In a time when pundits and politicians try to frame every policy debate in partisan terms, CTC has frequently demonstrated that the desire to reform our transportation system comes from a diverse range of constituencies and political viewpoints. Indeed, you need look no further than the list of CTC member groups listed to the right to get a sense of the broad coalition that sees the benefits of rethinking the way we fund transportation.
On the national level, discussions of transportation policy fosters similar broad coalitions. Last month, a national coalition consisting of fiscal conservatives, national security experts, environmentalists and others added their names to the list of those calling for the federal government to re-prioritize the way it spends federal transportation dollars.
As speculation persists that Congress will once again delay reauthorization of the Federal Transportation Bill (the 6th extension of which is set to expire March 4, 2011) this coalition -- Mobility Choice -- released a report calling for measures to reduce oil dependence and consumption in the transportation sector.
Mobility Choice includes former National Security Advisor Robert McFarlane, former CIA director R. James Woolsey, representatives of the American Enterprise Institute and the Institute for Analysis for Global Security (IAGS), as well as Deron Lovaas of the Natural Resources Defense Council and John Norquist of the Congress for the New Urbanism, among others. Mobility Choice -- a project of the Institute for Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), a non-profit public educational organization focusing on energy security -- is dedicated to managing the national security and economic vulnerabilities posed by America's oil dependence that stem from oil's status as a strategic commodity second to none.
Taking The Wheel: Achieving a Competitive Transportation Sector Through Mobility Choice, recommends market-based approaches to funding transportation such as an "oil security fee," congestion pricing, pay-as-you-drive insurance and zoning reform, as well as telecommuting measures, and better allocation of public transit dollars. One important goal is to end the federal government's bias toward automobile travel and to allow for more competitive funding of transportation modes such as transit.
"It's been clear for some time that our federal transportation funding mechanism is as dysfunctional and badly broken as Rhode Island's. We can continue to stay the course, watch our infrastructure crumble, waste yet more money, fail our economy and environment, risk our families' safety and push an even bigger problem onto our children, or we can confront the challenge head-on, make the hard decisions and do the right thing," said CTC Co-Chair John Flaherty.
The CTC will be advancing a 2011 Legislative & Policy Agenda to achieve greater transportation choice for more Rhode Islanders and to get our state on a path to sustainable transportation funding.
Highlights from the Mobility Choice report include:
* "By opening the market to a variety of land-use patterns, some of which will enable better economics for various mobility options due to their density, people can choose modes other than driving for some trips, thus reducing the number of car trips they need to make, the miles they need to drive, and the oil they consume. Studies have shown that residents of compact, mixed-use communities with convenient transit options have a 20 to 40 percent lower annual per household VMT than residents of typical American development." * The biggest potential reductions in oil consumption, according to Mobility Choice, would be realized by an "oil security fee." A fee representing the equivalent of 25 cents per gallon at the oil pump could save 238 million barrels of oil a year in 2020 and 467 million barrels per year in 2030, the report says. The money from such a fee could be used to fund a decrease in payroll taxes, thus making it revenue neutral, or it could be used to reduce the federal deficit or pay for programs recommended in this report. * "Significant savings in oil also could come from congestion pricing and 'high-occupancy toll' lanes, telecommuting, and better allocated transit dollars, and pay-as-you-drive insurance," the report states. |
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About the Coalition for Transportation Choices
The Coalition for Transportation Choices (CTC) calls for a 21st century transportation system that enhances our economy and provides all Rhode Islanders with healthy transportation choices.
Rhode Island's 21st century transportation system must provide all people - employees, tourists, youth, elderly, able and disabled - with safe and dependable access to their community's opportunities for work, education, services, and recreation. The system should be considerably less dependent on cars and fossil fuels as well as efficient, effective and easy to use. It should minimize impacts to land, water and air and improve the health and well-being of all Rhode Islanders. Such a system should be sustained with predictable and consistent funding for operation and future growth.
CTC's work is supported
by the Rhode Island Foundation, The Prospect Hill Foundation and Third
Sector New England's Capacity Building Fund
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Coalition for Transportation Choices
Member Groups
* AARP
* Amalgamated Transit Union
* American Lung Association in RI
* Apeiron Institute for Sustainable Living
* Aquidneck Island Planning Commission
* Audubon Society of Rhode Island
* Blueways Alliance
* Blackstone Valley Partnership
* Blackstone Valley Tourism Council
* Blueways Alliance
* Brown emPower
* Childhood Lead Action Project
* City-State, the Urban Design Lab at RISD
* Clean Water Action
* Conservation Law Foundation
* Cornish Associates
* DOT Watch
* East Coast Greenway Alliance
* Ecolect
* Environmental Justice League of RI
* Farm Fresh Rhode Island
* Goodwill Industries
* Grow Smart RI
* Head of the Bay Gateway
* LISC-RI
* Narragansett Bay Estuary Program
* Opportunities Unlimited, Inc.
* Pawtucket Foundation
* Providence Foundation
* Providence Warwick Convention & Visitors Bureau
* Recycle-A-Bike
* Rhode Island Bicycle Coalition
* RI Consulting Engineers (RICE)
* Rhode Island Student Climate Coalition
* RI Association of Railroad Passengers
* RI Interfaith Power and Light
* RI Land Trust Council
* RICOSH
* Save The Bay
* SEIU, District 1199
* Sierra Club
* The Providential Gardener
* U.S. Open Cycling
* Working Rhode Island
* Youth in Action
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