Governor Doyle gives me gas

Governor Doyle's tax on "big oil" profits is not likely to pass the legislature. (Will any Democrats apologize to State Representative Bill Kramer now that they are the tools of Big Oil, too?) So the usual suspects are going back to their favorite revenue source: raising taxes directly at the gas pump.

Gov. Jim Doyle said Monday he’s open to a 3-cent gasoline tax increase as an alternative to his proposed tax on oil company sales.

Doyle said he preferred his plan to pay for roads by raising taxes on oil companies by $272 million over two years and barring the firms from passing the tax on to consumers.

But some business groups have instead been pushing an increase to the state’s gas tax — currently the second highest in the nation — saying it wouldn’t face the oil tax’s potential legal challenges.

"I give them credit. They’ve really worked to come up with a proposal, and I think it’s one that’s worthy of consideration," Doyle said.

The plan by groups representing oil companies, grocers, car dealers and convenience stores would include $306 million in new money over two years for the state’s road fund through the gas tax hike and new fees.

As the Wisconsin State Journal reports, Wisconsin already has one of the highest gas taxes in the country. That high tax has allowed Governor Doyle and the legislature to raid the transportation fund for nearly $1.3 billion, far more than this new tax would raise. If the governor and the legislature could keep their hands off the transportation fund, we could actually cut the gas tax and vehicle fees, not raise them.

The new taxes and fees, according to the Wisconsin State Journal:

• Raise $170 million from the gas tax.

• Raise $61 million by increasing the fee for car titles to $78 from $53.

• Raise $15 million by putting a $50 annual surcharge on hybrid vehicles.

• Use $42 million already in an environmental cleanup fund.

Nice to see the "environmental cleanup fund" is just a slush fund along with the rest of the transportation budget.

I'm disappointed

I think I have some of the cleverest commenters in Wisconsin (on both sides). Yet not one of you called me a hypocrite and suggested if they wanted to build a spur on the Interstate through Frame Park I would be there with a shovel helping the digging.

I see we're going to have to increase the training sessions at the Institute for Insulting James Wigderson.

Going the extra mile

Mass transit may not be the solution, either. Maybe it's time to introduce these kids to the telecommute.

In suburban areas like Seattle's Northshore district, the Times reports, school officials are asking children to walk farther to their bus stops so districts can squeeze a few more miles per gallon.

The scaling back of bus routes could be an inconvenience to parents, but provided there's a safe sidewalk to use, a little extra walk won't hurt most students. Reacting to the new bus route by dropping kids off in the family SUV would not be the best solution, from an environmental perspective; reducing unnecessary school bus trips is. Older diesel school buses can pump out twice the asthma-inducing pollution of a tractor trailer. (Click here for an analysis of the greenest ways to get your kid to school.)

I walked a mile (we measured) to school every day and it didn't kill me. We didn't even have sidewalks for about half the distance. And yes, it was uphill (and downhill) both ways.

Of course, we know what the answer is to the high cost of busing, right? Build trains to the school. Have little Johnny and Mary ride the train every day. And when it comes time re-route the train because Johnny and Mary are going to a different school, we'll just tear up the tracks. Heck, I bet Tim Sheehy's planned trains can get your kids within three miles of your kids' schools.

Happy Birthday Freeways, Sweet Interstate Freeways

Remembering the graphlike beading of darkness,
I recall the ways that time once gave us--
distracted by signs for meals and clothing,
travelers, heavy with ourselves
- James Applewhite, from Interstate Highway

On this date in 1956, President Eisenhower signed into law the creation of the Interstate Highway System. As of 2004, the highway system had a glorious total length of 46,837 miles of freedom for America's drivers.

O highway I travel! O public road! do you say to me, Do not leave me?
Do you say, Venture not? If you leave me, you are lost?
Do you say, I am already prepared—I am well-beaten and undenied—adhere to me?

O public road! I say back, I am not afraid to leave you—yet I love you;
You express me better than I can express myself;
You shall be more to me than my poem.
- Walt Whitman, "Song of the Open Road"

James Wigderson and his critics

Note: I received the following e-mail from Leah Harnack, associate editor of Mass Transit Magazine. My response is below.

Mr. Wigderson,

There were a number of questions and thoughts that came to mind as I read your rail expansion op-ed piece.

The first thing that caught my attention was the reference to rail being early 19th century technology and why would we look to that as the wave of the future. There may be some pretty old-looking systems out there, but with today's automatic train control, automated guideway transit, positive train control, automated people movers and the host of other technologies involved with intelligent transportation systems, there is very little familiarity with trains from the past.

The point you make about looking at the entire trip is very important. Transit of yesterday did not always do that and that has changed. More and more agencies are now referring to what they do as "mobility management," not as simply providing mass transit. Not only do they provide bus, ferry or rail, today's transit agencies also have programs for walking, biking, carpooling and vanpooling. Rail transit is not meant to stand on its own, it is a part of transportation planning.

I imagine you do realize that everyone that rides transit is not expected to walk "three miles" to get to their destinations. As I said, no agency or MPO creates a rail line to stand on its own. With bike ammenities, pedestrian provisions, bus routes, bus rapid transit lines or streetcar lines, the passengers aren't stranded in a dead zone.

Having had opportunities to visit cities across the country, Canada and Europe to ride the various bus and rail systems, I have the advantage of having seen what is typical and what is possible. I don't think it's members of local governments being "deprived as children" of riding Thomas the train. After experiencing it myself, I'm sure it's more that they've experienced the best in cities with mobility options and are planning for the future of our community, instead of simply looking at today.

Thank you,

Leah Harnack
Associate Editor
Mass Transit Magazine
& Sustainability Concepts

Despite all of the advances cited by Ms. Harnack, the train is still essentially a train. It runs along a fixed route (rails) requiring a substantial infrastructure outlay when first implemented (building the rails) and then more substantial infrastructure outlays every time the route needs to be changed or needs additions (more rails).

Here in Waukesha we're very familiar with trains, since it is almost impossible to cross town without being stopped by one.

No train system is very successful at taking people, goods and services from point to point without different supplementary forms of transit. This is actually a point upon which Ms. Harnack and I agree. The "three miles" was not my standard, but the standard of MMAC President Tim Sheehy who negelects to mention Ms. Harnack's point that more transit infrastructure would be needed to transport people to the rail service, from the rail service, back to the rail service, and then back again from the rail service. Again, this is also a point I raised in my Waukesha Freeman article.

Where Ms. Harnack and I disagree is the need for rail in the first place, when the other modes of transit would be just as effective (and more efficient) without the rail component.

Ms. Harnack cites her wonderful experiences in her travels riding the rails. What she should note is that almost every rail system (and every other mass transit system) is an endlessly expanding demand upon the taxpayers because it simply cannot go everywhere and serve as efficiently people using their automobiles.

Don’t take my word for it. Take the word of Fred Jandt, the editor of Mass Transit Magazine.

By calling these projects boondoggles, transit opponents are saying that they are a) politically motivated and b) have no real value to the community or nation.

Now I can sit here in incredulous disbelief at that thought, but having listened to and read enough material by transit opponents, I know that they truly believe in boondoggles. They truly believe that transit really is a crock. It won’t help their community and the money being spent on it is a complete waste.

Of course, a laundry list of facts and figures can be laid at their feet as proof of transit’s value, but this doesn’t seem to change a thing. Facts and figures can be shown that prove the lack of value transit has. Of course facts and figures are like polling results in an election — they can be manipulated.

It all comes down to belief. Do you believe transit projects are just a waste of time? Those who have and use transit don’t think so. Many places I visit can’t wait to get more transit once they get a taste for it. (Emphasis added.)

Of course they do, because no matter how much “transit” they have you still can’t get there from here and back again unless those points just happen to be along a pre-arranged trail, and oh-by-the-way-I-have-stops-to-make. They have “transit” but they don’t have transportation.

In the meantime, ya gotta beliiieeevvve!

Advice to the next candidate for mayor

Crime, taxes, and "regional" transit.

Trust me.

I-94 Westbound re-opens; DOT hands out Prozac to freeway haters

A single lane each way in Johnson Creek is now open.

Just be patient out there.

Maybe "Brookfield drivers" should become the new nickname for speeders

Our friend Tim Rock issued a plea to the City of Brookfield to control the traffic in his area not too long ago. Apparently Brookfield is experiencing an epidemic of speeding.

Maybe Elmbrook should spend some of their referendum money on improving driver's ed.

Build it bigger and better, with extra concrete please

Greg Kowalski notes the dates for the upcoming public hearings on expanding the Zoo Interchange:

The first public meeting for the Zoo Interchange will be on Wednesday at the Tommy G. Thompson Youth Center @ State Fair Park from 3-7pm. The second meeting will take place May 29th at the Wauwatosa West High School cafeteria from 5-8pm.

They should hold one of these public meetings out in Waukesha since (a) we're paying for it, and (b) we want to use it.

I want the extra groove surface. The kind that's good and noisy but safer for drivers.

We could follow Drew Carey's advice right through Story Hill

Here's Drew Carey in the first of the videos he's doing for the Reason Foundation (ht: Americans for Prosperity). In this one Drew discusses different ways to shorten the daily commute, free-market style.
Robert Poole also has some thoughts on privatizing the roads.

Given the failure of Governor Doyle's tax on gas companies and the end of indexing the existing gas tax, getting the private sector involved in highway construction and maintenance might be something Wisconsin should seriously consider. One of the advantages of privatization, it makes it harder to raid money set aside for transportation for other purposes.

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