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Speaking of Things that are Overdue
Someone let the cat out of the bag that the Portland Bureau of Transportation is beginning to explore a street utility fee, local gas tax or other revenue sources to augment or replace declining state gas tax revenues. All I can say is it’s about time. The Portland Plan makes clear why this is an…
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How the Feds COULD help urban transit operations*
*without spending any money. I put “COULD” in all-caps because it’s not clear there is much interest in DC for doing so, for various reasons. It took forever to pass a transportation bill, and the one that did pass wasn’t particularly friendly to transit: the Administration wanted any sort of stimulus it could get and…
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Call to Action for Active Transportation Funding
The BTA Blog covers the risk to active transportation in the ODOT’s proposed new funding policies. Check it out and contact the Oregon Transportation Commission.
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ODOT to launch VMT pilot program in the fall
Laura Bollen-Lopez of The Oregonian reports that ODOT is planning to test a new Vehicle Mileage Tax (VMT) program in the fall. VMT is a tax levied on the number of miles a vehicle drives, independent of fuel consumption, weight, or other factors which are captured (somewhat) by fuel taxes or weight-mile taxes. The pilot…
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Future prospects for BRT in Portland
This past evening in the Twitterverse, I had a discussion with several fine folks, including Michael Andersen, intersection 911, and our very own Al M, on the future prospects for major capital improvements in the bus system, up to and including BRT. (Planned purchases of replacement busses, tardy as they are, are excluded). An oft-held…