Pressure is building to move beyond gas taxes and EV fees

The way we currently fund our transportation system is falling short in many ways. MIT researchers anticipate electric vehicles will account for 50% of the national fleet in 15 years and 80% by 2050, which means gas tax revenues will decline by around 30% in just 14 years. Their new study, Replacing the Gas Tax, offers a useful lens for evaluating the alternatives. 

If the future of cars is electric, what does that mean for transportation funding?

The adoption of electric vehicles is growing in the United States, with all-electric vehicle sales increasing by 85% from 2020 to 2021 and plug-in hybrid sales rising 138%. This is a welcome trend for many, but the increased popularity of EVs combined with better fuel efficiency, and a gas tax that hasn’t been raised in thirty years, is posing a major challenge to policy makers; how to make up for lost gas tax revenue, which currently pays for 29% of state highway funds and 84% at the federal level.

How and Where Should I Ride This Thing? “Rules Of The Road” for Personal Transportation Devices (Mineta Transportation Institute, 2019)

The Mineta Transportation Institute surveyed various levels of government—cities, states, and college campuses— as well as conducted personal interviews with stakeholders, to detail how jurisdictions are regulating electric and kick scooters, skateboards, e-skateboards, hoverboards, Segways, and rollerblades. They then recommended model state laws to bring some standardization to the use of these personal transportation devices.

Estimating policy effects on reduced vehicle travel in Hawaii (SSTI, 2019)

Transcending Oil, released in April 2018, describes Hawaii’s path toward meeting its ambitious clean energy goals by 2045. The report was commissioned by Elemental Excelerator and prepared independently by Rhodium Group and Smart Growth America. It focuses mainly on transitioning the electrical grid to renewable energy while moving large numbers of vehicles to electric power but also points to the importance of managing overall travel demand through transportation policies and investments. This technical guide describes the methods and findings behind Transcending Oil’s travel demand forecasts, developed by SSTI and Smart Growth America.

For the first time in a decade, U.S. per capita highway travel ticks up (SSTI, 2015)

After declining every year since 2004, vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) per capita in the U.S. ticked up by 0.9 percent in 2014 compared to 2013, according to figures released on Thursday, March 12, by FHWA. Accounting for the effect of population growth, total miles driven increased by 1.7 percent. Chris McCahill and Eric Sundquist examine the economic and social trends at work and analyze which factors are likely to most heavily influence VMT in the coming years.

Transit Value Capture Coordination: Case Studies, Best Practices, and Recommendations (Urban Transportation Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago, 2015)

Nearby public transportation boosts property values, and increasingly cities are asking developers to help fund transit improvements that will benefit their projects. This report examines various value-capture methods used in four cities operating some of the largest and oldest transit systems in the nation, with the greatest backlogs of unfunded capital needs.

The Innovative DOT: A Handbook of Policy and Practice (SSTI & SGA, 2015)

SSTI and Smart Growth America continue working with state departments of transportation and tracking innovative strategies for meeting 21st century transportation needs. The 2015 edition of The Innovative DOT builds upon its predecessor with updated content and fresh new ideas from a growing number of states.

Transportation Technical Reference Manual: Guide to Characterize the Savings, Benefits, and Costs of Transportation Efficiency Measures (NASEO and VEIC, 2014)

While using standardized methodologies to measure the energy impacts and cost-effectiveness of efficiency programs is common practice in the electric and thermal energy sectors, this is not the case for transportation. National Association of State Energy Officials and Vermont Energy Investment Coprtation have developed the following Transportation technical reference manual to characterize energy savings, environmental benefits, and financial costs of selected transportation efficiency measures and establish a framework for comprehensive and informed decision-making.

Partnership Financing: Improving Transportation Infrastructure Through Public Private Partnerships (Eno Center for Transportation, 2014)

Eno’s P3 working group brought together industry leaders and experts to identify barriers to the increased use of P3s and to outline approaches for overcoming these barriers. This report identifies patterns in the challenges that localities have faced when using P3s and presents recommendations for federal, state, and local policy to enable greater use of P3s as an infrastructure delivery mechanism in the future.