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When Public Transit's Cash Cow Runs Dry
Monday, November 24, 2008 2:45 PM  

 

Cars bumper-to-bumper on freewayAmericans are driving fewer miles this year than last year - and that means the Highway Trust Fund, fueled by the gasoline tax, took in billions of fewer dollars in Fiscal Year 2008. We drove 90 billion miles less in a period of 11 months in FY08 compared to the year before, reported the U.S. Department of Transportation last week.

The Highway Trust Fund is used to build bridges, repair highways and expand transit systems. Between October 2007 and September 2008, the Highway Trust Fund collected $31 billion in revenue. That's $3 billion less than the year before. Meanwhile, transportation spending increased by $2 billion.

Clearly, we need to come up with creative solutions.

Martin Capper, CEO of Mark IV IVHS Inc., is suggesting we implement a mileage-based fee. Last week, he told delegates to the 15th World Congress on Intelligent Transport Systems in New York that a mileage-based fee is technically feasible and a fair way to fund the nation's infrastructure needs.

"With key transportation leaders seeking an annual increase in infrastructure spending as great as $50 billion per year, we must look at alternatives to the motor fuel tax, especially in the long term when fuel tax revenue will decline because of fuel economy, alternative fuels and a long-term increase in oil prices," said Capper, as reported by Keep Texas Moving.

To generate $50 billion annually with fuel taxes, the government would need to increase the current federal motor tax. Right now, that's 28 cents per gallon. A two-cent-per-mile user fee would raise $50 billion, based on activity in the top 100 metropolitan areas. Car getting fuel at gas station

In Michigan, lawmakers are considering a bill that would funnel the growth in property tax revenue from new transit lines and use it for their construction and operation.

"That way, the municipalities that want the economic development that transit brings can pay for it by devoting some of their property taxes from the new development into transit," according to the blog at More Riders Magazine.

Click here to read the entire bill. 

Mary Peters at METRO news confernce, HoustonU.S. Secretary of Transportation Mary E. Peters is calling for a new approach and is urging Congress to make bold, broad changes in the way our nation's infrastructure is funded.

"We can keep trying to patch our broken transportation policies, or we can embrace the kinds of changes needed to keep American commuters moving, shippers hauling and the economy moving," said Peters in a news release.   

Click here to read about the short-term and long-term fixes Peters says need to be done.  

Posted by Mary Sit
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    • Comments

    PWang said:

    The root of the problem is how we use land. Think of it as something like our recent massive financial bailout, but it's been something we've been doing gradually over time... Land has been cheap in the US and Texas. So it has been really easy for people to "flip the dirt" to make some money off of farmland, or fallow land (Katy Prairie). The landowners are incentivized to sell. As we know, mortgage brokers have been highly incentivized to make loans for a long time. Contractors and engineering companies are incentivized to collect the proceeds from those loans and build something... as cheaply as possible, using standard cookie-cutter plans and big-box construction techniques that minimize expensive artsy-farsty architectural input. So, dirt-flippers, loan officers, and contractors get paid in cash, and then they RUN. On to the next project. But they leave a collection of ugly, sprawling properties at the feet of City, County, and State governments, who have to provide mobility and access somehow, even though this style of development is hard to serve, due to low density. Whether you are building roads, monorail, light rail, heavy rail, bus lines, or bike paths... LOW POPULATION AND DESTINATION DENSITIES WILL DESTROY THE JUSTIFICATION FOR YOUR PROJECT. Combine that with the suburbanist allergy toward living a cooperative lifestyle (principally I mean carpooling), and you have far too many single-occupant vehicles way overusing the facilities. Some call carpooling "collectivism", I call it being a good and helpful neighbor. Who's right? Depends on whether you have a blue or red mentality. And that is why we are running out of money for roads. Sprawl and too many cars that aren't needed to transport the folks.
    # November 25, 2008 7:32 AM

    DominicMazoch said:

    PW: How true! All: Let's see how long it will take before the wide enought to land the A-380 Airbus Katy Freewat/HOT will reach max load?
    # November 25, 2008 10:34 PM

    Royko said:

    PWang,

    A week or so ago, the History channel presented a program touching on the state of our public transit systems.  The biggest problem is maintenance of the corrosion (including stray current).  Most of the systems are suffering from the costs inherent in operating these systems.

    Americans living in single-family residences is what we aspired to achieve until the "smart growth" new urbanist lobby influenced elected officials to divert transportation resources from raods and bridges to boondoggle urban rail.

    The last couple of generations of Americans have been indoctrinated to accept Socialist concepts, and seemingly many public school graduates have trouble thinking for themselves.  They tend to rely upon the unelected and seemingly unaccountable bureaucrats to "do the right thing" yet we are continually reminded of the fact that these agencies consistantly fail to properly serve the people.

    # November 27, 2008 4:10 AM

    Royko said:

    I recently received the October operating numbers:

    Fived-route bus boardings again declined -7.57% for Oct. 08 over Oct. 07. Bus boardings for FY 2008 were only 0.40% above FY 2007.

    The bus fare box revenue surged 20% for October, attributable to the Q-Card!

    The glorious Utopian tram boardings were again off -5.3%, yet, the TVM revenue was reported to have SPIKED UP +146.86% over October of 2007.

    The tram boardings for FY2008 were a mere 1.1% above FY 2007, but due to the Q-card, the revenue for FY2008 was UP +31.8% over FY2007.

    The TVM revenue/passenger for the tram is up a whopping +160.77% for October in fy09 vs fy08, again due to the Q-Card.

    Speaking of Public Transit's Cash Cow, I noticed four MPD loitering at the NWC of Main and Commerce earlier in the week.  One may have observed a significant increase in tickets being issued.

    # November 28, 2008 10:48 AM

    JamesL said:

    Rokyo, I'm afraid you have things a bit backwards. "Boondoggle urban rail" was the way people got around until the highway and motor vehicle lobby bought the trolley companies and replaced them with buses. Perhaps a policy class at your prestigious private school examined the degree to which Americans "chose" to flee the cities versus that to which they were forced to by bureaucratic decisions to subsidize roads and mortgages for the type of development described above by PWang.

    And here you go again condescending based on people's educational opportunities. Apparently they don't teach social graces - or what most of us call "manners" - at the institution that seems to have nurtured your prejudices.

    Regards,

    James

    # November 30, 2008 7:18 PM

    Royko said:

    JamesL: It is a myth that GM or the Auto Oligarcy bought up the trolley systems so that they could then capture the market with buses.
    # December 1, 2008 5:35 PM

    JamesL said:

    And awfully well documented for a myth.

    Actually, I like your style. Information that conflicts with your view becomes "myth" or receives a undesirable label like "socialist."

    # December 2, 2008 11:32 AM

    Royko said:

    JamesL,

    I am confident that outside the DailyKook sites, one might learn why urban rail became obsolete, and, for the curious, gain an understanding of why Socialism has failed everywhere it was imposed.

    # December 2, 2008 9:28 PM
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