Market pricing is coming to roads and parking sooner rather than later. Virginia can be in the forefront of the trend, or it can get left in the dust. As General Assembly conferees consider their quasi-socialist approach to building and maintaining roads — raising new revenues from every source but those who actually use the roads, and providing access for “free” — they need to recognize that the technology and theory behind market pricing continues to gain credibility around the world.
The latest point of reference: a mini-white paper written by Bern Grush, founder of Skymeter Corporation, of Toronto, Canada. Grush advocates the concept of Road User Charging, which combines a number of features: (1) road pricing, essentially a charge for vehicle-miles driven, as a substitute for the gasoline tax, (2) congesting pricing, a mechanism to cope with traffic congestion, and (3) parking demand management. It’s the ultimate user pays system, and it’s on the cusp of commercial feasibility thanks to satellite and wireless technologies.
Grush is a thought leader in this space. The challenge of his start-up company is to persuade someone to invest in its untested technology and to pioneer its untested theories. Selling to government requires a frustratingly long sales cycle. But Skymeter has raised one round of angel financing, and it expects to close another round, according to an article in the Toronto Star. Although Grush has articulated the possibilities provided by the emerging technology better than anyone I’ve read, he’s not alone. The success of congestion pricing in Singapore, London and Stockholm are attracting attention around the world.
It’s a travesty that, in a state that prides itself as home to a world-class Information Technology industry, the General Assembly seeks to devise a “stable, long-term source of transportation funding” without giving serious consideration to the latest and greatest information technology and theory. One is tempted to blame the politicians for their small, parochial minds, but the responsibility goes deeper. Politicians draw from those around them — the newspapers they read, the television shows they watch, the conferences they attend, the lobbyists they listen to, the academics, businessmen and citizens they interact with. Ultimately, we have only ourselves to blame for our parochial thinking.