August 15, 2018 – With the Transportation School, LA Metro has the opportunity to address our needs and, equally important, give back to the community by educating youth and providing them with the kind of good paying and quality jobs that sustain families and communities.
When looking at budget process reform, remember that through a series of historical accidents, 99 percent of the spending from the Highway Trust Fund is exempt from both statutory systems of budget discipline – the PAYGO process for mandatory spending, and the Budget Control Act spending caps for discretionary spending. Thus, Highway Trust Fund spending is also exempt from sequestration – because sequestration is only a tool used to enforce the statutory systems of budget discipline.
Instead of levying a vehicle miles traveled fee (VMT), which would charge drivers based on the mileage they drive, policymakers should explore and consider a different revenue mechanism that appears to have several advantages over VMT. A usage time (UT) fee would be based on time the vehicle is in use; fees start accruing when the engine starts and stop when the engine shuts down.
July 27, 2018 – Does a new federal excise tax on bicycle tires, as a pay-for for surface transportation infrastructure, make sense?
July 26, 2018 – Earlier this month, the National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) released preliminary guidelines for cities as they prepare to accommodate “shared active transportation companies” – including dockless bike- and scooter-sharing companies – on local streets.
July 23, 2018 – The use of public transit mobility data and people movement data allows for more realistic and short term changes to be made so that commuters benefit from things like improved routes and schedules.
Seven major cities and 10 states currently have some type of fee or tax on TNC trips, and more are under consideration.
July 18, 2018 – While most Americans only consider transportation as a means to get themselves to school and work, some students and adults are heading to transportation schools and infrastructure academies to boost their career opportunities.
July 19, 2018 – Transportation infrastructure was largely absent from a FEMA report on how it can better prepare for natural disasters following a record-breaking 2017 hurricane and wildfire season.
June 19, 2018 – As New York struggles to fix the subway and several proposals are circulating, a close look at what Los Angeles is doing is instructive.
June 14, 2018 – Dockless bikesharing companies like Lime and Spin have begun to create innovative approaches to overcoming equity challenges and serve those who are bankless or do not have a smartphone.
Having spent over thirty years in transportation operations and leadership positions of government, I have seen that most public transportation systems have at least five hidden flaws that good leaders must address.
I maintain that the United States will eventually remove the ATC function from safety regulator FAA and remove it from the federal budget, converting it into some kind of self-supporting corporation.
The danger that consumers are not clearly consenting to conditions they have read and understand is a potential impediment to the continued adoption of new and larger innovations like self-driving vehicles.
April 27, 2018 — I hope that Tesla, the car company, is ultimately successful. But for transportation policymakers, the bursting of the Tesla hype bubble is an opportunity to refocus on the real, challenging tasks at hand.