Mileage Fees. What has been done? What is happening now? What do you need to know?

Transcription

1 Mileage Fees What has been done? What is happening now? What do you need to know? Richard Trey Baker Texas A&M Transportation Institute Texas A&M University System December 1, 2012

2 What are we talking about? Charging for travel, not fuel consumption Many different names: Mileage-based User Fee (MBUF) Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) Fee Time-Distance-Place (TDP) Charging Vehicle Mileage Fee Road User Fee (RUF) Road User Charge (RUC) We will stick with mileage fee for this presentation.

3 Why study mileage fees? Transportation funding and financing challenge (or crisis) has been well established Fees based on actual travel could address some of these issues Mileage fees can do other things, too System management Environmental pricing Better revenue allocation Lots of ways to implement. What s the best way?

4 Puget Sound Traffic Choices Study Washington State Road User Charge Assessment Oregon DOT Road User Fee Pilot Minnesota DOT Road Fee Test New York City DOT DriveSmart Program Nevada DOT VMT Fee Study Colorado DOT MBUF Study University of Iowa National Evaluation I-95 Corridor VA Coalition Multi-State VMT Fee Concept Pilot or Field Test Complete as of 2012 Ongoing Pilot or Field Test Interest in Pilot or Field Test

5 What has been done? Pilot Study Date Focus Puget Sound Regional Council Oregon Department of Transportation Driver response to pricing, revenue impact System design, user perspectives University of Iowa 2009 (2 nd phase ongoing) System design, user perspectives Initial pilots looked at feasibility. Is this even a good idea?

6 Oregon Mileage Fee Concept and Road User Fee Pilot Program 1. Mileage determined through an OBD connection 2. Location of travel (in-state VS out-of-state) determined by GPS 3. Travel information uploaded to ODOT at fuel pumps 4. Mileage fee affixed to fuel purchase

7 Where are we now? Pilot Study Date Focus Oregon EV Pilot Minnesota Department of Transportation Nevada Department of Transportation Just initiated Ongoing Ongoing Application of fees to non-fuel tax payers, numerous assessment options Off-the-shelf technology application, driver response Low-tech option, user perspectives I-95 Corridor Coalition Expected Multi-state coordination New York City Department of Transportation RFP Expected Value added services Focus is increasingly on how to implement

8 The Minnesota Pilot Mileage accrued and transmitted via GPS enabled smart phone Focus on off-the-shelf technology components Technology positioned as an optional discounting mechanism

9 What have all of these pilots told us? There are lots of different ways to assess a mileage fee and most are viable People get more comfortable with the idea the more they are exposed to it Mileage fees can be deployed in conjunction with other types of transportation related services There are still a lot of questions to be answered

10 National Efforts Exploratory Research on Technology Options for Collection of Road User Fees (Underway) Additional federal efforts are unlikely at this time

11 Are things looking up? Infrastructure investment is needed, sure. But it s not needed so badly new taxes have to be created to pay for it. And it s certainly not necessary enough for us to allow, or tolerate, a creepy level of government intrusion into our vehicles and personal lives. - Congressman Chip Cravaak (R-Minn.) July 11, 2012 "Longer term, VMT seems to me to be the only way to stop the decline because we're all going to be driving cars five, ten years from now that are going 40, 50 miles [per gallon] or more, or maybe not using any gas at all. - Congressman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) Incoming House Transportation Committee Chairman November 28, 2012

12 Public acceptance is the biggest barrier Fairness Mileage fees appear punitive Just another tax Privacy Fears of active tracking Data security Administrative Cost Need for new capabilities/bureaucracy How to pay? Enforcement VMT fees seem easier to evade than gas taxes

13 Outreach and education is difficult The public does not understand how we currently pay for infrastructure Threats to the long term sustainability of the current system seem trivial and esoteric Hard to make the case for change when the current system is so little understood

14 So what is the future of mileage fees?

15 The fuel tax is likely to remain in place for a very long time The Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) is not going anywhere The fuel tax is cheap and easy to collect The best short term solution is simply to raise fuel taxes

16 Equity issues and fairness are likely to play the biggest role in generating support for change Funding shortfalls don t click with the public Pay for what you use has saliency Oregon is emphasizing fairness in implementing fees on electric vehicles

17 It is unlikely that any government entity will force drivers to install any device in their vehicle Detailed location data is not necessary Technology should be presented as an optional discounting mechanism Mandating of safety related devices for OEMs is more likely In-vehicle telematics may be nearly ubiquitous in the long term

18 A paradigm shift in how Americans view transportation will be required before serious consideration of mileage fees can occur Perceptions of the personal vehicle and freedom of travel are changing Vehicle sharing Autonomous vehicles Declines in driver licensing among youth Generational differences in privacy concerns, technology acceptance and technology utilization

19 Conclusion Not ready for implementation in the near term, but progress is being made Technology is a minor issue: public acceptance is the biggest hurdle Difficult to tell what these systems may look like from where we stand now

20 For more information Mileage-based User Fee Symposium documents Primer TTI research Links to news, pilot studies and other resources Listserv Trey Baker Ginger Goodin (512)