A Primer on User Fees and Taxes
Triad Strategies recently posted an item on its blog, The Triadvocate, explaining the difference between general taxes and user fees. The following is a re-post of that blog:
Your teacher told you in grade school that it would be important to know how to use a dictionary. Now, the current Pennsylvania public policy debate on transportation funding has given you the perfect example of why she was right.
Most people say they don’t want new taxes. At the same time, people say they want better, safer roads and functional mass transit systems in urban areas. They are willing to pay a reasonable sum for using these facilities. So it’s important to know how you are paying for what you want and need and what the labels mean. Read more
ReConnectPA.org launches public engagement effort
PHIA is pleased to join Associated Pennsylvania Constructors and a myriad of other organizations representing transportation interests in a venture called ReConnectPA.org.
The site is a tool for reaching out and engaging the public in seeking solutions to Pennsylvania’s transportation funding problems. The home page of the ReConnectPA.org web site contains an interactive map of Pennsylvania, on which anyone can post a suggestion for improving the transportation system or identify a transportation-related problem. Read more
Some Pa. commuters waste nearly a workweek and $1,000 per year in traffic
Last week, we provided a national overview of the 2010 Urban Mobility Report, issued by the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University. The report calculated the amounts of time and money that are wasted because of traffic congestion – an average of 34 hours and $808 per motorist per year, based on 2009 data.
The report also broke out individual urban areas, in Pennsylvania’s case, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Allentown/Bethlehem. Following are the data for those areas: Read more
TRIP and PHIA Announce PA Roads Report
A national research group, TRIP, released a new report on the state of our highways, bridges and mass transit systems in PA. Watch the report of the statewide press conferences.
Research group details the costs of poor highways
Pennsylvania’s deteriorating highway system costs the average motorist up to nearly $1,500 per year in higher vehicle operating costs, traffic accidents and congestion-related delays, according to a new report from a national transportation research group. Read more
AASHTO report examines freight system
The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials received widespread attention last week for a report concluding that freight demands in America are reaching crisis proportions. Read more
