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Caltrans News Flash | Pay-by-Mile Pilot Program (Instead of Gas Tax)

Uploaded 07/07/2016

Pay-by-Mile Pilot Program (Instead of Gas Tax)

Caltrans has officially launched California’s new pay-by-mile Road Charge Pilot Program, where selected volunteer participants will help the state gain insight into an innovative way to finance California’s transportation infrastructure. This pilot will be an opportunity to study road charge alternatives to the gas tax and will provide the Legislature with the data needed to better determine whether a road charge funding concept is viable for California. No actual money will be exchanged during the pilot.

 

 

[July 5] – Caltrans has officially launched California’s new pay-by-mile Road Charge Pilot Program, where selected volunteer participants will help the state gain insight into an innovative way to finance California’s transportation infrastructure. This pilot will be an opportunity to study road charge alternatives to the gas tax and will provide the Legislature with the data needed to better determine whether a road charge funding concept is viable for California. No actual money will be exchanged during the pilot.

“We’re proud that thousands of Californians have signed up to volunteer for the California Road Charge Pilot Program,” said Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty. “The opportunity to provide valuable input and evaluate the viability of a mileage based user fee system demonstrates the commitment that Californians have to our roads and keeping them well maintained.”

Volunteers that have been accepted to participate in the pilot are made up of drivers from all parts of California with various socioeconomic backgrounds. In addition, some out-of-state volunteers will be featured in the pilot in order to help California determine how a road charge tax could impact visiting drivers.

Pilot participants will not actually pay a road charge while participating in the pilot. Instead, they will make simulated payments based on how far they drive. The pilot offers several options for participants to report their mileage, including six different low-to-high tech methods:

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The pilot is set to run for nine months from July 2016 to March 2017. When concluded, the California State Transportation Agency (CalSTA) will report the pilot’s findings to the Road Charge Technical Advisory Committee, the California Transportation Commission and the appropriate policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature. The Legislature will make the ultimate decision on whether to enact a full-scale permanent road charge program in California.

Even if the Legislature decides not to implement a road charge, California will still be in need of a more sustainable roadway funding mechanism than the current fuel excise tax. The fuel excise tax only funds approximately $2.3 billion of work to maintain the 50,000 lane-miles and nearly 13,000 state-owned bridges on the state highway system. This leaves nearly $5.7 billion in unfunded repairs each year.

Road charging is based on the same principle that the current gas tax was created upon: the amount drivers pay to maintain roads should correspond to the number of miles they drive. However, the gas tax no longer serves this purpose now that cars drive farther and need less fuel.

California is not the only state researching alternative road funding options. Several other states—including Washington, Colorado, Utah and others—are also exploring the road charge concept of pay-by-the-mile. Last July, the state of Oregon launched phase one of its OReGO program, where volunteers are paying a road charge of 1.5 cents per mile driven instead of the fuel tax.

There is still time to volunteer for the California Road Charge Pilot! To sign-up and learn more about California’s program, please visithttp://californiaroadchargepilot.com/sign-up.

(c)2016 Caltrans | SCVTV
3 Comments for Caltrans News Flash: Pay-by-Mile Pilot Program (Instead of Gas Tax)
  1. jimvs says:

    So, the same state government that has misused/stolen traffic & road funding for the purpose of patching holes in other government programs now wants to install a “pay as we watch you” system that will scour data from vehicles as they travel our highways. Do not be deceived by this.

    It is not a substitute for the gasoline tax.

    It is an attempt to force you to tell the state how many miles and where you go when you drive. It doesn’t take into account if you drive a 1947 Ford Pickup truck, or a 2015 Toyota Prius. You will get charged the same.

    It also doesn’t determine if you are a casual driver or if you put 30,000 miles a year on your car (or your employer’s car). It doesn’t (so far) have a separate rate for older cars that cannot use the on-board data collection systems that the road “tax” will depend on. Without retro-fitting that is.

    Most importantly, the State of California will sell your data to any paying company who wishes to take advantage of the information on why, where, and who you travel with. Just like they currently do with your driver’s license and other data collected.

    Most importantly, this information will be used to force people to live closer to their workplace (urban areas) in order to reduce costs. Those are costs to you, and costs to the State.

    California’s state government has spent highway funding on everything but highways/roads in the past 10 years. They’ve been dithering over the reduced gas tax funding ever since. Along with the Green revolution (sic) that insists we will reduce carbon footprints in Cali by going with Solar and Wind power this is an effort to make every single Californian pay more for independence or succumb to the lunacy of local trains, planes, and no automobiles.

    Don’t fall for this “happy solution” to the problem. They are selling this on the front without any real plan for the back end of the issues. If you love the High Speed Rail Project, then jump on this. It is the same kind of panacea that they are selling there and elsewhere.

  2. MacNicol says:

    This is an attempt to have EVERYONE pay more to subsidize the EV & Hybrid car owners so they don’t have to pay their FAIR SHARE. This should be a mandatory program for EV & Hybrid cars in addition to the per gallon gas tax and should not apply to other cars since they pay at the pump. Having just driven over 4200 miles round trip cross country it is quite obvious most other states have funds to properly maintain their roads. California has the worst roads west of the Mississippi. Do ALL of the gas taxes go to road maintenance or does the liberal Calif State government steal some of it to fund other pet programs?

  3. Hardin Rich says:

    First, we were subjected to the idea of “get rid of that gas guzzling car, buy these vehicles, and save the world.” Then, when these same authorities see the big bucks are not rolling in as they had, they come up with yet another scheme. With the proliferation of EV and Hybrid vehicles, they need to get out of this stopgap mind-set. In the not too distant future, we will most likely need a completely new rate structure for charging these vehicles at home. Let us not piece meal this to death, leave things as they are while a new and fairer rate, as well as a more precise method of calculation can be agreed upon

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