Social Media Lessons for the Transportation Funding Debate

Recently I’ve been rummaging around in the blogosphere reading about how social media has ignited a revolution in the way associations do business. In the process, I stumbled across an essay that reminds of the debate that’s happening now between those who advocate moving to comprehensive road user charging in transportation (VMT and the like) and those who want to preserve the status quo of fuel taxes, the Highway Trust Fund, and related structures. You can see many manifestations of this debate in National Journal’s expert blog on transportation.

Here is a short excerpt from a blog posting by Maddie Grant of Social Fish. In it she’s debating a colleague about two vastly different approaches for getting associations to adopt and embrace the social media tools that presumably will make them more effective. Maddie’s argument makes me wonder whether we in the transportation community are really listening to one another or if we’re talking past one another. Here’s an excerpt from Maddie:

I absolutely believe there is a revolution. The existence of the revolution is not in question. We fundamentally agree! Where we differ is in our approach to pushing the association industry to join in the revolution. You are coming at them with a big torch, lighter fluid and matches. I am coming at them with a smile, a cocktail and a bowl of red pills. You say, "join the revolution or face extinction"; I say, "come with me, take my hand, you'll love it, it will change your life and how you work forever".You want them to burn their houses down in order to rebuild; I want them to take all the doors and windows off, open up their interior walls, and get rid of most of their furniture. The end result should be the same - a different (open) landscape and a different (collaborative) way of working - but I think my way will work faster and minimize the damage (to people and structures).You may think we can't create a new world on top of the old; I think you have to respect the history of an industry that has evolved purely from hard work and common goals, at the same time as you work to convince the people in that industry to change the way they do everything.

The rest of Maddie’s blog essay is definitely worth reading. So, what can we learn from social media gurus about how to help a community evolve and encourage parts of the industry to adopt the tools and techniques they desperately need to survive and prosper? Are we talking with one another or past one another in the transportation funding debate? Let me know what you think.

-- Pat Jones

More Support for Expanded Use of Tolling

Jeff Shane has written a spirited defense of tolling in National Journal’s Expert Blog on Transportation. Jeff was the Under Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Transportation in the last presidential administration and is now a partner with Hogan and Hartson LLP. He notes that there is an “essential hostility to private equity that continues to pervade U.S. transportation law.” He also says federal law stipulates that “any highway facility that has been built with federal financial assistance ‘shall be free from tolls of all kinds.’”

Shane continues with this powerful statement: “We need to be very clear about this in the run-up to the reauthorization of America’s surface and air transportation programs: Federal law today severely restricts the flexibility available to our states and communities in their efforts to address mobility issues. None of them knew that participation in the historic federal transport infrastructure programs that propelled the U.S. economy for so many decades was actually a Faustian bargain, that they were in fact signing up for indefinite micromanagement of their transportation solutions by Washington.”

Wow! Thanks, Jeff, for putting the issue in such stark terms. Ed Regan of Wilbur Smith Associates made a similar observation nearly four years ago during a Forum on the Future of Highway Transportation in America. At that time, Ed said “Many states are looking at tolls to rebuild. But federal restrictions on the ability of states to put tolls on existing Interstate highways is one of the biggest barriers to that rebuilding process. So the Federal Government, while not supplying solutions in terms of funding, still refuses to get out of the way and allow tolling as an option for the states to use.”

Thanks, Jeff and Ed, for continuing to advance a thoughtful reexamination of America’s national policy toward tolling.

-- Pat Jones

Invest in Your Own Health and the Success of Others

Here are two thought provoking articles from the April issue of One+, the magazine of Meeting Professionals International (MPI).

In “Meet Frequently, Live Longer,” Tony Carey suggests that attending industry conferences is actually good for your health. According to Tony, “A leading psychologist, Dr. Aric Sigman, a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine and an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society, has declared in an article in the journal Biologist that we are all jeopardizing our health by communicating through social networking sites instead of face-to-face. He explains that physical contact triggers the release of the hormone oxytocin, which is believed to lower the risk of heart disease. He says that research has shown that people who mingle regularly with others are also less susceptible to colds and flu. So, although ‘an apple a day keeps the doctor away,’ a meeting a quarter is better for the aorta, it seems.”

In the article “Save It Forward” from the same magazine, Tim Sanders writes about innovative companies that are cutting back on requirements that cost their suppliers money. In these tough economic times, instead of squeezing every last dime out of their suppliers to improve their own bottom line, these altruistic companies recognize that treating suppliers as true partners is a better way to go. As Tim says, “If you focus on your partner's bottom line with the same fervor you focus on yours, you obey what I call the Law of Interdependence, which states that our success depends on the success of our business eco-system (partners, providers and customers). If they fail, we fail. If they thrive, we thrive.”

-- Pat Jones

News from the Hill - Week of May 4, 2009

Passing along some news and impressions I got from taking part in a Transportation Transformation (T2) delegation which conducted Hill earlier this week.

On Monday we sat down with DOT staff from the Innovative Finance office and had Roy Kienitz, the newly confirmed Undersecretary for Policy take part. Roy was most recently chief of staff to PA. Governor Rendell but he has past DC history as a staffer to Sen. Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) and he also played a major role at the Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP) which was responsible for much of the “enhancements” added to the federal aid program such as bike-paths, MPO sub-allocations, etc.. The takeaway from this meeting was that guidance is expected to be issued this week (not as of Friday @ 2 PM) on the disposition of the $1.5 billion worth of transportation discretionary funds authorized by the economic stimulus package. There has been some speculation that much of this will go to ports (otherwise overlooked in the stimulus bill) but there are also some hopes that it could be used to capitalize further TIFIA loans.

In talking about the DOT’s plans for the highway bill it was indicated the DOT’s submission will not talk about revenues at all. This based partly on the fact that they can only talk about what the Trust Fund can support – and current collections are running at a rate 25% below what SAFTEA-LU has authorized.

We also had a visit with the majority and minority staff of the Environment & Public Works Committee. What was gleaned there included: staff is working on their legislative package – Sen. Boxer is committed to working on a legislative package before the program expires but there is no explicit timetable for the Committee other than the Sept. 30 expiration of SAFTEA-LU. They have no further hearings planned at this stage.

Several weeks ago House Transportation and Infrastructure (T&I) Committee Chairman Oberstar’s offered comments during a Highways and Transit Subcommittee hearing indicating his belief that a Vehicle Miles of Traffic (VMT) pricing system could be put into place within 2 years and that Chairman DeFazio should convene a meeting of the “Think Tanks” to work on an action plan to bring this about. IBTTA submitted a letter to the House T&I leadership asking to be included in any such meetings and offered to host or convene such a meeting if it would be helpful. We received a response from the Subcommittee the other day as follows:

Thanks. How we proceed on VMT is still very open question. I will keep in mind as we proceed.

A news piece was issued earlier this week “clarified” Mr. Oberstar’s view’s on VMT:
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Rep. Jim Oberstar’s office reached out to media outlets today to set the record straight on where the Democratic congressman from Minnesota’s 8th district stands on a measure that would tax drivers for miles traveled. “It seems that some members of the press mistook Mr. Oberstar’s questions and observations about the VMT [Vehicle Miles Traveled] as statements of policy, when he was actually gathering information.”

All in all it appears to me at this stage that the highway authorization efforts have just a few firm anchors:

· The current program expires on Sept. 30, 2009.
· Revenues to the highway trust fund are falling and the balance is expected to be effectively zero by September.
· Chairman Oberstar has promised to have a package available for consideration by early June. The first draft of this package was recently handwritten by the chairman on both sides of a single sheet of paper. Staff is currently working on translating this into something more substantive.
· The White House has said no to fuel tax hikes and VMT pricing. The Obama budget details released Thursday indicate that barring some other infusion of revenue to the Highway Trust Fund, they anticipate keeping it afloat either through internal general fund transfers or direct line-item funding.
· The US DOT highway bill will speak to “principles”, not specifics and will not address revenue.

None of this leads to me question my personal belief that a highway bill is unlikely to be approved until either a lame duck session in 2010, or in 2011.

-- Neil Gray

Towards a Ubiquitous Road User Charging System

In my monthly report to members on May 5, I noted that Congressman Jim Oberstar had propelled IBTTA and tolling to the center of the debate on how to fund America’s future highway system. How did he do it? In a hearing on April 28, Mr. Oberstar suggested that we as a nation should seriously consider moving to a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) charging system to fund highways and that such a system could be phased in over the next two years. Now it appears Mr. Oberstar is distancing himself from those comments.

That’s okay. Everyone will be talking about VMT before long. Both of the funding commissions that Congress established under SAFTEA-LU – the Policy and Revenue Study Commission and the Infrastructure Financing Commission – recommended a short term increase in the fuel tax and a long-term transition to VMT to fund America’s future highway needs. Both commissions said the fuel tax is unsustainable as a long term mechanism to support highways because you’re taxing a commodity whose use you’re trying to discourage.

A recent press release from the Bipartisan Policy Center, which comments on the report of the Financing Commission, underscores “the principle that users and direct beneficiaries should bear the full costs of their use of the transportation system to the greatest extent possible.” The Center will release its own report on how to reform transportation policy on June 9.

Ed Regan of Wilbur Smith Associates has spoken and written about a layered approach to road user charging that could be applied at the federal, state, and local levels of government, as well as at the level of the individual toll road. He made a presentation called “A National Pricing System: The Time is Coming” at our Transportation Finance Summit last December.

And earlier this week, I participated in a meeting in Washington, DC at which representatives from the I-95 Corridor Coalition got together for a brainstorming session to outline the contours of a pilot project to model a national VMT charging system. The goal is to design a project that could be launched immediately once funding for such a pilot is available.

In summary: there seems to be a steady drumbeat of thinking, talking, exploring and moving toward a ubiquitous road user charging system. It’s hard to say how long it will take to get there. Those who support such a program agree that a massive public education program will be needed. The IBTTA Board of Directors in April discussed at great length the movement toward a VMT charging system and embraced the notion that IBTTA needs to take a leadership role in this effort. We are definitely working on it and will continue to nurture relationships with friends and allies who can help give rise to this sustainable approach to road funding.

-- Pat Jones