What's New

Here is a quick breakdown of projects and revenue sources for Rossi's transportation plan:

As near as I can tell, the plan will fully fund all of the state's major transportation projects without raising taxes. 

It also presents a major shift on how taxes and core public services are treated. Typically, existing taxes are used to expand discretionary programs while the basic and core services deteriorate until a crisis forces the political will to raise taxes. We saw this type of crisis management with the Chehalis floods and the steel electric ferries.

This plan suggests a return to funding basic services with existing taxes.

It looks like the City of Tacoma is also trying to limit CO2 emissions by setting targets to reduce per capita VMT by 2020.

As Todd Myers, director of WPC's Center for the Environment points out in his latest Environmental Watch, Europe has failed to meet similar targets under the Kyoto Protocol in the last ten years. And as our region continues to grow, the City of Tacoma and the State will also likely fail to limit how much its citizens drive.

But there is a better way.

Its a fact that every gallon of gasoline burned creates 20 lbs of CO2.
By 2030, the State estimates Washingtonians will drive an average of 86.5 billion miles.

If the average fuel efficiency for all vehicles in Washington is 22 mpg, drivers will emit about 78.6 billion lbs of CO2. If the average fuel efficiency rises to about 30 mpg, drivers will emit about 57.6 billion lbs of CO2.

So improving the statewide average fuel efficiency by just 8 mpg will reduce vehicle CO2 emissions by 27%. The State's Climate Advisory Team's reduction target is about 18%.

Instead of forcing behavior changes by limiting mobility through social engineering, a more realistic way to reduce CO2 emissions is to
remove barriers to technology that will improve emission standards
and fuel efficiency. Cars are the solution, not the problem.

The Congestion Pricing Plan in New York is Dead; so reads the headline in the New York Times.

But the New York City plan was not truly congestion pricing in the first place, but rather a cordon tax.

The cordon model proposed in New York is similar to the version currently in place in London and the one proposed by King County Executive Ron Sims. It simply draws rings around a city center and charges a fee every time a driver crosses the imaginary ring. The closer to the center, the higher the fee.

But a cordon model, also known as "value pricing" is not true "congestion pricing" because the fees do not rise and fall with demand. Instead, they are fixed. The fees, paid by drivers, are then diverted to further subsidize transit improvements. These are the characteristics of a tax.

A true congestion pricing scheme would (1) price a road system, (2) fluctuate based on demand, and (3) divert the revenue to support only those who paid the fee: drivers.

There is a better explanation of the differences between true congestion pricing and value pricing or cordon taxing here.