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An Economist Looks at the Cost of Congestion
We had a robust discussion here several months ago about the Cost of Congestion report. Now, local economist Joe Cortright has penciled out his perspective. Joe is perhaps best known for his The Young and the Restless report looking at what influences young, highly educated workers in the choice of cities and regions to live…
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What Should that Ticket Cost?
Friday’s Transportation Seminar at PSU will focus on “Optimal Mass Transit Subsidies.” (12-1:30pm, 4/14, 204 Urban Center) Here’s the abstract: This paper, co-authored with Ian W.H. Parry, derives formulas for the welfare effects of reforming subsidies for peak and off-peak urban rail and bus fares, and applies them to the metropolitan areas of Washington, D.C.,…
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PDOT Budget Moves Forward
Over at Commissioner Sam, Sam has outlined the Portland Office of Transportation Budget he has submitted to the Mayor, including a 17% reduction in the General Transportation Revenue fund (driven primarily by reductions in gas tax revenue). I am very intrigued by one item in the “change initiatives” list: Accurately price transportation trips and services…
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Taking the Scalpel to PDOT
The 3rd meeting of PDOT’s budget advisory committee was held last Friday. The task is to take $8.3M out of PDOT’s budget due to declining buying power of the gas tax and re-distributions of population. It feels like we’re pretty close to getting there, without huge impacts on services. The largest single item is $4.3M…
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Urban Renewal For Transportation Advocates
I’ve raved here before about the PSU/PDOT Traffic and Transportation Class. It’s a great way for citizens to learn how the transportation system and bureaucracy work. Last year, I had the chance to take the inaugural version of a similar class that explains the inner workings of urban renewal. And it’s about to run again.