediately above notes, Sound Transit has indicated it is willing to contribute up to double that amount. As part of this larger effort, Cascadia Center has also discussed contributing an amount in the range of $20,000 to $25,000 for a ridership survey.

Supplemental transportation appropriations via HB 2878, which cleared both chambers, provides an additional peek into the legislature's thinking on metro-region roads and transit (bill as passed - bill report - legislative history).

Included in the bill are provisions which:

secure $300,000 for a consultant to devise a plan for co-development and public private partnerships at public ferry terminals (page 22, line 30);

direct WSDOT to analyze, and if found feasible, seek requests for distribution of alterrnative fuels along WSDOT rights-of-way (page 22, line 34);

underscore the importance to the $4 billion bi-state I-5 Columbia River Crossing bridge replacement project of fully assessing "opportunities for the joining of state and local government agencies and the private sector in a strong partnership that contributes to the completion of the project" (page 51, between lines 14-23);

direct that $8.5 million of the state's passenger-only ferries account is provided for "near- and long-term costs of capital improvements in a business plan approved by the governor for passenger-only service."

The state is getting out of operating passenger-only ferries, and local operators including King County, the Port of Kingston, Kitsap Transit and others are filling the void. Cascadia Center continues to advocate a voluntary interlocal agreement between ports, cities, counties, private boat operators, tribes, labor and others - coupled with combined funding for foot ferries and Puget Sound cleanup - to help establish a coordinated regional foot ferry system on Puget Sound.

As a non-profit think tank, Cascadia Center does not lobby the legislature or advocate passage or rejection of any bill. However, we do try to advance solutions to a range of transportation problems via op-eds, papers, studies, conferences and this blog. So we're pleased that although possibilities for conclusive action were constrained in this year's session, significant progress continued on a number of issues important to us.

TECHNORATI TAGS: TOLLING, CONGESTION PRICING, SEATTLE, PUGET SOUND, WASHINGTON STATE, SR 520, I-90, PENSION FUNDS, PASSENGER-ONLY FERRIES, COMMUTER RAIL

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

March 9, 2008

Flexcar is so passe

Linnea Noreen

Car-sharing just got a one-up. Enter Velib, the Parisian bike-sharing program.

Zipcar (or should I say Flexcar?!) is so last year. The latest and greatest is bike-swapping – better for your health, the environment, cheaper and vastly more flexible. With the expansion of the Burke-Gilman Trail and Bike Master Plan approval, maybe Seattle is the place to start the trend, State-side?

It works like car-sharing… you pay roughly $30 for a year membership, but unlike its carbon-depended cousin, you get 30 minutes free for every trip using Velib. It is then incrementally a dollar (roughly) an hour--$1 for the first hour, $2 for the second hour-- the idea is to avoid permanent “check-outs”. Bikes are available every 300 meters (few hundred feet), and are interchangable. If you want to extend the time, you can swap it with one down the road, and the clock restarts. Clever, huh?

In Seattle, the idea would be to pair the bike system with public transit – have many pick-up locations in urban neighborhoods and suburban developments, where people can grab and go (in this case a shared bike). They ride to the park and ride, and hop on transit. After work, they hop off transit, grab one of the many bikes waiting and ride it back to neighborhood or suburban bliss.

It's really quite dreamy, and a great addition to our current transit system. Instead of wondering about whether the park and ride will be full, or how you’re going to walk the extra 2 miles to your friend’s house, you just grab a bike at the Transit Center. Even better, the system in Paris was entirely self-funded through advertising contracts. Image: a huge boon to mobility and convenience, with no taxpayer money. What a steal!

Posted by Linnea Noreen at 10:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

February 25, 2008

Tolling, Finance Innovation Vital For Infrastructure Growth

Matt Rosenberg

Implemented regionally, tolling and congestion pricing will be the key that unlocks the door to more efficient use of major highways in Puget Sound. Incentives for more telecommuting, carpooling, vanpooling and off-peak travel will grow substantially, as tolls and especially time-variable congestion pricing are instituted over the next few years. Tolling coupled with investment by public employee and labor union pension funds will also help close funding gaps on major road, bridge and transit projects needed to accomodate economic growth and environmental protection. Despite some political resistance, this paradigm will transform transportation infrastructure development across North America in coming years and decades.

Let's once again take a partial and recent survey of the landscape, starting with Puget Sound.

Just last week, the Washington State Transportation Commission set a range of tolling charges for solo drivers to use the new HOT (High Occupancy and Toll) lanes on SR 167 in south King County. Depending on traffic volume and congestion in the lanes at the time of use, the charge for solo drivers will be from 50 cents to nine dollars. KOMO-TV reports here. The commission's announcement notes this is a four-year pilot project, expected to launch this April and that transit buses, vanpools, two passenger-plus vehicles and motorcycles will be exempt from the SR 167 HOT lane tolls.

Allocating Peak-Hour Road Capacity To Handle Growth

The SR 167 HOT lanes - one in each direction, for now - are a good start. Roads and transit in central Puget Sound need repair, expansion, rational management and unified, accountable regional governance. Taking measures to allocate finite peak-hour road capacity is a baseline action for future problem-solving. The region will eventually need two HOT Lanes in each direction on all our interstate and major state highways including SR 167, I-405, I-5, SR 99, SR 520 (pictured, left, in all its rush-hour glory) and I-90.

Taking The Long View

Hover at 20,000 feet for a moment, looking down at central Puget Sound. The Puget Sound Regional Council in their draft "Vision 2040" report, projects that between 2000 and 2040, the four-county metro Seattle region is expected to see a 52 percent population jump. We're a land of opportunity. Plus kayaks, book lust, artisinal bread, and a relatively moderate climate. Really. People just can't seem to stop wanting to live and work here.

But the accreting hordes will greatly tax our infrastructure, one way or another. Already, multi-billion dollar, safety-driven construction projects such as replacement of the decrepit Alaskan Way Viaduct on SR 99 and the disaster-prone SR 520 floating bridge beg the question of supplemental funding.

That's because funds secured to date will fall well short of final costs - which keep growing due to project launch delays and tightening global competition among customers for transportation construction labor and materials. One example is a planned car rental center at SeaTac Airport, for which, the Seattle Times reports, costs have risen almost 30 percent in the last year. In the article, a Port of Seattle Commissioner attributes that to rising prices for steel and concrete.

Additional funding for major road, bridge and transit construction projects would be delivered via tolling strategies including variable-rate congestion pricing; and quite possibly via investment from trade union and public employee pension funds such as that of CalPers - which has started its own infrastructure investment account. On a project basis, these investments could be supplemented by private transportation infrastructure funds such as those managed by Goldman Sachs and Macqaurie. To facilitate political cooperation, it's best if the public sector retains ownership of the assets, even if it leases them out over the long-term as part of a maintenance and operations agreement. The public sector should also have final say on setting and raising toll rates. There are other issues, such as whether new arterials or highways parallel to a tolled facility can be permitted and whether they should then also be tolled (probably, yes); and how all that affects revenue streams. No one is saying that any of this stuff is a snap. But we'll be seeing more of it.

In each project where tolling and/or innovative finance strategies are employed to fund construction, the aim should be to ensure timely completion of the right design alternatives. These are the ones with the best life-cycle cost-benefit ratio in terms of congestion reduction, increased transit use and greenhouse gas controls, and surface environmental and economic benefits.

This is especially the case in Puget Sound - on the replacement for the Viaduct on SR 99, going to and through downtown; and across Lake Washington on a rebuilt SR 520 bridge.

WA State Legislature To Set Stage For More Tolling

Establishing a policy framework for coming decisions on tolling, the Washington State House last week passed Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1773, now before the state Senate Transportion Committee. The bill anticipates action to set specific tolls on the SR 520 bridge, which has to be replaced before a storm or earthquake causes it to collapse, and for which a $138 million federal DOT Urban Partnerships grant has been made, contingent on legislative approval by September 30, 2009 of a tolling plan for the facility. The bill gives tolling authority to the state for all state roads and bridges, but allows local tolling, with state approval if there's judged to be a significant impact possible on the use of a state road or bridge.

Smartly, the bill allows the potential use of tolls on a facility for transit - but only on the very same facility, and only if so directed by the legislature. For hard-core policy wonks, the relevant language is that such revenues can be employed to "improve, preserve, manage or operate" the facility; and that they can be used to "provide for the operations of conveyances of people or goods." Key Olympia sources confirm the transit-friendly meaning of these terms.

Down the road, the trick will be dividing up toll monies between corridor reconstruction and maintenance on the one hand, versus transit on the other.

The ESSHB 1773 vehicle must be approved by the Senate Transportation Committee by Monday March 3; approved by the full Senate by March 7; and then any Senate changes to the current House bill approved by the House before the legislative session ends on March 13.

The looming legislation, though just a first step toward broader regional tolling here, comes as the stars are beginning to align. Friday's Seattle Times reiterates that Governor Chris Gregoire is warming up to tolling SR 520 to help pay for its replacement, and the parallel I-90, to prevent traffic diversion from toll-avoiding SR 520 commuters. In addition, a transportation budget bill passed by the House last week makes an important passing reference to "pre-construction tolling" on SR 520 - pocket-protector pals, please see page 49, line 4.

Public support is solidifying for tolls in Puget Sound, as well. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorial board reports a King County poll finds four out of five respondents prefer tolling SR 520 over increases in the license tab fees, or the gas or sales tax, to help pay for its replacement. And as we noted recently, the governor is also broadly hinting at the need for tolling to pay for a $4 billion-plus rebuild (including beefed-up corridor transit) of the badly-congested Interstate Bridge, connecting Oregon and Washington across the Columbia River on I-5. You know........the Corridor From Hell? Remember encounters with it on those trips from Pugetopolis to the mid or southern Oregon Coast - and how you then took the slow, scenic route along the coast on the way back, just to avoid it?

In any case, Washington state isn't travelling by itself on the road to regional tolling, and the coming collaboration with Oregon on I-5 is hardly the only indicator. In recent days and weeks interest in new tolling projects has continued to grow across North America - driven by gaps in road expansion or maintenance funding, and worsening peak-hour traffic congestion.

Toronto Regional Tolling Proposal Sparks Debate

The Globe and Mail reports that a blue-ribbon panel comprised of business, labor and academic leaders has issued a report on how the financially-troubled city of Toronto can get its house in order, and a tolling proposal is one major recommendation. The report recommends the city add tolls to the Don Valley Parkway and the Gardiner Expressway. Eye Weekly reports the 401 and 427 expressways ringing the city could also be included in the regional tolling plan, as well.

The panel recommends that oversight of newly-tolled facilities be transferred from the city to either the province or Metrolinx, formerly the Greater Toronto Transportation Authority. Proponents say the move would save the city $20 million per year in maintenance costs, boost transit use and raise millions for new subways and light rail lines.

Page 17 of the full report includes the tolling recommendations, which can hardly be considered the work of conservative business ideologues, given that they're followed by a call for a non-surface parking tax coupled with increased bike routes and car-free zones.

Another recommendation - on page 22 - is for the city to look to partner with the private sector and the Canadian Pension Funds on major transportation infrastructure projects. Whaddaya know?

The Toronto regional tolling recommendations are already sparking dialog.

Last week, the reaction from Toronto Mayor David Miller (pictured above, right) was guarded; he said tolling must be applied regionally, if at all.

But over the weekend, the Toronto Star reported he seems to be warming to the idea, and is now stressing the link between new tolling and generating more transit funding.

"If you want to build in transit, which we'll have to if Toronto is going to succeed, you have to consider the way to finance it," he said. "I think it (road tolls) needs some serious consideration, very serious."

The "Double-Taxation" Red Herring

As this Toronto Star article notes, push-back can be expected on the proposed tolls from motorists invoking the hoary notion of "double taxation." That fails to recognize the unavoidable long-term decline in fuel tax revenues due to better mileage, and the political difficulties of raising a fuel tax, even as the cost of road maintenance ticks upward with each vehicle mile travelled. Fading gas tax revenues increasingly pose this very same challenge to U.S. states, as McClatchy Newspapers Washington, D.C. correspondent Les Blumenthal reported yesterday on the front page of the Sunday Tacoma News Tribune. Likewise for Canadian provinces with major metro regions and heavily used roads. Writing in the Financial Post Policy Analyst Benjamin Dachis of the C.D. Howe Institute likes the Toronto regional tolling idea:

One of the panel's wisest proposals is to suggest that Toronto cede control of the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkways to the province and have tolls placed on all GTA freeways. Toll revenues from these two freeways alone could amount to $7-billion over their useful lifetimes. Toronto's freeways, particularly the 401, offer a unique opportunity for a hybrid system of express toll lanes in the current middle lanes while maintaining free lanes in the right-hand collectors. Only those willing to pay for congestion-free travel will pay the toll. Buses could be given free access to these toll lanes to improve commuter bus service to surrounding communities when they would otherwise be stuck in traffic.

More support for the tolling recommendations comes from the editorial board of the Toronto Star.

Tolling Front And Center In Virginia Beach, San Francisco, Louisville

Elsewhere, the Virginia Beach City Council will be getting a report examining whether to re-impose tolls on I-264. The tolls would cut congestion and help fund the concurrent $1.6 billion reconfiguration of problem interchanges on the highway, at a peak-hour cost of up to $2.85 on a key stretch.

In the Bay Area, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District is considering a $1 hike in tolls on its namesake, landmark bridge due to growing maintenance costs for that span and the bus and passenger-only ferry fleets it runs.

Faced with dwindling prospects for full federal and state gas tax funding, Kentucky state legislative leaders of both parties and the governor agree that tolls will have to be a key ingredient in the state's $2.9 billion share of the $4.1 billion Ohio River Bridges Project connecting Louisville to Indiana. It would add two new bridges to those currently spannng the river (pictured above, left) to ease congestion. The project would also include re-engineering the city's "Spaghetti Junction" highway interchange.

Oh, Edinburgh!

Of course some locales, afflicted by perverse populism or voodoo economics, go further than merely declining to toll when feasible. They actually rescind existing tolls on busy roadways. Surprise! The rush hour lengthens considerably, as Edinburgh motorists travelling the Forth Road Bridge corridor are discovering. And those to