Performance-based transportation policy
July 20th, 2008 by Republican By DefaultAs I’m reading a post on the Washington Policy Center’s blog I found myself somewhat stunned at the simplicity of the statement in this paragraph:
During our annual transportation event, Dr. Ronald Utt, a transportation and economics expert from the Heritage Foundation suggested that moving toward performance-based transportation decision making (and away from the current political system) means resources are distributed on getting the biggest bang for your buck. Instead, Sound Transit’s resource allocation appears to have very little to do with performance and everything to do with buying votes.
The more I’ve thought about it the more sense it has made. Over the years I’ve learned that there is great wisdom in simple things. A change in goals can lead to a complete overhaul of the way things are done. Focusing on a clear, attainable result can make a lot of choices along the way a lot simpler to decide.
I think I’m going to adopt this phrase as a battle cry in my transportation blogging. From now on I’ll try to include the phrase “performance-based transportation policy” in my blogs about transportation, WSDOT and Sound Transit and even the City of Tacoma (can you say, “potholes”). And when I’m asked (or rather criticized) for not having a better solution (which is never the case) I can simply respond with that simple phrase.
One of the big problems with current policy, other than the political underpinnings, is that much of the mass-transit hysteria is based on ideas rather than concrete, repeatable facts. When we look at the actual costs of things and compare the available alternatives we find that rail of any kind is most valuable to those near the stations while roads are useful to anyone who rides in a car or (in most cases) a bus or buys any product that needs to be delivered to their home or to the store where they purchased it.
Things like building a ‘Link Light Rail’ system that only goes 1.6 miles and costs an average of over $7.50 every time someone boards it aren’t exactly cost effective solutions. I haven’t checked but I think the city could operate a free taxi service cheaper than that. And expanding such a system would likely be even more wasteful, and yet that’s what Sound Transit wants to do.
Tacoma has seen a lot of highway construction over the last few years particularly on SR 16 and the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge. At our Neighborhood Council meeting last week we heard about more construction that will be taking place, beginning on SR-16 in the Nalley Valley and then on I-5 in Tacoma and Fife. I’ve been watching from a distance to see how traffic is flowing on the new bridge and it looks good. I’m hoping for the same in the upcoming projects.
Obviously voters thought that the bridge was a good performer when they voted it in a few years ago. Now it’s paying off, even though it costs a little more. Voters have continually shown their willingness to pay for good solutions. I still think they got hoodwinked into voting for Sound Transit and light rail, but that’s a subject for another post.
July 21st, 2008 at 2:33 am
Want perfromance-based transport policy? Try counting passenger miles, instead of boardings. Careful, though. Your dittohead brain might explode.
A thinking conservative would wonder why anti-rail activists would endorse the most expensive, most highly subsidized option possible: buses.
If you really want to educate yourself (rare) I would be happy to point you in the right direction.
For starters, try the liberal havens of Dallas, Salt Lake, Denver and Phoenix. Also, Google “Tommy Thompson” and “light rail.” Paul Weyrich is a good source, too.
PS: Mike Ennis is a space cadet, warped by ideological blinders which wrap around his head no less than five times.
Want to make the bus act like a taxi? It’s gonna cost you.
July 21st, 2008 at 6:03 am
Thank you for this. It dovetails very nicely with what I’ve been telling anyone who will listen for several years now — that ST isn’t about providing transportation solutions so much as it is about providing lucrative contracts for construction contractors and lifetime careers for project managers and bureaucrats.
July 21st, 2008 at 8:38 am
Hi there–thanks for the transportation post. Please shoot me an email when you get a chance.
July 21st, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Well, maritime blogger. If you want to count passenger miles make sure you include the miles in cars that people have to drive to get to a train station.
Also, any more personal attacks and I’ll block you.
Have a nice day.