It’s hard enough for local, state and national governments to agree on what infrastructure to build and what mobility options to prioritize to their communities. But it’s even harder to figure out how to fund them. This week, we look at Minnesota, which is leaning on some traditional liberal solutions (increased gas tax) as well as some new ones, such as a fee on retail deliveries, which have seen a surge in use since the pandemic. That’s in sharp contrast to Texas, where the only thing the GOP leaders can agree to levy a tax on is EVs.
Also: Waymo has a tough night with the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the once-mighty SPAC Embark gets sold for scraps, France bans short flights, a startup seeks to boost India’s lackluster urban bus service, a Google co-founder wants to bring back airships, Lisbon and New York City struggle to deal with their own housing crises and, by the way, did you realize gas prices are low again?
Finally, environmentalists are increasingly recognizing that embracing the right kind of development is just as important as blocking the wrong kind of development.
Is this the way to raise money for mobility? Despite being a purple state, Minnesota’s Democratic legislature and governor have drawn national attention for aggressively pushing progressive policy and for major investments in infrastructure and new social programs. The latest example is a $9 billion transportation package funded by increased gas taxes, a new sales tax and –– most innovatively –– a new fee on retail deliveries.
Supporters describe the delivery fee as needed to pay for the stress that delivery vehicles are putting on local roads. The initial proposal was a 75¢ fee on most deliveries; the final version lowered the fee to 50¢ and it will only apply to transactions for items that cost over $100. It is projected to generate $189 million over three years.
While it’s obvious that delivery services cause wear and tear on our roads, it’s not clear that they are more of a burden than the many personal trips to the store they’re replacing. Plus, retail delivery makes it easier to live car-free, which is something local governments should be encouraging. You can expect this to become a point of contention as other state governments consider trying to collect taxes from delivery services.
Simply indexing the gas tax to inflation, which will hike it for the first time in 15 years, is expected to generate $155 million over the next two years. The state is also raising its vehicle sales tax from 6.5% to 6.875%, which will boost revenue over the next two years by $104 million.
What has not been proposed? A fee on electric vehicles.
Alas, if only Minnesota would commit to spending the revenue as creatively as it is generating it! Although there are some worthy investments in public transit, the lion’s share ($7 billion) is going into car-centric projects: roads, bridges and even freeway widenings.
Meanwhile, in Texas…The Republican legislature in the Lone Star State is pursuing a decidedly different approach to energy and mobility. Although Texas generates more wind power than any other state, lawmakers are pushing laws backed by the state’s mighty oil and gas industry that will force utilities to spend more on fossil fuels, likely driving up the cost of electricity. To boost transportation funding, which in Texas is almost entirely devoted to highways, the legislature put in place a new $400-per-year EV tax. But there was some good news: a bill aimed at scuttling Austin’s light rail plan was blocked.
India’s underserved bus market: Chalo, a Mumbai-based startup, raises another $45 million in its effort to make it easier for people to use buses. Its app is now available in 50 Indian cities, where many people tend to avoid city buses because they require cash payment and the schedule is unreliable. Chalo puts GPS trackers on buses, allowing customers to track their location through the app, which also lets them pay fares digitally. Chalo contends that India’s bus market is not nearly as large as it should be, given the country’s many big, dense cities. Hopefully making buses more accessible and reliable will help.
Is San Francisco done with Waymo? Their pleas to state regulators to halt the expansion of driverless ride-hailing have largely fallen on deaf ears, so San Francisco City Supervisors are hitting Waymo where it hurts: employee parking. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to deny the Alphabet subsidiary a permit to convert industrial space into 44 parking spots for its employees. The irony that a self-driving car company still relies on employees driving themselves to work was not lost. Another major force demanding crackdowns on Waymo: the Teamsters union, which represents freight and delivery drivers threatened by the prospect of driverless delivery.
Picking up the SPAC scraps: AV trucking startup Embark, one of many mobility startups that went public in 2021 but has since plummeted in value, is purchased for $71 million by Applied Intuition, an autonomous software provider. Embark shares are now selling at under $3, a far cry from the $200 value that it debuted at in November 2021. The San Francisco-based company also recently cut 70% of its headcount.
France nearly bans domestic flights: As part of its efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the E.U.’s second largest economy bars domestic flights if there is a train ride available that is under 2.5 hours. This is doable because France has a comprehensive high-speed rail network.
Homes for the homeless are vacant in NYC: Even in the midst of record homelessness and a surge of refugees, over 2,000 supportive housing units in New York City sit vacant, according to an investigation by the New York Daily News. Advocates for the unhoused blame the city’s byzantine bureaucracy for failing to get people in need into the available housing.
Comparing Uber and Lyft prices: A study by online lender CashNetUSA reports that Uber is cheaper on average than Lyft in 34 of America’s 50 largest cities. In some major cities, the difference between the two services is significant. In New Orleans, Uber is $12 cheaper on average, while in New York City Uber is $9 more expensive than its competitor. Of course, this is only so useful to you…the fool-proof way to get the best bang for your buck is to always check them both before hailing a ride.
Remember high gas prices? The average American driver is paying about $3.50 for a gallon of gas, compared to about $5 a gallon just under a year ago. Some of the drop is linked to the global supply chain: Russia selling heavily discounted oil to China and India and western countries tapping into strategic reserves. However, the fact that Americans are driving less than before the pandemic has reduced demand and, therefore, prices.
The green movement embraces development: In Mother Jones, Chris Elmendorf bemoans how laws intended to protect the environment are now being used to prevent dense urban development –– the type we need to fight climate change and America’s housing crisis. Elsewhere in the magazine, veteran environmental advocate Bill McKibben pleads with fellow progressives (particularly older progressives) to “fall in love with the green building movement.”
Traveling by blimp: Google co-founder Sergey Brin has been quietly funding the development of airships, otherwise known as blimps or zeppelins. Once upon a time, zeppelins were the pinnacle of aviation technology, but the horrific demise of the Hindenburg in 1937 seriously undermined confidence in the aircrafts and shifted attention to other means of air transport. Bloomberg looks at why airships could make a comeback.
…and how about driverless boats? The Guardian profiles a young couple in the UK that are building an autonomous boat, equipped with sensors that they hope will revolutionize how we monitor the ocean’s temperature and wildlife.
Portugal sours on digital nomads: In some of Lisbon’s central neighborhoods, most of the homes have become full-time vacation rentals, leased out to tourists or digital nomads. Some locals blame policies encouraging digital nomads or short-term rentals for driving the capital city’s housing crisis. The government has responded by eliminating the “Golden Visa” program for foreign investors and by introducing rent controls.
Berlin’s split personality on cars: CityLab writer James Jackson explores Berlin’s quirky transportation politics. Even though only a quarter of trips are made by car, even many residents who do not rely on automobiles do not support the sweeping measures aimed at reducing driving that many other major European cities are putting in place.
In defense of la sombrita: Also in CityLab, Kriston Capps defends las sombritas: small metal structures attached to bus stop signs that provide a bit of shade during the day and some solar-powered light at night. The Los Angeles Department of Transportation has been subjected to intense online ridicule after announcing a pilot to install them at stops where a larger bus shelter doesn’t exist. Rather than being an example of government waste, argues Capps, the sombritas are an instance of nimble, innovative government.
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