Thinking Outside the Coffin

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Thinking Outside the Coffin

• Steve HemingerExecutive DirectorBay Area Toll
  Authority
• IBTTA Transportation Improvement Forum
• March 2006

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Revenue Requiem for the Gas Tax?
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Fuel Efficiency Stalls Out
Source U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2004
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Far Higher Gasoline Prices Abroad
Gasoline Prices for Selected Countries, 2005
Source International Energy Agency, April 2005
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• Read my Lips No New Taxes

• George H. W. Bush, 1998

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The Gas Tax Vanishing Act

• No federal rate increase since 1993
• Less than 1/3 of states have raised the state
  gas tax since 1993
• 6 of 15 states with tax hikes were due to
  automatic indexing

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Pay As You Go System

• Stopped paying no political will for tax hikes
• Stopping going mounting traffic congestion and
  repair backlogs

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Growing Reliance on Non-User Fees
Source Surface Transportation Policy Project,
2002
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U.S. History of Toll Roads
Continued next slide
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U.S. History of Toll Roads (contd)
Continued next slide
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U.S. History of Toll Roads (contd)
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Congestion Tolls
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Weight-Distance Truck Tolls
Source Institute of Transportation Studies, UCLA
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Devolution Shift and the Shaft?
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• Its our money, and were free to spend it any
  way we pleaseIf you have money you spend it and
  win.

• Rose Kennedy

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A California Chronology

• 1923 Local Road Share
• First state gas tax of 2 cents per gallon
  enacted, with 1 cent for state highway account
  and 1 cent for aid to counties establishes
  50/50 precedent.
• 1927 Regional Split
• North/south split enacted, whereby 49 of state
  highway account capital funds must be spent in
  southern California and 51 in northern
  California (current split stands at 60 south,
  40 north).
• 1961 County Minimums
• County minimum formula enacted at least 70 of
  state highway account capital funds both
  federal and state gas taxes must be spent in
  each county based on a population/road mile
  formula.

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Transportation 2030Investment Plan

• Most of 118 billion budget are local funding
  sources

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• 1971 Regional Agencies as Project Recommenders
• Regional transportation planning agencies
  (RTPAs) created and empowered later that decade
  to recommend projects for state and federal
  highway funding, with California Transportation
  Commission (CTC) exercising ultimate project
  selection authority.
• 1984 Self-Help Movement Begins
• First county sales tax passed in Santa Clara
  since then 18 other counties have enacted sales
  taxes tied to specific projects approved by
  voters.
• 1989 Regional Agencies as Project Selectors
• Transportation Blueprint legislation passed
  which effectively gives RTPAs project selection
  authority over the 70 county minimum funds, but
  allows the CTC to override choices for projects
  of statewide significance.

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Sales taxes outstrip the STIP

• In each of the seven Bay Area counties with a
  special transportation sales tax in place, the
  proceeds from this levy exceed the countys share
  of funds from the STIP.

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Voting Results on Transportation Funding Ballot
MeasuresBay Area vs. State
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• 1992 Suballocation on Steroids
• State legislature passes ISTEA implementing bill
  that not only codifies the federal suballocation
  of STP funds, but takes extra step of
  suballocating CMAQ funds to RTPAs in air quality
  non-attainment and maintenance areas.
• 1997 Amicable Divorce
• State legislature passes Senate Bill 45 which
  guarantees that RTPAs have project selection
  authority over 75 of state highway account
  spending the remaining 25 of funds are
  programmed by CTC. Regional role is to match
  transportation funds with local land use
  decisions. State role is to facilitate travel to
  and through metropolitan areas.

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TEA 21 STP and CMAQ ProgramBay Area Total 754
million
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TEA 21 STIP ProgrammingBay Area Total 1.3
billion
Includes state transportation revenues combined
with TEA 21
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Bay Area Project Delivery Keeps Pace With
Appropriations
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Devolution Losers

• Rural counties with small tax base and anti-tax
  ethos
• Large lumpy projects that dont neatly fit
  within county shares
• Modes that lack electoral appeal bikes vs.
  freight

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Operations Can We Breathe New Life into an Old
Field?
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Transportation Paradigms

• Interstate Era
• Build Highways
• Post-Interstate Era
• Build Anything BUT Highways
• Post-Post-Interstate Era
• Manage What Youve Built

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Cost/Benefit of Operations and Capital Projects
Source MTC, Caltrans, and FHWA
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Traffic Congestion
Caltrans Budget
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Electronic Payment Systems

• TransLink
• Smart Card for Transit Fare Payment
• FasTrak
• Electronic Toll Collection

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TransLink Smart Card

• Deployment Schedule
• Mid 2006
• AC Transit
• Golden Gate Transit
• Early 2007
• SF Muni
• BART

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FasTrak Deployment

• Golden Gate Bridge and State operated two
  separate systems prior to 2002.
• Transponders interoperable on all bridges
• Successful launch of new Web site and single
  customer service center (June 2005)
• FasTrak in peak period
• GG Bridge 70
• State 40

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FasTrakTM Accounts
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511 Traveler Information

• Traffic conditions, transit, ridesharing, bicycle
  information
• Driving times service
• Transit Trip Planner
• Fastrak toll tag readers as data source
• 511 system well used today
• Over 900,000 monthly visits to 511.org
• Over 300,000 calls to 511
• Over 300,000 uses by ISPs

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511 Driving Times Coverage
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Real Time Transit Information

• MTC Grant Recipients San Francisco Muni, AC
  Transit, Caltrain/SamTrans, VTA, Golden Gate
  Transit, WestCat, LAVTA, Emery Go-Round
• The program will collect real-time transit
  arrival predictions from all partner agencies
  into a central, regional data repository.
• The repository will disseminate the information
  to the 511 phone and web systems, regional
  signage, and interested transit partners.
• Currently, the 511 phone system provides a demo
  for Munis light-rail and historic streetcars.

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Work in Progress

• Incident Management
• especially heavy trucks, haz mat, and fatalities
• Ramp Metering
• local vs. regional traffic
• Pricing
• HOT Lanes, parking cash-out, L.A. Pier Pass
• VII
• both recurrent and incident-related congestion

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