Category: Transportation
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Latest Woke Madness: Stop Enforcing Minor Traffic Offenses
by James A. Bacon The General Assembly has passed HB 5058, which would prevent law enforcement officers from stopping motorists for driving with busted mufflers, headlights, and brake lights, driving with an expired registration sticker, or failure to wear a seatbelt. “This [legislation] bubbled up to a high level of concern because of the disproportionate…
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Metro vs. Transurban in the Age of COVID
by James A. Bacon We are taking a break from our regularly scheduled programming about the culture wars to highlight a more traditional topic: government dysfunction. In so doing, we shall contrast the flailing, failing response of a quasi-governmental entity, the Washington Metro, with the proactive, enterprising response of a private toll road operator, Transurban,…
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Is DMV Hiding 26% of Virginia’s Fuel Tax?
By Steve Haner The Division of Motor Vehicles website is not honestly reporting fuel taxes in Virginia on that table above. This cannot be an oversight.
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Transportation Carbon Tax Debate Starts Again
First published this morning by the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy. By Steve Haner Having imposed a carbon tax on Virginia electricity generation in 2020, the General Assembly starting in January 2021 will consider adding a similar tax on every gallon of gasoline and diesel sold for vehicle use. The Transportation and Climate Initiative,…
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Metro’s Latest Breakdown: Control Room Operations
by James A. Bacon The Silver Line extension of the Washington Metro might not open on time. The latest problem, according to Greater Greater Washington, is that the commuter rail system may not be able to hire, train and retain enough rail controllers to operate the system safely. The Rail Operations Control Center (ROCC) oversees…
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Mass Transit as the Newest Entitlement
by James A. Bacon Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney has proposed eliminating all transit fares, and in a sign of how far left the City of Richmond’s political center of gravity has moved, his two main competitors in the mayoral race, Kim Gray and Alexsis Rodgers, support the idea. The city suspended fares during the COVID-19…
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VPAP Ranks Lobbying Compensation
This graphic from the Virginia Public Access Project shows the corporations and organizations that have reported the biggest expenditures on lobbyist compensation. No surprises here — every one of these groups has a major presence in the General Assembly. However, VPAP cautions, don’t read too much into these numbers. These seeming big spenders simply may…
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Inching Closer to a Sustainable Mass Transit Model
Fairfax County and Dominion Energy are testing a driverless electrical shuttle. The Relay, a 13-foot-long blue bus is expected to begin regular service this fall, shuttling passengers back and forth between the Dunn Loring-Merrifield Metro station and the county’s Mosaic District. The service will be free. Users will be able track the Relay’s position with…
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Beyond COVID-19: New Opportunities in Land Use
by James A. Bacon The stay-at-home orders prompted by the COVID-19 epidemic accelerated a trend that was already reshaping the American economy: the shift of commerce from bricks-and-mortar retail to online delivery. Traditional retailers are retrenching; malls and shopping centers are hollowing out. If current trends continue, we’ll be seeing a lot more UPS and…
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The Systemic Racism of Monument Avenue
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in Blogs and Blog Administration, Consumer Protection, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Demographics, Electoral process, Federal issues, Housing, Labor and Workforce, Money in politics, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, TransportationBy Peter Galuszka Richmond’s grand Monument Avenue, a double lane, tree lined thoroughfare, has been the epicenter of the Black Lives Matter campaign that has focused on the statues of several Confederate figures one the road, including Robert E. Lee, J.E.B. Stuart, Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and Jefferson Davis. All are up for removal, but the…
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“Systemic Racism?” Damned Right!
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in Blogs and Blog Administration, Business and Economy, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Corruption and Scandals, Courts and law, Crime, Corrections, Law Enforcement, Culture wars, Demographics, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Media, Politics, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Social Services and Entitlements, TransportationBy Peter Galuszka There has been much debate on this blog regarding whether there is “systemic racism” in Virginia and the rest of the country. It’s a crucial question in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed and handcuffed African American who was killed on video by a white Minneapolis police officer…
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Hijacking George Floyd: Mass Transit Edition
Here’s another example of how white liberals are hijacking the George Floyd tragedy to advance their special-interest agendas on the grounds of social justice. At the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission meeting last night, Chair Katie Cristol observed that “Systemic racism, and the opportunity to confront it, is present in every feature of our lives, including…
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Construction: Virginia’s Quiet, Strong Man
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in Agriculture & forestry, Blogs and Blog Administration, Business and Economy, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Consumer Protection, Culture wars, Demographics, Economic development, Energy, Entrepreneurs and Innovation, Environment, Federal issues, Government Finance, Government Transparency, Infrastructure, Labor and Workforce, Land use & Development, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, Telecommunications, TransportationBy Peter Galuszka For all the complaints about the COVID-19 pandemic in Virginia – the shut-down restaurants and (temporarily) closed beaches – one industry has been working steadily and quietly all along – the state’s construction sector. Builders haven’t missed much of a beat since the “state at home” orders started going out a couple…
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“People Have Stopped Buying Automobiles”
By Dick Hall-Sizemore That is how Aubrey Layne, Secretary of Finance, summed up his explanation to the House Appropriations Committee of April’s 15% drop in transportation revenue All of the major components of the transportation revenue were down in April, but the biggest danger sign was in the motor vehicle sales and use tax. That…
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WTJU Podcast: COVID-19 and the Economy
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in Agriculture & forestry, Bacon and Pigs, Blogs and Blog Administration, Business and Economy, Charity, Philanthropy, Nonprofits, Civil Rights, Individual Liberties, Consumer Protection, Corruption and Scandals, Culture wars, Disasters and Disaster Preparedness, Economic development, Education (higher ed), Education (K-12), Efficiency in Government, Elections, Electoral process, Energy, Entrepreneurs and Innovation, Environment, Federal issues, General Assembly, Governance, Government Finance, Government Transparency, Gun rights, Health Care, Housing, Immigration, Infrastructure, Insurance, Labor and Workforce, Media, Money in politics, Planning, Politics, Poverty & income gap, Property rights, Public safety & health, Race and Race Relations, Regulations, Gov’t Oversight, Science & Technology, Social Services and Entitlements, Taxes, Telecommunications, TransportationBy Peter Galuszka Here’s is the twice-monthly podcast produced by WTJU, the official radio station of the University of Virginia. With me on this podcast are Nathan Moore, the station general manager, and Sarah Vogelsong, who covers, labor, energy and environmental issues across the state for the Virginia Mercury, a fairly new and highly regarded…