Oregon wants every mile to count
With its gas tax stagnant, the state is experimenting with a `virtual tollway’ that includes a fee per mile
By Michael Martinez
Tribune national correspondent
Published July 9, 2006
PORTLAND, Ore. — Lee Younglove is motoring about town in a way that could be the future of driving in America: A state-installed GPS unit in his Subaru Outback is counting every mile he’s logging, and a special transmitter in the car will tell the pump at one of two Portland gas stations how many miles he has traveled.So
Soon, as part of a state experiment, he’ll be paying 1.2 cents for every mile but won’t be charged the state’s 24-cents-a-gallon gas tax.
That’s because Oregon sees little future in its gas tax, which has been at the same level since 1993. Voters don’t want to raise it, inflation has eaten much of its value and fuel-efficient cars such as hybrids are reducing collections.
As an alternative, the state is experimenting with a “virtual tollway” system in which a road-user fee would replace the gas tax.
The user fee is already a reality in 280 volunteers’ cars, in which systems worth about $200 each were installed this spring. Volunteers are paid $300 each.
Later this year, the state will stop collecting the gas tax at the pump for some of these volunteers and start charging the mileage fee. Another group will pay 10 cents a mile during rush hour and fourth-tenths of a cent for each mile at other times. The fees are for in-state travel only. A third set of volunteers will be a control group, still paying the gas tax.
Results of the yearlong experiment, along with recommendations, will be presented to the Legislature three years from now so lawmakers can decide whether to impose the nation’s first statewide user-fee system, aided by satellites.
The trial already has raised questions about whether Big Brother has found a new way to track motorists. But the state insists the GPS units are rigged only to count miles. (Complete Article Here:)
I’ve written about initiatives like this several times in the past: here and here: and here: to name a few. In general, these schemes are going under the acronym of PAYD … Pay As You Drive. There are many good potential good features for PAYD schemes, and many potential pitfalls.Now that I see how Oregon’s efforts are shaping up I am beginning to think the pitfalls are starting to win.
The idea of taxing road users based on their actual use is a good one. Folks who drive two and three times as much as other folks ought to pay more in highway taxes. That’s simple, makes economic sense and certainly appeals to our sense of freedom and fairness. The idea of selling hundreds of thousands of GPS units appeals to me too … I’m actively engaged in the GPS tracking business .. maybe I can be the winning bidder for California? Think my account rep at the manufacturer would be pleased if I faxed in an order for 30 or 40 million units? But GPS is not the answer for every issue. And PAYD schemes implemented by mis-using GPS are by far worse than schemes not using GPS at all. here’s a couple thoughts for Oregon lawmakers and the rest of the world toying with these ideas. before you send me a purchase order:
- If you want to charge for usage by the mile, GPS is not necessarily the best solution. By definition, calculating mileage traveled by a vehicle is not what GPS was designed for, it’s not in the GPS specification, and the implementation of that feature is arbitrary. Some manufacturer’s do it much differently than others. If you want to charge people based on miles, you better have a way to be able to prove your accuracy … and with off-the-shelf GPS units you may not know. Even vehicle odometers are not suited for these schemes. They have no Federal accuracy standard and vary widely in accuracy. See here for more:
- A mile is a mile is a mile? Not so. Almost all PAYD schemes, even those not concerned with highway tax, have features involving different costing for time of day use of roads and, in particular, congested roads. There is merit to these schemes, however, if you are going to charge me a higher tax for being in the city of Portland at rush hour on a weekday … then you have to collect the information from my GPS that shows when and where I was … not just the miles I have traveled. If you read the headline article you’ll see that someone in Oregon is speaking with a distinctly bifurcated tongue … because they are trying to assure motorists that although their cars will have GPS tracking, it will be disabled. Hmmm, here’s a thought, if you aren’t going to use it, then don’t put it on and use the money saved by not buying GPS to improve the roads.
- Based on my thoughts in numbers one and two above, Oregon (and other entities) thinking that GPS is the solution to their taxing problems need to wake up and smell the coffee. We already have a not nation-wide but literally world-wide system in place. It’s called a gas pump. States, Canadian provinces, European Union member countries, Australian States, et all, set road taxes. Motorists pay their taxes on an internationally fair, 100% accurate system … they use fuel the pay tax on the fuel … they don’t use fuel, they don’t pay tax. What a quaint idea … use the system we already have in place that’s virtually fool proof.
Oregon is off on this semi-wild goose chase because their revenues from gas tax are down. Well, raise them. Oregon, based on the latest figures I can find, is among the lowest gas tax states. If they are raised too much the voters will throw the politicians out, but I can’t think of a single state who hasn’t raised their gas taxes in recent memory .. and the State Houses of our states still seem full of politicians every time I drive by. Raise taxes, lower taxes, leave taxes where they are, but don’t give my GPS a black eye doing it. please.
