Transportation

Polling of US and UK consumers by  Thales’ E-Security IoT Survey shows that consumers expect connected cars to:

• necessitate data security policies for consumers for safety
  • 60% say connected cars ” pose security concerns with integrity and malfunctions”
• necessitate malware and ransomeware protections
  • 46% of US and 52% of UK participants have security concerns on viruses or malware
• 40% say data security is the most improtant question when purchasing a connected car

ITS International | US and UK Respondents call for stricter data security regulations for Connected Cars

San Francisco City Council is working to adopt ride share loading zone pilot program in 8 neighborhoods.

3 Policy Reasons for/against ride share loading zones:

• ease congestion
• passenger and traffic safety
• against: whether loading zones will remove existing sgtreet parking

ABC 7 News | San Francisco considers Uber, Lyft pickup zones in some spots 

The State Road using Flex Routes: Michigan’s U.S. 23

What’s a FlexRoute? inside median shoulder can be used by drivers during rush hours

2 Policy reasons regulators support the Flex Route:

•  more economical way to manage peak-hour congestion
• increases safety along the corridor

Equipment World | Mich.’s new Flex Route can cut travel time in half, MDOT says

Taxi Cab companies in Philadelphia are joining forces to:

• have a unified front against ride share companies
• revamped smartphone app
• upgraded technology in cars
• updated fleet interiors
• shared services for drivers
• taxi partitions have been removed, cameras installed & taxis are offering an experience more in line with rideshare

Philadelphia Business Journal | Three local cab companies form strategic partnership to challenge Uber, Lyft. 

State: Nevada

The Transportation Funding Set Aside Proposal: 5% of transportation funding for smart vehicles

How will the 5% be divided within the state? 80% to large and midsize cities & 20% to  Rural areas and regional partnerships

Proponents: Bipartisan: Democratic State Senator Catherine Cortez Masto 7 Republican Governor Sandoval

Las Vegas Review Journal | Nevada senator calls for tax money for ‘smart’ vehicle projects

The new group: Texans for Traffic Relief

Who is in the new group: Business groups, local elected officials & highway industry interests

3 key points to know about :

• The group is focused on the 4  largest metro areas
• The group formed in response to frustration from anti-toll activists
• Transportation funding is inadequate and Texas needs “Common-sense solutions that add to available road money and embrace innovation are crucial to easing congestion”

Texas State Senator Hall response to Texans for Traffic Relief:  the new group “will be representing the money boys.”

Dallas Morning News |New Texas transportation group vows to fight tea party on how to ease traffic jams

The local governmental entity: Central Contra Costa Transit Authority

The local ride share proposal: To save costs of running a standard 40 foot bus in difficult to navigate residential areas, the Transit Authority is implementing a “on-demand option for commuters heading to BART”

How will the new local government ride share work in the East Bay? 6 month pilot program with TransLoc, a transportation company

San Jose Mercury News | East Bay bus agency to launch Uber-like ‘on-demand’ service

Where is this happening? Arizona

The issue: How to get to dead-beat parents who don’t have child support, but have income that is not subject to automatic wage garnishments as an indepdent contractor.

12 News AZ | Parents frustrated by ‘deadbeat’ ride-share drivers not paying child support

What does the Texas alternative fuel vehicle landscape look like?

• 233,985 increase in alternative fuel vehicle registrations from 2016 to 2017
• 10.15% increase in registrations from 2016 to 2017
• 0.48% in all Texas vehicle registrations from 2016-2017 
• Altnerative vehicles represent 1% of all regisgtered vehicles in Texas

How did the alternative vehicles break down in this year over year increase?

• EV had the largest increase of registrations at 39.62%
• Flex fuel vehicles increased by 4.15%
• Hybrids increased by 9.03%
• CNG increased by 0.31%

TXDMV | 2017 Alternatively Fueled Vehicle Report

Florida Legislature is moving a high speed rail bill that will:

• require HSR rail companies operating trains at speeds in excess of 80 mph to install safety features

• require HSR to pay the cost of maintaining rail crossings

• require HSR to pay for fencing along sections of its tracks where pedestrians could be at risk

• require HSR to help train first responders in the event of an accident involving passenger trains or hazardous materials

2 Repsonses from HSR:

• The bill has little do to with safety
• The bill is centered on derailing the private rail project

Florida HB 572 (2017)

Mass Transit FL | HSR Bill Opposed by Brightline Clears First Hurdle

Texas Attorney General Opinion request RQ-0192-KP asks whether Propositions 1 and 2, that prohibited the use of dedicated funds for toll projects, can provide funding for toll road projects.

Update:

Texas Tribune | TxDOT eyeing accounting trick to get around toll road prohibition

TXDOT’s point of view:

• fund the tolled lanes with federal loans backed by toll revenues
• fund added non-tolled main lanes with tax dollars
• win-win: TxDOT has more building capacity with limited funds.

City: West Sacramento

The company West Sacremento is partnering with: Via

How ride share will fit into the city’s public transit system: 

• rider will be able to use an app to set pickup and dropoff locations
• van will pick up several riders and make multiple stops
• rider may be asked to walk a block or two

The city’s policy goals:

• cut down on the time it takes riders to get from one place to another
• limit the amount of effort necessary to navigate the public transit system

Government Technology | California City Tests Ride-Share-Style Public Transit Pilot 

A U.K. business has allowed drivers to fight parking tickets from their smart phones, and now that business trend is stateside in Florida. 

Here’s the regulatory quagmire:

• The Florida State Bar is none to pleased of mobile phones practising law

The fight moved to federal court when The Ticket Clinic sued the Coral Gables tech start up.

The company, TIKD, is expanding nationally.

Miami Herald | Florida drivers can now fight traffic tickets from their phones. But that may not last.

Oklahoma has instituted a new $200 fine for drivers that drive too slow in the left lane.

The new fine comes with an outreach message of ” Camp at the Lake Not in the Left Lane.”

Supports of the left lane fee say that slow drivers in the left lane is as dangerous as speeding.

Equipment World | Left-lane hogs face fines in Okla. under new law

Alabama in 2016 Began collecting a fee of  $1 per $1,000 in project value on nonresidential building permits.

Genesis: The consruction fee was supported and pushed by the Alabama Associated General Contractors.

The funding for construction work skills is distributed by Alabama Construction Industry Craft Training Board.

Equipment World | New fee funds construction worker training in Ala.

Tesla, the city of Barrie, in Canada, and a local chamber of commerce are putting together a chargins station deal for all EV owners. 

The details of the EV charging station deal:

• Tesla is offering to install 12 Tesla superchargers + 4 generic universal chargers at no cost to the city
• The local chamber of commerce is offering to foot operational costs of the charging station
• The city wants to be seen as progressive and open for business

Barrie Today | Downtown Barrie BIA offers to help pay for EV stations

Maryland has a two step background check for ride share drivers that does not include fingerprinting. Here’s how it works:

• The ride share comapny runs a background check
•  “paired with rigorous oversight by regulators”
  • no new screening
  • its like a meticulous audit to make certain the ride share company complied

This Maryland model is being considered in other states, because Maryland results include:

• 15% of drivers are booted by the regulators
• 95% of the booted drivers are Uber drivers
• 460 applicants with disqualifying criminal histories
• 900 applicants were flagged by regulators for issues with their driving records

Washington Post | Maryland boots nearly 15 percent of new ride-hail drivers for failing screening

A Utah task force recommended transportation funding solutions that include a tax for alternative fuel cars.

State Representative Schultz (R-Hooper). said “”I think it’s important that those that drive on the roads pay for it,” he said. “I don’t think it’s fair that alternative-fuel vehicles get away scot-free without paying their fair share.”

Fox 13 Now | Your alternative fuel car is costing Utah money for roads

Proposals to fund mass transit in New York City include:

• Congestion pricing
• Creating a “transit-maintenance district”
•  Adding a $1.50 charge to the core business district’s $60- to $70-per-square-foot rents since high rise buildings benefit the most from mass transit

Crain’s New York | Former MTA executive pitches real estate fee to fund mass transit

The District of Columbia Department of Transportation  (DDOT)is testing a pilot program to handle night life traffic.

The pilot program will include:

• converting parking spaces to late night loading zones for taxis and ride share for pickups
• the department of transportation partnered with the business district, Golden Triangle BID, to solve the late night traffic congestion
• ride share companies share anonymized rider data with DDOT to help refine the location of the pilot

City Lab | D.C. Gives Uber and Lyft a Better Spot in Nightlife

• Oklahoma Legislature passed Motor Fuels Tax Fee (HB 1449) to tax/impose a fee on EV ($100) and hybrid cars ($30)
• The OK Supreme Court declared HB 1449 unconstitutional because:
  • HB 1449 was a revenue bill passed in the last five days of session
  • As such, HB 1449 needed three-fourths of the legislature’s support.

Oklahoma House Bill 1449 (2017 Regular Session)

News On 6 | Another OK Legislature ‘Fee’ Deemed Unconstitutional 

• Tesla is set to unviel its electric self driving truck in Novmeber 2017
• The economics of truck driving has shown the greatest efficiency with a platoon of trucks
  • 7-8 trucks driving in close proximity
  • effectively reduces diesel costs for regular trucks and can reduce battery use
• Long range (900 mile) EV trucks are thought to be cost prohibitive unless robotic battery changing (not charging) stations are available
• Self driving electric trucks will focus on short range trips

MIT Technology Review | An Electric Semi Definitely Won’t Work—But Seven in a Row Might

Where: Prince George’s County

The opposition arguments of the local officials: 

• the high speed rail cuts through neighborhoods 
• the high speed rail runs too close to schools
• vow no taxpayer supported funding for the project
• “eliminate any chance the project can seize land from private citizens” by changing eminent domain laws

WTOP | Prince George’s Co. leaders vow to derail plans for high-speed train

City: Chicago

The proposed ride share tax: 48 cent increase on all trips, making the frride share fee $1 per trip

The reason for the ride share tax: Ride share has cost the area $40 million in revenue

Chicago Tribune | Emanuel may opt to raise 911, Uber taxes, setting aside council ideas 

Voters in Lousianna approved a dedication of funds to transportation from an increased gas tax.

The gas tax has not been increased in 28 years and has not yet been increased.

The dedication of gas tax increase funds to transportation projects was seen as the major hurdle for approval of a gas tax increase.

Governing | Louisiana Voters OK Measure to Tighten Transportation Spending

The opinion requestor: Liberty County Attorney

The issue that the Liberty County Attorney wants the Attorney General to answer: Whether an elected constable and his deputies may simultaneously serve under the sheriff, specifically to perform tasks related to the duties of a weight enforcement officer. 

Why Liberty County Attorney thinks an elected constable can also serve as a weight enforcement officer?  Article XVI, Section 40 oft he Texas Constitution does not prohibit an elected constable from simultaneously serving as a deputy sheriff to be a weight enforcement officer

RQ-0187-KP. 

• ​ Will regulators/legislators allow utilities to rate-base infrastructure costs?
• Will regulators/legislators permit a shift in costs from private installers and owners onto the general rate base?
• Can investments be recovered through performance-based regulations?
• How to incentivize investments by rewarding social benefits without exposing ratepayers to undue risk?
• Will regulators and utilities adopt the free and open-source Open Charge Point Protocol to support interoperable information exchange for transactions and charger operations?

Forbes | Five Ways Utilities Can Gain From Building Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure

TXDOT proposes billboards rules that permit billboards to 85 feet high.

A Sunset bill author, TX Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville says:

•  Intent was to only grandfather in existing signs above the 42.5 foot limit. 
• New billboards would have to comply with current 42.5 foot limit according to Sunset 
• Existing signs below 42.5 cannot exceed 42.5 feet

What’s the property right issue at play? Existing billboards that were built under 1986 rules that had no height limitations

The opposition: Scenic Texas

The complication: The 2017 Texas Legislature also attempted to create new billboard regulations to correct for the Texas Supreme Court Ruling in The State of Texas v. Clear Channel Communication.

Houston Chronicle | Activists fear Texas law will allow 85-foot-tall billboards

Scenic Ft. Worth | Ft. Worth Star Telegram | Everything’s bigger in Texas, but 85-foot billboards?

What’s missing from most state and federal self driving car regulations and legislation?  Big Trucks.

Self driving truck economuy is growing and the regulations and legislation are not keeping pace, or so say lawyer sin this field in California, the first state to implement self-driving car regulations.

The Recorder | We Asked California Lawyers for Views on the New Driverless Rules. Here’s What They Said.

These cities regularly get ride share tip information:

• New York City
• Chicago
• Portland, Oregon

2 Methods Cities are Getting Additional TNC data:

• From data produced through secure servers
• Some cities have negotiated various confidentiality agreements

The Recorder | Uber and Lyft Resist Regulators’ Appeal for Data Sharing

New York Governor Cuomo is has called for a study to look at congestion pricing in New York City.

How would congestion pricing work?  Two ways to phrase it:

• Creates a toll system to enter congested portions of a city.
• Creates a user fee for access to a central business district

What would NYC’s congestion pricing fund? mass transit

Do other cities have congestion pricing? Yes, Stockholm Sweden

Could a city in your state impose its own congestion pricing?…

CBS New York | Cuomo Creates Panel To Study NYC Congestion Pricing

The City: Columbus OH

What’s a connected transportation data exchange? The Smart Columbus Operating System is a system to share near-real-time data on traffic 

How does it work? it will collect data from cars that  transmit metrics like time, speed and location with road-side units. The data will be overlayed to create a regional transportation outlook

But, how does the city get the car data? 

• From volunteers who volunteer their vehicles. Columbus is looking for 3000 volunteers
• school buses
• public transit buses
• government fleet vehicles

GCN | Columbus lays groundwork for connected transportation data exchange

The new study: Framework for Assessing the ROI for High-Speed and Intercity Rail Projects by the American Public Transportation Association

3 economic impacts considered beyond travel time & cost efficiency:

• cost-benefit
• economic impact
• social impact analysis 

What does this new analysis include?

• regional connectivity
• global competitiveness effects
• broader consideration of the public’s desire to meet and exceed longer term environmental, economic and mobility goals for future generations 

Why is this new analysis important?

• Current cost benefit analysis can be subjective

• “Public policy recognizes the multi-faceted nature of benefitts – including transformative and distributional effects – that occur at different spatial scales (national, regional and local), affect various subgroups of the population, and occur at different times.”

Mass Transit | New Study Provides Framework for Determining ROI in High-Speed and Intercity Passenger Rail Corridors

Texas State Representatives Minajarez, Pickett, Dale, Oliverson & Goldman

are requesting the following interim charges:

• Study how toll road operators, or authorities calculate toll rates in Texas, and ensure there is transparency in the process.
• Study the Minajarez amendment to S.B. 312 85(R) to see if it applies to all toll roads in the state, or to just the TxDOT operated toll roads and toll lanes.
• Study the possibility of the consolidation of Texas Toll Pay by Mail into a single back office provider usinfg an open source software platform that is controlled by Texas.
• Study if the Reconnect Austin plan to cap IH35 through Austin takes away additional dollars from non-tolled projects in the state.
• Study what precautions toll road operators in Texas have in place to prevent cyber security threats, both internal and external.

The Minajarez, Pickett, Dale, Oliverson & Goldman letter to Speaker Straus dated 10.2.2017

• he wants TXDOT to confirm whether they review the Trasnportation Code 707.003 study
• review all the red light cameras to see if they comply with transportation Code Section 707.003 and 707.004
• give him the details of all cities operating red light cmaeras on state highways
• send cease & desist letters to cities operating red light cameras on state highways
• Consider this ruling, Cause No. DC- 15-00289, 134th District Court in Dallas, that found that a person was not liable for red light camera fines
• decide whether non-compliant cities must refund red light camera fines
• give him existing recourse that TXDOT has for non-compliant cities
• take any and all enforcement actions against non-compliant cities

KXAN | Senator vowing to kill red light cameras wants answers from TxDOT

Missouri seeks hyperloop for long term relationship and connection between Kansas City, Columbia and St. Louis.  Yes, Missouri want s ahyperloop for a threesome.

What entities are members of Missouri’s hyperloop coalition? The Missouri Hyperloop Coalition consists of the following members: Missouri Department of Transportation, St. Louis Regional Chamber, KC Tech Council, University of Missouri System, and Missouri Innovation Center in Columbia.

Was Missouri chosen as 1 of the 10 hyerloop locations in the world wide search? No.

What game plan does the Missouri hyperloop coalition have? To work for forma. partnerhsip with Hyperloop One, the company behind th ehyperloop push.

Equipment World | Mo. coalition forms to lure high-speed Hyperloop route for I-70

California’s proposed high speed rail line is exceeding its cost estimates by 27%. Here’s why:

• higher  land acquisition costs
• cost of moving utilities underground
• cost of logistics with freight rail companies

How far behind is the project? 7 years

Los Angeles Times | California bullet train costs up $1.7 billion for Central Valley segment

In Mississippi a September 2017 poll conducted by Millsaps College and Mississippi-based Chism Strategies had 72% rejecting a gas tax increase.

Notes:

• The polling question tied the gas tax increase to education
• Othe rpolling questions indicate a gas tax increase tied to road & bridge repair, and touted as a user fee, has stronger support.

Daily Journal | Gas tax might not be unpopular for roads, bridges

By 2040, I-5 between Seattle and Vancouver is expected to be dedicated 100% to self driving cars. It’ll take 3 steps to get there:

• 1st, selfin driving cars will be able to share HOV lanes
• 2nd, dedicating 1 lane entirely to AVs (self dirving or autonomous vehicles)
• 3rd, convert all lanes ot autonomous driving vehicles only 

GeekWire | Major stretch of I-5 will be devoted exclusively to self-driving cars by 2040, new study predicts

The Business: TURO, a car sharing app, whereby you rent out your vehicle by day

How does insurance work? TURO insures you against damage that may be caused by a renter

How has TURO filled a gap after Hurriance Harvey?  If the type of vehicle you need to rent is not avialbale in traditional car rental, TURO can fill that gap.

KPRC | New car rental trend that made one man $25,000

Business Trend: Volvo says by 2019 it will stop making gas combustion engine cars

Regulatory Trend: California’s chief air-pollution regulator says he’s talking to the California Governor about phasing out combustion engines sometime 10 years in the future. 

Can States phase out combustion engines? States can their own air pollution standards, but they need EPA approval

International Trend: 

• China has called for combusion engine ban at some myster date in the future.
• the UK and France set the end of the combustion engine at 2040.

Sacramento Bee | No more gas or diesel cars in California? State considers ban

San Antonio City Council rejected a proposal to remove cap on taxi permits and allow an unlimited number of taxi drivers to operate independently of companies and co-ops.

Houston and Dallas have adopted these proposals to remove taxi permit caps & allow unlimited taxi drivers independent of companies and coops.

The supporting rational for not removing caps?

• The cities that removed the caos and restrictions were said to have had periods of regulatory chaos.
• It dilutes the opportunities for each of the taxi cab operators to make a living wage

Rivard Report | City Council Puts Brakes on Looser Taxi Regulations

Quebec has a requirement that requires taxi drivers and ride share drivers to complete driver safety courses. 

In addition to 35 hours of driver safety training, ride share would also be required to:

• annual car inspections
• background checks done by police officials

Wall Street Journal | Uber Threatens to Leave Quebec Over Driver Rules

San Francisco Police Department says that 2/3 of its traffic citations are issued to ride share drivers. 

How can you speed through the Streets of San Francisco? Tickets include:

• Illegal U-turns
• blocking traffic (remember loyal informed:intel subscribers SF city ordiance sought dsignated ride share drop offs on side streets)
• blocking bike lanes

What do the traffic citstion numbers look like?

• April 1 to June 30 accounted for 2,656 traffic violations
• 1,723 — or nearly 65 percent— ride share drivers

Washington Post | San Francisco police say most traffic tickets go to Uber and Lyft drivers

How is DFW handling self driving vehicles in North Texas? With an automated vehicles department within theNorth Central Texas Council of Governments. It’s a department of 1 man.

What has this Department of 1 employee accomplished for self driving car policy?

• established an “automated vehicle program,” approved by the Regional Transportation Council
• secured funding for low-speed automated vehicle pilot programs
• secured funding to support the use of Interstate 30 between Dallas and Fort Worth as a test corridor for transportation technology.
• pilot programs will include encouraging “local cities to make their traffic signal data accessible to the developer community to support connected vehicle applications”
• reserved funding to research or reinvent “people mover systems using automated vehicles,”

GovTech | Dallas-Fort Worth Region Plots Practical Course for Autonomous Vehicles

Wyoming Department of Trasnsportation is providing the public with access to a map of alternative vehcile fueling station.

Equipment World | Wyoming maps out sites for alternative vehicle fueling

• 2.3 miles of roadway
• 18 intersections will have advanced technology
• Goal is to reduce by 25% stop and wait times  without increasing travel speeds
•  $3 million project came from $150 million in bonds Atlanta voters approved in 2015

Atlanta’s Smart Transportation Corridor will be a partnership with Georgia Tech.

Construction Equipment News | Atlanta creates Smart Corridor to improve traffic, prepare for driverless vehicles

Columbus, Ohio and Las Vegas, Nevada are both toying with smart technology to improve traffic.

Three things to know about the traffic technology testers:

• Each city had to bolster its tech infrastructure to allow for the massive amount of data needed to handle common traffic issues with technology.
• After infrastructure comes connectivity. Connected vehicles, autonomous cars, traffic monitoring devices all need to communicate with one another, & the communication must be safe and free of interference.
• City fleets become tech testers. City fleets are adapted to relay information and to see how helpful traffic management can be rolled out in the city.

State Tech Magazine | Smart Technology Makes Managing Traffic a Breeze for Transportation Departments

Hyperloop does not have the policy foundation of other types of transportation system. This leaves 3 areas of policy wide open:

• There is no policy framework for implementation
• There is no policy framework for safty standards
• There are no policy stnadards for regulation, operation and maintenance of hyperloops
• Does hyperloop qualify for eminent domain authority?

Dallas Morning News | Meet the Dallas urban planner behind Texas’ pursuit of the hyperloop

• Texas hyperloop proposal would connect, Houston, Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Laredo.
• Its 1 of 10 bids approved worldwide
• AECOM, who placed the Texas bid, had 5 of 10 winning bids.
• AECOM has also been involved with One Wolrd Trade Center, London’s Olympic Park and Etihad Rail
• Texas geography, strong economy, and population growth are key components to hyperloop’s success in Texas
• Hopes to supplement  Texas Central Railway

Dallas Morning News | Meet the Dallas urban planner behind Texas’ pursuit of the hyperloop

The proposed rules: 

• Concern 16 Texas Administrative Code (TAC), Chapter 95, §§95.1, 95.2, 95.10, 95.20 – 95.23, 95.30, 95.31, 95.40, 95.50, 95.51, 95.70 – 95.72, 95.80, 95.90, 95.91 and 95.100, regarding the Transportation Network Companies program.
• Reflect stakeholder meetings from July 6, 2017
• Follow HB 100

The publication date: Stpember 15, 2017 Texas Register

Earliest Possible Adoption of Rules:  October 15, 2017

Fiscal Implications Contained in Rules: None to local governments. TDLR will need a new FTE and computer equipment for operation for a total of  $104,458 during the first year 

Comments on the proposed rules: submitted by mail to Pauline Easley, Legal Assistant, General Counsel’s Office, Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, P.O. Box 12157, Austin, Texas 78711; or by facsimile to (512) 475-3032, or electronically to erule.comments@tdlr.texas.gov. The deadline for comments is 30 days after publication in the Texas Register.

Texas Register | September 15, 2017 | TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF LICENSING AND REGULATION

California Assembly Bill 544 would allow single occupancy EV cars to use HOV lanes through 2025 with a DMV decal.

Tax rebates, tax incentives, easy HOV access…oh, my!

Sacramento Bee | Would you buy an electric car if you could use the carpool lane alone?

A ballot proposition in California looks to prevent the Legislature from increasing the gas tax by requiring voter approval for fuel tax increases.

Group behind the initiative: Reform California

Sacramento Bee | Gax tax repeal would strip California lawmakers’ ability to pass increases

Chairman Joe Pickett wants the Texas Attorney General to clarify to what extent are the limitations of fee assessments placed upon TXDOT also placed upon private entities that operate tolls.

Pickett’s exact question: 

Utah Tranportation Authority is a thorn in the side of Utah elected officials. They’ve been studying the issue, and trying to craft a solutions to remove the obstacles they see in the agency.

For those of you in Texas, think of an agency that is a mix of 2017 TABC, 2013 HHSC and 2011 TXDOT when it lost a billion dollars.

3 solutions from Utah’s elected officials to reign in a rogue agency:

• Follow Maryland. Create a Transportation Secretary who oversees all transit, rail, ports  and transportation, thereby requiring the agency to report to the State Secretary of Transportation.
• Independent Agency with no control over finance or big projects. Leave the indepdent agency in place but move all finance decisions to the legislature. All agency assets get moved into a state umbrella account that the agency cannot access.
• Split the agency. Let the agency have its indpendent control over transportation outside of all major metro areas. The metro areas transportation issues are handled by the legislature/Governor.

Salt Lake Tribune | Task force considers closer state control of scandal-tainted UTA

The headline from Denison, Texas reads : Denison changes taxi ordinance following state legislation.

Did Denison change a taxi ordinance after Texas enacted HB 100, statewide ride-share law? Technically, Yes. But, this is a technicality for loophole lovers.

Was the change in the ordiance related to taxis? No. It was related to ride share and changed the Denison ride share sgtandards on par with state law.

Why the confusion over ordinances and headlines? Denison has no formal taxi service. It, like many cities, only have ride share.

Denison changes taxi ordinance following state legislation | Herald Democrat

The Safely Ensuring Lives Future Deployment and Research In Vehicle Evolution Act, or “SELF DRIVE” Act is on its way to the U.S. Senate for action.

What woud the bill do?

•  The Self Drive Act would increase that cap for exemptions to the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) federal motor vehicle safety standards to 25,000 per year initially
• The cap would be expanded it up to 100,000 annually in 3 years
• Allows all 50 states to innovate on self-driving technology
• Prohibits states from making self driving car testing too restrictive, like New Yorks’ requirement that a test car have a police escort

Supports, like the The Self Driving Coalition for Safer Streets, a lobbying group that includes Google, Ford, Uber, Lyft, Volvo, and more, say:

• very good news for the auto industry
• opportunity to do significant testing
• will allow  all the research that’s required to make sure that this is truly a step forward in road safety

The Verge | The US is speeding toward its first national law for self-driving cars

Looking to limit the number of bike and vehicle accidents, Tome Software & Trek Bicycle are teaming up.

What’s the transportation policy goal: To identify if there are certain areas on roads that are more prone to bike/vehicle accidents.

Just when you thought legislating autonomous vehicles was all the rage, now we’re moving toward AI in bikes.

Tech Crunch | Tome Software and Trek Bicycle are looking to AI to make biking safer

California legislators are pushing for $1B in funding for clean trucks and buses before the September 15th legislative deadline.

The funding source and economic benefits legislators are touting:

The funding source for clean trucks and bus $1 billion: California’s GHG cap-and-trade system

Is there a simultaneous economic benefit to the state? Yes, the state has seen an influx of companies building clean trucks and buses because of the market growth in California

Natural Gas Intelligence | California Lawmakers Push for $1B in Clean Truck, Bus Funding

A 5 day special legislative session in Hawaii produced a rail deal that will:

• 5 top legislative leaders got on the same page.
  • Senate President
  • House Speaker
  • Senate Ways and Means Committee chair
  •  House Transportation Committee Chair
  • House Finance Committee Chair
• Agreed to:
  • use specific numbers on the project and in the revenue generating plan:
    • use only the numbers of Hawaii Department of Budget and Finance and not lobbyist provided numbers
    • total revenue generated for the project: $2.4 billion over 13 years
    • $1.046 billion from a 0.5%t general excise tax charged on Oahu taxpayers
    • $1.3 billion from hotel guests statewide via a 1% increase in the hotel room tax
    • Extends by 3 years the 0.5% general excise tax & increases the hotel room tax to 10.25 percent from 9.25 percent for 13 years.
  • require certain levels of transparency
  • require a timeline & sunset provisions on the taxes, which if not adhered to kills the project

Honolulu News  | How the Legislature’s ‘Big Five’ Crafted A Deal To Rescue Honolulu Rail

California legislators pushing AB 1184 abandonded the $3 billion in EV incentives to pursue a study. So what happened?

• Drafting issues. Opposition focused on a lack fo a plan for funding source
• More information Needed.  The bill now calls for a report that:
  • suggests funding levels necessary to meet state emissions goals
  • the report should recommend changes to the existing rebate program to increase market penetration of such cars and trucks.
• Procurement Opportunity. The bill calls for a contractor to study the issue and offer the recommendations.

LA Times | Plan to boost electric-vehicle rebates to $3 billion is scrapped in favor of state study

Does ride share usage reduce car ownership? That’s what this news report says, relying on studies from Texas A&M, University of Michigan, and the City of Austin.

Does this make new allies of taxis and auto manufacturers? Are taxis and parking lot owners gong to bond over the reduced use of parking lots?

Portland KGW.com | Uber and Lyft Could Kill Car Ownership in Big Cities

Prove the viability of this technology and private sector built infrastructure approach

Create a new high-tech industry where it never existed before. Texas will be like a domestic manufacturer of high-speed projects.

Market Driven approach will have fewer difficulties than government projects.

The Hill | Contributor : Texas Central Partners | Texas high-speed rail illustrates private sector’s role in America’s infrastructure future

Chicago City Council, like other cities, is looking to reign in ride share price surging. Here’s the policy plan in Chicago:

• surge pricing cap implementation to offset companies that use predatory pricing
• surge price cap would be 150% of a regular fare during the 7 days before the unforeseen emergency
• unforeseen emergency would be defined as “any actual or threatened terrorist attack, mass shooting, major disruption in public transportation, failure or shortage or electric power and inclement weather.”

Chicago Sun Times | City Council takes aim at rideshare ‘surge pricing,’ safety concerns

• Volkswagen Group of America
• Mercedes Benz
• Waymo
• Delphi Automotive
• Tesla Motors
• Bosch
• Nissan
• GM Cruise LLC
• BMW
• Honda
• Ford
• Zoox, Inc.
• Drive.ai, Inc.
• Faraday & Future Inc.
• Baidu USA LLC
• Wheego Electric Cars Inc.
• Valeo North America, Inc.
• NextEV USA, Inc.
• Telenav, Inc.
• NVIDIA Corporation
• AutoX Technologies Inc
• Subaru
• Udacity, Inc
• Navya Inc.
• Renovo.auto
• UATC LLC (Uber)
• PlusAi Inc
• Nuro, Inc
• CarOne LLC
• Apple Inc.
• Bauer’s Intelligent Transportation
• Pony.AI
• TuSimple
• Jingchi Corp
• SAIC Innovation Center, LLC
• Almotive Inc
• Aurora Innovation
• Nullmax
• Samsung Electronics

Tech Crunch | Samsung secures self-driving car testing permit for California roads

Philadelphia is convening a task force to guide integration of electric vehicles into the quagmire of parking and charging in the City of Brotherly Love.

The policy issues:

• Whether and how to permit curb side charging in residential neighborhoods
• how EVs relate to transit, walking, and cycling

Philly Voice | Newly assembled task force will guide policy on Philly’s electric cars

Detroit. Motor City. An editorial board at the Detroit News isn’t keen on rapidly legislating self driving cars because:

• Market Drivers.to develop the right policies we need clear signals from the market about what aspects of self driving cars will win the day
• Infrastructure Needs. need to ensure that the legislature creates the infrastructure to maintain Dedicated Short Range Communications radios that communicate between self driving cars and the infrastructure
• Public Private Partnerships. state should seek first to encourage partnerships that would speed development so legislators can see how the market adapts to this new wave of smart vehicles

The Detroit News | Our editorial: Put brakes on driverless auto taxes

The State: Virginia

The goal of the public-private partnership:  “optimizing opportunities for innovative collaboration and investment in Virginia’s transportation system”

The data shared with the private sector: 22 different data sets, with initial data sets including traffic volumes, speed limits, travel advisories, lane closures, crashes, truck restrictions, traffic sensors, incidents, sign messages and locations, paving schedules, short- and long-term weather events, the Six-Year Improvement Plan, major road construction and Signal Phase and Timing data.

Equipment World | Virginia DOT launches SmarterRoads data portal for transportation app development

The Business: Integrated Roadways

What are integrated roadways? Roads with sensors, phone, and internet connectivity, telecommunications, fiber-optic cable, and high-speed Internet, as well as other hardware, inside road surfaces.

What do local pilot projects look like? Kansas City has a pilot project to use integrated roads in construction of a combined 1.5 miles of pavement in the spring of 2018 with expected completion by August.

Would these integrated roads collect data for the benefit of the city? Yes.

Equipment World | Smart pavement pilot projects stuffing roads with sensors and internet connectivity

Michigan’s direct sales ban is being tested in Michigan federal court as a violation of the Commerce Clause.

What does that mean in normal people terms? The direct sales ban isn’t just a question of is direct sales a Michigan law and constitution problem, but does direct sales bans run counter to the US Constitution. Also, the Supremes can get involved- as in Ruth Bader Ginsburg et. al, not Diana Ross et. al.

What documents is the court requiring be disclosed?

• 2 lawmakers must turn over communications about the ban with car dealers and lobbyists.
  • One of these lawmakers authored the direct sales ban amendment and happens to be married to the auto dealer lobbyist.
• Internal lobbyist communications for the dealer associations is next on the discovery  disclosure list

Electrek| Tesla vs State of Michigan: federal judge orders lawmakers to disclose their communications over sale ban

Lt. Gov. Patrick made the following appointments to the Port Authority  Advisory Committee:

•  Michael J. Plank
  • From Houston
  • Chairman & CEO of The Plank Companies, Inc., a diversified holding company
  • Serves on the boards of Greater Houston Partnership, YMCA of Greater Houston & President’s Leadership Council at Methodist Hospital
  • 1983 Texas A&M grad in Mechanical Engineering

LT. GOVERNOR DAN PATRICK ANNOUNCES THE APPOINTMENT TO THE PORT AUTHORITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Today’s transportation companies collect a lot of data about consumers. Alleging that Uber “failed consumers”, the Federal Trade Commission settled a data privacy investigation by Uber agreeing to 20 years of privacy audits.

CNBC | Uber agrees to 20 years of privacy audits after FTC says it ‘failed consumers’

The privately financed high speed rail project between Houston and Dallas by Texas Central Rail will be one of the largest civil projects in history and will create:

• 10,000 construction jobs during each year of construction
• $10-billion in direct investment
• $36 billion in economic benefits over 25 years
• $2.5 billion in tax revenue
• 25% of the permanent jobs will be in rural Texas

Equipment World | Fluor, Lane contracted for privately-funded Texas bullet train, one of the largest civil projects in U.S. history

Self Driving Car Companies are flooding the rain free Arizona desert, here’s why:

• The rain free, sunny weather, is ideal for self driving car vehicle sensors
• Arizona has no self driving car regulations
• Arizona has calm traffic
• Arizona has “pretty good” roads
• The one government act on self-driving cars in Arizona is that “Governor Doug Ducey signed an executive order in 2015 requiring his underlings to “undertake any necessary steps to support the testing and operation of self-driving cars.”’

Wired | SELF-DRIVING CARS FLOCK TO ARIZONA, LAND OF GOOD WEATHER AND NO RULES

Boston instituted a pilot program for ride share to help with paratransit that subsidizes rides on Uber and Lyft.

What business traits do paratransit need:

• well-trained drivers
• smart dispatch
• flexibility: multiple stops & a wide range of physical limitations

Philly.com | Should Philly follow Boston and remake paratransit with ride hailing?

Chicago prohibits advertisements in ride share vehicles.

A company that offers entertainment services (video games & ad content; not prostitution) sued claiming that the ordinance violates equal protection clause of the US Constitution because it does not apply to taxis or other vehicles.

The case is progressing in federal courts after surviving motions to kick the case out of court. 

Courthouse News Service | Judge Doesn’t Like Chicago’s Ban on Ads in Ubers

OKlahoma Department of Transportation is using ShakeCast to chart bridghe inspections following an earthquake.

Oklahoma has seen a rise in the numnber of and intesity of earthquakes in recent years.

THe next step is to contract with Infrastructure Engineers to help the OK DOT develop a earthquake response protocol.

Equipment World | Oklahoma DOT using ShakeCast to develop bridge inspection protocol following earthquakes

Can self driving cars harm city revenues? Some say yes in these 3 ways:

• Self driving cars are expected to decrease parking revenues & parking enforcement revenues
• Self driving cars would reduce the number of traffic citations
• Overall 10-15% decline in city revenue is estimated

Governing | How Driverless Cars Could Be a Big Problem for Cities (includes look at Austin, TX revenues)

St. Louis County instituted a 0.5% transportation sales tax 3 years ago and the City of Duluth is gearing up to implement the same.

The local governements point to these benefits from the transportation sales tax:

• The sales tax spreads the road maintenance burden
  • everyone who visits contributes, not just residents
• The City believes it will triple available revenue for road maintenance
• 3 years in and the county has invested $16 million in county roads within Duluth City Limits
  • The City stopped relying on funding from state and federal sources to make road repairs

WDIO | Duluth Mayor Proposes Transportation Sales Tax

After passing statewide ride share laws states, like North Dakota, seek to amend their laws.

What do states want to change about their ride share laws?

• More detailed information about ride share driver incidents
• Greater detail on the severity of incidents
• Ensure disclosure of the number of traffic violations
• More details about the statewide number of drivers to compare the incidents to those in the overall driving public

WDAZ | Lawmakers may boost reporting requirements for Uber, Lyft next session

The October ballot in Ketchikan Alaska will ask its citizens whether to permit ride share operators.

Alaska has a statewide rideshare law, but a skeptical mayor and city council want local input. 

The skepticism, you ask? Whether ride share companies will remit local sales taxes.

SF Chronicle | Alaska city leaders put ride-sharing ban on ballot

San Francisco’s revamp of Market St. will limit vehicle stopping to commercial deliveries and taxis. 

How does this work? Think of bus lanes and bike lanes. The curb side lanes would be limited to commerical deliveries and taxis.

SFist | Uber And Lyft Permanently Banned From Most Of Market Street Under New Plan

Arizona Department of Transportation is rolling out 1st of its kind wrong way detection technology.

How does the new fandangled technology work?

• Thermal cameras detect a wrong-way vehicle along an off-ramp
• When triggered, an illuminated wrong-way sign with flashing lights alerts drivers

The winning contract: a $1.89 million bid from Contractors West Inc. of Mesa

Equipment World | Arizona moves forward on “first of its kind” wrong-way detection system

The California Supreme Court has ruled that publicly owned rail must comply with the California Environmental Quality Act.

How does impact high speed rail in California? Whether environmental impact studies must be conducted has been a contetious issue among stakeholders building high speed rail.

How did California get here? A rail line contended that it only needed to comply with federal rail rules.

Governing | High-Speed Rail Hits a Roadblock in California

Texas Attorney General Opinion KP- 0156 lays down the law on what constitutes when a manufacturer owns a dealership in Texas. The nuts and bolts of the opinion:

• A company that owns a manufacturer, but exercises no control over the manufacturer, & the company and manufacturer do not have common control, it does not trigger the manufacturer dealer prohibition in Texas
• Even, if the corporate relationship squeak by on not exercising control over the manufacturer, it can still trigger the prohibition by being an affiliate. 
  • If a company has full ownership over a manufacturer then it runs afoul with the Texas prohibition from manfucaturer dealers
• To determine if the prohibition is triggered by the “affiliate” standard, we look to the common defintion of affilaite because the Legialature has many definitions of affiliate. Affiliate common defintion requires ownership AND control

Michigan, Ohio & Pennsylvania Departments of Transportation have joined forces with universities to focus on automated and connected vehicle initiative.

3 Target Research Areas to Guide Policy Decisions:

• Connected and automated applications in work zones
• Commercial freight opportunities in testing, including platooning (connecting more than one vehicle) and potential coordination on interstates. (
  • Bonjour, TAMU’s freight project at the Houston Port.
• Incident management to improve information for emergency responders

Equipment World | Kettering University joins Smart Belt Coalition for automated vehicle tech

Company: Boatly

Operating in:  Budapest, Hungary

How Boatly works: Connects corporate and private boat owners with persons who want to rent a boat. Its like Airbnb for boats. 

Budpest Business Journal | Boat sharing service looking to float to the top at Balaton

Cab drivers in the City of Kenner, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana sued to level the playing field in Kenner and at its airport.

The cab drivers ultimately want ride share drivers to maintain the same occupational license as cab drivers. Teh city of Kenner said it didn’t have the resources or revenue for enforcement. The cab drivers suggested the city put up checkpoints to check licenses.

The Kenner court saw it differently. 

WWLTV Louisiana | Judge rules against Kenner cabbies

South Carolina’s gas tax increase, the first in 30 years, went into effect on July 1, 2017. 

Revenues will be dedicated and prioritized including these qualifications for projects:

• Roughly 1/2 of funds will go to prioritized SC DOT projects
• The remainder will go to Country Transportation Committees projects

Equipment World | South Carolina DOT awards first projects from new roads bill

Delaware DOT is partnering with agencies, automobile manufacturers and technology companies, and network segmentation to fine tune smart roads. The test road- a restretch of I-95.

Why the rush to start testing smart roads?

• 220 million connected cars will be on the road by 2020
• 3/4 of the 92 million cars shipped globally with have connectivity
• 62% of consumers say hackers will breach connected cars

State Tech | The Connected Vehicle Revolution Makes Cybersecurity Top of Mind

• bikes are the fastest growing mode of transportation in the US
• bikes and cars share the road, and most self driving cars will pass a bike only when 3 feet clearance exists
• Bikes more more erratically than cars, and self driving cars need to be programmed to predict the more nimble movements of bikes

NPR | Bikes May Have To Talk To Self-Driving Cars For Safety’s Sake

In 2015, California passed Assembly Bill 1236 that asks towns under 200,000 to provide for expedited permits for EV charging stations. 

What did AB 1236 require small cities to do to make more EV charging stations a reality?

• provide a “submittal check list” for EV station applicants
• applicant approval through the issuance of a non-discretionary permit such as a building permit
• limit permit denials  to whether the EV station would have an “adverse impact upon the public health and safety.”

Sonoma Index Tribune | Sonoma City Council recharges EV station process

Miami, FL is considering allowing ride share cars to be able to use the left shoulder on busy freeways.

Ride share could share the left shoulder with buses.

Creative approach for transportation seeks to solve these policy issues:

• how to avoid adding more toll lanes
• to reduce traffic by encouraging people to leave their cars ar home and use a ride share service

AP | Forget Lexus Lanes, Miami Could Open Shoulders to Uber, Lyft

Oregon is using mobile photo radar during nighttime in construction zones.

The mobile photo radar will take photos of the driver and license plate, those exceeding the speed limit will receive a ticket in the mail.

Equipment World | Oregon DOT, Portland Police begin photo radar at I-84 night work zones

Lvl5 is paying ride share drivers to mount a smart phone to their dash to film their routes. 

Lvl5 believes for self driving cars to work their best, they require data updates daily.

Lvl5 is building HD maps that update daily.

Where does policy, legislture, regulators fit in? Whether HD mapping or LIDAR are the primary opartaing system for self driving cars and the standards that will be required.

Verge | This startup is using Uber and Lyft drivers to bring self-driving cars to market faster

41% of airport, non-airline revenue, is parking revenue. The revenue has to be found somewhere. 

2 examples from cities:

• Fresno upped the TNC pick up and drop off fee to $3
• DFW deferred hiring and deferred technolgical upgrades

Government Technology | Airport Parking Takes Hit From Uber, Lyft

17 States have laws concerning when self driving car data can be accessed.

The 17 states are: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington

Only North Dakota refers to the self driving car data as private data.

Bryan Cave LLP | Data Privacy Issues of Self-Driving Vehicles