Cascadia Prospectus

U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Rep. James Oberstar (D.-Minn.) says, enough already with studies and pilot projects. Why not just phase in over the next two years the controversial vehicle mileage tax, in order to supplement and eventually replace the flailing gas tax? More from Associated Press:

..Oberstar...(pictured, right) said he believes the technology exists to implement a mileage tax. He said he sees no point in waiting years for the results of pilot programs since such a tax system is inevitable as federal gasoline tax revenues decline. "Why do we need a pilot program? Why don't we just phase it in?" said Oberstar, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee chairman. Oberstar is drafting a six-year transportation bill to fund highway and transit programs that is expected to total around a half trillion dollars.

A congressionally mandated commission on transportation financing alternatives recommended switching to a vehicle-miles traveled tax, but estimated it would take a decade to put a national system in place. "I think it can be done in far less than that, maybe two years," Oberstar said at a House hearing. He was responding to testimony by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who recommended...pilot programs in every state to test the viability of a mileage-based tax. Blumenauer said public acceptance, not technology, is the main obstacle to a mileage-based tax. Pilot programs "would be able to increase public awareness and comfort and it would hasten the day we could make the transition," Blumenauer said.

Oberstar shrugged off that concern. "I'm at a point of impatience with more studies," Oberstar said. He suggested that Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., chairman of the highways and transit subcommittee, set up a meeting of transportation experts and members of Congress to figure out how it could be done. The tax would entail equipping vehicles with GPS technology to determine how many miles a car has been driven and whether on interstate highways or secondary roads. The devices would also calculate the amount of tax owed.

Oberstar's comments may be based in part on savvy bargaining tactics. It's unlikely a nationwide plan for VMTs would be implemented in just a few years. But when it comes time for his committee and the House to sign off on the reauthorized surface transportation funding bill later this year, he can always justify a large appropriation for further (and important) investigations - and new state and multi-state pilot projects - by noting he's backing down from an earlier proposal of his to go much faster. In any case, the idea of the VMT isn't just to enrage taxpayers, though that's certainly a near-term downside. More from AP:

Gas tax revenues -- the primary source of federal funding for highway programs -- have dropped dramatically in the last two years, first because gas prices were high and later because of the economic downturn. They are forecast to continue going down as drivers switch to fuel efficient and alternative fuel vehicles.

To get a sense of how the ground has shifted, consider this, in a Tulsa World guest op-ed, from conservative Republican and U.S. Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma:

...the challenges in continuing to provide a safe and free-flowing transportation network have never been greater. One of the biggest...is addressing the decline of revenues coming into the Highway Trust Fund, the main source of funds that pay for construction and maintenance on our expansive network of highways and bridges. Today, the highway trust fund is primarily supported by taxing fuel by the gallon (18.4 cents for gasoline and a 24.4 cents for diesel). Unfortunately, due to the sluggish economy, high gas prices and an increase in fuel efficiency, we are experiencing substantial declines in tax receipts into the trust fund. This method of using federal fuel taxes to fund our nation's highways and bridges is no longer adequate to support the growing infrastructure needs in the country. In fact, simply maintaining current levels of highway spending would result in a Highway Trust Fund deficit of about $70 billion by the end of the next highway bill.

In the short term, we are exploring numerous alternative financing mechanisms to increase revenues into the highway trust fund, because no single option will provide a complete solution. We must be willing to explore new options, including expanded use of public-private partnerships; and requiring all users, not just motorists, to contribute to the Highway Trust Fund. In the long term, to ensure that all those who use the system pay their fair share, transportation experts are discussing a user-funded fee for actual miles driven, known as a Vehicles Miles Tax. It is important to note that this system would not raise taxes, but replace the gas tax with a new more accurate collection mechanism.

Hmmnn. Anything that can unite James Inhofe and the deep green advocates at Grist magazine in Seattle, probably has legs. The University of Iowa's Public Policy Center is currently running a six-region VMT pilot project called The Road User Study. Participants will test the concept on the byways of Austin, Baltimore, the Research Triangle of North Carolina, Eastern Iowa, San Diego, and - this is interesting - Boise. They're using volunteers with on-board GPS devices in their cars, who will be billed by the miles they travel and which roads they use. They will not actually pay, but will report valuable information on how the system worked for them and under what circumstances they'd be willing to actually pay a VMT in the future. Results will include simulated revenue distribution to jurisdictions, and the thoughts of participants on travel information privacy. A major pilot project in Oregon found this concern could be addressed satisfactorily and that overall, test users would welcome implementation of a VMT system.

Many questions still remain, such as how VMT rates would be fitted to drivers of lower-weight, lower emission vehicles, and to rural area drivers. It's already clear that in populous metro regions, there must be some degree of discounts for avoiding crowded roads and highways during peak hours, as well as for ride-share and transit vehicles. Another issue is whether the system users will see more robust benefits from federal or state management of a VMT system. Gabriel Roth of the Independent Institute argues strongly here for the latter.

Chairman Obertar's "do it, already" view reflects some gamesmanship, or heartfelt impatience with the "study, study, study" ethic - or some of both. But his voice is an important one. Oberstar's strong support for the VMT concept is likely to accelerate the pace of adoption. Because it is already a question not of whether, but when, and exactly how.

RELATED:

"Taxing Miles Traveled Is The Most Logical Way To Increase Revenue To Repair Highways," Janesville Gazette, 5/2/09

"A Bridge To The Future," Greensboro, NC News-Record, 4/30/09

"Four Steps To Nationwide VMT," Bern Grush, et al, Skymeter Corp.

Symposium On Mileage-Based User Fees, 4/14/-4/15/09, Austin, Texas, Texas Transportation Institute.

"Hawaii Looks At Taxing Miles Traveled," USA Today, 4/16/09

"Virginia Must Consider Tax Changes For Road Funding, Official Says," Richmond Times-Dispatch, 4/15/09

"What Is It About Mileage Taxes Obama Doesn't Understand?" Crosscut, 3/5/09

"How To Pay For The Roads Still Traveled," Crosscut, 10/21/08

In a letter delivered to Canada's Minister of Public Safety Peter van Loan, a cross-border coalition made up of think tanks, business executives and elected officials encouraged the Canadian government to relax customs fees for train travel between Washington State and British Columbia. Cascadia Center's Bruce Agnew, who also serves as the co-chair of the PNWER Transportation Working Group is among the signatories of the letter.

"...we urge you to expand the fee waiver period from June 1, 2009 to June 1, 2010 to allow commencement of service as proposed by Amtrak and Washington State Department of Transportation."

As the commencement date for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver approaches, at issue in the immediate short term is the ability of "Amtrak to test and market the service (a second Amtrak Cascades train) during the busy summer tourism and cruise ship season."

The letter cites a study by the Border Policy Research Institute that found that "implementation of the service over a year would allow the federal, provincial and municipal governments in Canada to collect $1.87 million in GST, PST and room taxes combined as a result of increased passenger travel."

Click below to read the extended post and the coalition's letter.

SEATTLE-Most days it's the marine life that causes the most stir at the Seattle Aquarium. But on this sunny afternoon, an attraction of a different sort was the center of attention. As cars and trucks drove by outside the aquarium on the earthquake-prone Alaskan Way Viaduct, inside the fate of the aging structure was being sealed. Surrounded by supporters, Washington's Governor Christine Gregoire signed into law the bill that commits the State of Washington to tearing down the viaduct and replacing it with a deep-bored tunnel.

"This wasn't an easy process," said Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels as he welcomed a crowd of several hundred to the bill signing ceremony, "but it is done, it is done, it is done!" Truer words have rarely been spoken.

Click below to read the extended post.

Article as published at Crosscut

Population in the four counties of Central Puget Sound will have grown from the 2008 total of 3.6 million by another 1.4 million in 2040. Jobs will increase by 1.1 million, and - based on the region's collective proclivities to date - total vehicle miles travelled (VMT) by more than 40 percent. Barring some big paradigm shift, the percentage of daily "passenger" work trips (freight vehicles not included) which occur on transit will grow from 8 percent of the current (2006) total to only 9 percent in 2040. For far more numerous non-work passenger trips, the transit market share stays at a scant 2 percent between 2006 and 2040, according to recent modeling. The vast majority of daily passenger trips occur in cars now and then. For work it's more than four of five, for non-work, about nine of ten. (The rest are split between transit, walking and biking.) On the upside, there's a lot more ride-sharing for non-work trips; plus, per-capita VMT will continue to stay flat; and we can shave a bit off the expected growth in total VMT by meeting (elusive) regional growth strategy targets.

These are some of the conclusions in a March 2009 background paper that's part of the Puget Sound Regional Council's "Transportation 2040" planning effort. Future projections may change slightly under new computer modeling in a draft environmental impact statement due out at month's end. But you get the idea. The PSRC's 2040 picture begs a huge question: what to do about it all. And, as we'll see in a moment, it turns out that, away from the big transportation headlines it made last session, the state legislature has some ideas of its own.

My own take: A comprehensive approach to managing peak-hour highway capacity in Central Puget Sound should be launched by bravely establishing - and soon - a seamless regional system of variably-priced, automated and ultimately, corridor-length tolling on highways and major state routes. This must be folded into a broader plan to develop stable long-term funding for the region's surface transportation network.

It seems simple enough. Trains carry passengers between locations such as, say, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Seattle, Wash. When those passengers disembark, whether for business or pleasure, they spend money. When money is spent, those receiving it benefit.

Would you dish out $500,000 a year if someone would then send you $33 million?, Miro Cernetig, The Vancouver Sun, "Ottawa's lack of vision may derail dream of fast-train service," May 19, 2009

So, it would also seem then, if all the stars were aligned to have Amtrak begin running a second daily train between Vancouver and Seattle, that officials would do what they could to make it happen -- that bureaucratic hiccups could be managed, addressed and not hold things up. But as in life, in governance and regulation oftentimes the simple becomes unnecessarily complex.

Click below to read the extended post.

But Lessons Learned Will Bring Changes

Andrew Bary's recent piece "The Long and Binding Road," in Barron's  has been widely noticed. "The credit market collapse and political opposition have all but killed the U.S. highway privatization trend," the respected commentator opined in his article.  What is more, Bary wrote, the Indiana Toll Road deal "was one of the most illogical prices paid for any major piece of transportation infrastructure during the bubble period of 2005 to 2007,"  suggesting that Macquarie made a huge miscalculation.  Gov. Mitch Daniel's comment  ("It was the best deal since Manhattan was sold for beads...") did not help, implying that the State got the better of the naive Macquarie. The article concluded, "for toll road investors, what had promised to be a pleasant ride has turned into a painful trip," citing Macquarie's shares tumbling 50% in the past year.

As most of our regular readers know, this week as part of Cascadia Rail Week, Cascadia Center of Discovery Institute (along with a host of industry and community co-sponsors listed at the end of this post) has been rekindling the debate about national high-speed passenger rail and especially the development of service in the Northwest's "Cascadia Corridor." With the strongest commitment to rail in generations (President Obama's budget request is $8 billion to upgrade and expand rail lines), one of Cascadia's longest running concerns is getting new life.

"Rail Week" began Tuesday evening at the Columbia Tower Club in downtown Seattle with a welcoming dinner honoring Vancouver, B.C.'s Mayor Gregor Robertson. It ends tonight with a closing dinner and discussion at Novelty Hill Winery in Woodinville, Wash., one of several of the cities on Seattle's "Eastside" that would be served by a 42-mile Eastside commuter "rails and trails" corridor from Snohomish in the north to Renton in the South. (View the week's agenda here.)

The Tuesday and Friday evening bookends are emblematic of the breadth of the rail week sessions as well as the issue as a whole. On the one hand, Cascadia is seeking solutions to national and regional passenger rail challenges, exemplified in part by Mayor Robertson's participation; the mayor is a strong advocate of high-speed passenger rail between his city and points south along the West Coast. On the other hand, Cascadia recognizes that the success and development of shorter commuter rail corridors such as Seattle's Eastside will be just as critical to the eventual overall health of a future passenger rail system in the Northwest and the country. "Rail Week," which has so far included a train excursion, policy-focused luncheon sessions, and a well-attended public lecture at Seattle's City Hall, has been designed to bring attention to both ends of the spectrum and everything in between.