CBO: User Fees for Infrastructure
The Antiplanner has long argued that transportation and other infrastructure should be paid for out of user fees, because user fees are the best indication that such projects will be truly productive. A report this month from the Congressional Budget Office reaches a similar conclusion. The report observes that “carefully selected infrastructure projects can contribute […]
What’s in Store for Criminal Justice Reforms in 2011?
Obama’s High-Speed Bus Plan
Obama Replaces Costly High-Speed Rail Plan With High-Speed Bus Plan Note the cost savings: $15 billion for high-speed rail vs. $46,000 for high-speed buses. More evidence of the wastefulness of high-speed rail.
Urban Sustainability
Portland, Oregon is full of sustainability advocates who look forward to petrocollapse and “experiment” with such things as country living and learning to live as voluntary peasants. Two such sustainability advocates are trained engineers and have a blog promoting urban gardening and raising chickens as if these were somehow new ideas. Apparently, these engineers have […]
Back in the Air Again
The Antiplanner is flying today to Helena, Montana, to speak at a Montana Policy Center forum for state legislators. I’ll be back Wednesday and I hope I won’t miss too many days of blogging this week.
Transit Unions: Victims or Bullies?
A Portland transit union leader says his members have been “victimized” by a free-market group that posted their salaries on line. But who is the real victim here: the people collecting the salaries or the people whose taxes pay the salaries even if they never ride transit? Back in June, a free-market group in New […]
Debate Post-Mortem
The Antiplanner’s debate with American Public Transportation Association President Bill Millar focused on transit privatization. The Antiplanner argued that private operators would provide excellent, low-cost service where the demand for such service existed, such as in dense cities and low-income neighborhoods, while still providing adequate demand-responsive transit (like SuperShuttle) in low-density neighborhoods where demand was […]
The Case for Privatizing Transit
The Antiplanner will be presenting a new paper tomorrow at the Cato Institute titled “Fixing Transit: The Case for Privatization.” The paper was not yet posted on the Cato web site, but you can download an advance copy. Most transit systems in America were private and profitable, if declining, as late as the 1960s. Since […]
Back in the Air Again
Today the Antiplanner is flying to Boston and MIT, where I will be one of a series of “distinguished speakers” on transportation issues. My presentation will be at 12:30 pm in the Stratton Student Center, W20-307. On Wednesday, the Cato Institute will present two events, both of which will compare the Antiplanner’s free-market views with […]
More Election Results
Progressive Railroading lists a few more election results, oriented of course to pro-rail transit. That article in turn links to the Center for Transportation Excellence, a group focused on government “investment” in infrastructure, which claims that the vast majority of transportation measures passed this year (including elections prior to November). Many of the measures on […]
Interpreting the Election Results
Tea party supporters do not agree on a lot of issues, but are firm on two things: cutting government spending and protecting property rights. What do the election results mean for the future of land-use and transportation planning? On one hand, many of the results look promising for supporters of property rights and efficient (user-fee-driven) […]
Arithmetic-Challenged Favor High-Speed Rail
On Monday, the Washington Post published a devastating critique of high-speed rail written by journalist Robert Samuelson. In fewer than 800 words, Samuelson blows up just about all the arguments put forth in favor of rail. An 8-word summary: costs are too high and benefits too low. One person who remains unconvinced is the popular […]
