This week’s comment came in six days ago, in response to our short post about Governor Kotek ditching regional tolling plans. Jonathan’s post didn’t read any tea leaves or probe the deeper reasoning behind the Governor’s decision—abandoning tolling just seemed like another change flying in on the whirlwind.
(Offhand, to me, it seemed one of a piece with her urban growth boundary loosening, part of her push to incentivize a market-based approach to getting more housing built—let ‘em live further away, and don’t charge ‘em for it!)
WRF, who self-describes as a rare “transportation professional … against tolling in our region,” offered up some some hope in the form of alternatives to tolling, and also a critique of it.
Here are WRF’s ideas:
I honestly feel like I’ve been in the minority the last few years as a transportation professional being against tolling in our region.
While I’m all in favor of finding ways to reduce trips by SOVs and improving modal options through better infrastructure for transit, biking and walking, I’ve felt that tolling as proposed just incentivized finding alternative routes using the region’s arterials and collectors. For those that need to drive, I would much rather find ways to keep them on our interstate than to have them in the mix with vulnerable users on bikes and on foot.
If the goal is to make driving more expensive, there are better and more equitable ways.
A road-usage charge would be my first choice to replace an aging gas tax. Let’s go back to charging people for how much they drive on whatever road they choose to go on. Let’s tie it to inflation so we don’t end up where we are currently with funding not keeping pace with the costs of construction. Place a road tax on tires (and tie it to inflation as well). The larger the tire, the more the tax. Also, tax studded tires heavily. This will hit vehicles that buy oversized tires and will make EVs pay just the right amount more, since they tend to go through tires more quickly than lighter vehicles.
The revenue from these fees should be split with cities and counties, similar to the gas tax.
I also feel that registration and titling fees need to be reassessed when the 2025 legislature looks into transportation funding. Right now, EVs are charged almost twice as much as a pickup truck for titling and over 2.5 times as much for registration. Let’s quit incentivizing older, less fuel-efficient vehicles while at the same time punishing people that buy EVs. Let’s charge all vehicles the higher rates. Also, keep the road maintenance funds coming from a road-usage charge and make the fees at the DMV pay for the operation of the DMV.
Thank you WRF! There were many good comments in this thread, and WRF’s comment inspired some interesting responses, enjoy reading them all.
