According to the results of a just-released survey, the United States is undergoing a parking revolution as the industry embraces a variety of new technologies that make it easier for people to find and pay for parking, and for parking authorities to better manage it.
revenues
Road Usage Charge Pilot Program Preliminary Findings (Oregon DOT, 2013)
The objective of the Road Usage Charge Pilot Program is to demonstrate several choices for measuring and paying a road usage charge that are easy for motorists to perform while maintaining an efficient collection system administered by multiple interoperable providers, including ODOT and private sector entities.
Report on Impacts of Road Usage Charges in Rural, Urban and Mixed Counties (Oregon DOT, 2013)
This report represents the study of impacts of road usage charges in rural, urban, and mixed counties in Oregon. Despite perceptions that a road usage charge is unfair to rural residents, the data collected and analyzed for this study reveal that rural residents, on average, will not be affected in any significant way by a road usage charge—financially, behaviorally, or technologically.
Delivering on the Promise: Improving the Performance of Massachusetts Transportation Agencies (SSTI and Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation, 2013)
SSTI performed a program review of MassDOT’s three-year-old reorganization and consolidation to document efficiencies and better outcomes achieved, as well as continuing challenges and opportunities for improvement.
Virginia governor proposes scrapping gas tax, raising sales tax to fund transportation
Most discussion of possible solutions to the problem of stagnant gas tax revenues has focused on increasing user fees in some way – e.g., by raising fuel taxes, adding tolls, and/or adding VMT-based fees. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell’s proposal to eliminate the gas tax and pay for transportation with an increased sales tax, thereby abandoning the decades-old concept of funding transportation with user fees, seems to have united both the left and right in opposition.
Wisconsin is most recent state to consider mileage-based user fee
Wisconsin is the most recent state to consider a mileage-based user fee. Although other states have considered such fees, none has yet been implemented. Although the political climate is hostile to additional taxes, many states are realizing that they have little choice but to find new revenues for their transportation systems.
The Language of Mobility (AASHTO, 2011)
As a supplement to Making the Case for Transportation Investment and Revenue, AASHTO produced materials which update their case studies and present tips for successful communication strategies to talk about transportation funding and revenue.
The Language of Mobility (AASHTO, 2011)
As a supplement to Making the Case for Transportation Investment and Revenue, AASHTO produced materials which update their case studies and present tips for successful communication strategies to talk about transportation funding and revenue.
Building Public Support to Fund Preservation Work (Spitfire Strategies, 2012)
The Iowa Department of Transportation asked SSTI for assistance building public support for a gas tax increase to fund critical repair and maintenance work. SSTI contracted with Spitfire Strategies, a strategic communications firm that works exclusively with nonprofits and foundations, to help Iowa craft effective messaging that would resonate with policymakers and key stakeholders. Based on SSTI and Spitfire’s work in Iowa and recent polling, this paper outlines how transportation professionals can gain support for a “fix-it-first” approach to transportation policy. It highlights messages and tactics that have effectively garnered voter and policymaker support and presents lessons learned from the Iowa Department of Transportation.
How do we get “everyday Americans” to support transportation funding?
Despite the fact that everyone uses some mode of transportation, a recent article in Governing Magazine explored the transportation community’s failure to engage “everyday Americans,” in the need for transportation investments. There is too much at stake – jobs, money, infrastructure – for people to ignore these critical issues. If we want policymakers to make smart transportation decisions, they need to feel pressure from their constituents. The article finds that we aren’t reaching “everyday Americans” because the messages that the transportation community has been using doesn’t resonate with them. How do we fix this communications challenge?