Offsetting Federal Cuts
Having commuters pay state taxes on every mile they travel in their cars. Selling off highway rest stops to the private sector. Expanding toll-lane networks to allow solo drivers to pay a fee to escape rush hour congestion.
These are some of the ways to raise money proposed by the California Performance Review to offset declines in federal transportation funding and gas tax revenues.
“Funding for transportation improvements is not keeping pace with the increasing demands from the growing number of people, vehicles and goods that rely on California’s transportation systems,” the report states.
The gasoline tax long has been a staple for funding road and transit projects in the state. It last was increased in 1994 to 18 cents for each gallon sold.
But gas tax revenues are expected to decline in coming years, thanks to more fuel-efficient cars and increased use of gas-electric hybrid and other alternative-fueled vehicles.
Transportation planners across the nation are looking at everything from emission fees to parking charges as replacements for gas tax revenues. Among the proposals:
n A “vehicle miles traveled” tax.
Under a program being tested in Oregon, the tax would be collected at the gas pump using wireless sensors. New cars would come equipped with devices that would record the miles traveled between refueling stops and the position of the car. Sensors at service stations would then read those devices and charge the driver a per-mile tax to be paid instead of the fuel tax.
This proposal has several drawbacks, most significantly the cost to service stations to install the sensors. Automakers might resist installing mileage-recording devices.
And there’s a “big brother” concern that the state will monitor how far and where people travel.
“The biggest issue will be dealing with the fuel distribution industry to accept collection of this information at the service stations,” said James Whitty, manager of the office of innovative partnerships and alternative funding with the Oregon Department of Transportation.
Whitty said that it would be several years before such a tax could be levied in Oregon. In California, with its much larger number of service stations and vehicles, the process would take even longer.
n Toll lanes.
The review endorses a long-running but controversial idea to open up car pool lanes to solo drivers willing to pay more to escape rush-hour bottlenecks. While this would reduce overall congestion and raise revenues, critics dub such lanes “Lexus lanes” because they believe only wealthier drivers would be able to afford them.
A related recommendation would implement so-called congestion pricing, where toll fees vary according to the time of day. The fees would be highest during rush hour and lower in off-peak periods.
Both concepts rely on the use of transponders in cars that would automatically debit the drivers’ accounts rather than stopping in tollbooths. The transponders already are in use in Orange County and other parts of the state.
n Privatizing highway rest stops.
Currently, the state owns the rest stops and issues franchises to restaurant, service station and convenience store operators. Privatizing the rest stop maintenance and operations would bring in additional money and relieve the state of those costs.
Privatization also might speed along the installation of electric power hookups to allow refrigerated trucks to operate without burning fuel while drivers make their rest stops.
“The state has been really slow to adopt this concept,” said Dan Kammen, professor in the energy and resources group at the University of California, Berkeley. “The private sector might do a better job here.”
,Howard Fine
