Reason Aviation Policy Newsletter
DOT Proposes Reforms to Aviation Consumer Protection Authority
In 1978, Congress enacted the Airline Deregulation Act, laying the basis for a greatly expanded, more competitive, and lower-priced airline industry. But in recent years,…
The Journal of The James Madison Institute
How Florida Hit the Gas on Self-Driving Car Development
Orlando, Florida was not widely known to the public as a hub of automotive innovation. But in July, more than 1,000 researchers and developers joined…
GCN Tech
What’s Next for V2X Spectrum?
As the partial government shutdown began in late December, the Department of Transportation published a request for comments on how DOT should approach vehicle-to-everything communications. V2X refers…
Inside Sources
Ban on Texting While Driving? No
Should there be a nationwide ban on texting while driving? To many, the obvious answer is a resounding yes. After all, texting while driving, along…
The Hill
Senate Can’t Let U.S. Railroad Regulator Roll Back Progress
Few Americans give much thought to the Surface Transportation Board (STB), the nation’s economic regulator of railroads. Yet, the STB oversees a critical infrastructure network…
Techdirt
Slowing Down Driverless Cars Would Be A Fatal Mistake
This article was cowritten with Caleb Watney, technology policy associate at the R Street Institute Unsubstantiated driverless car hype may be annoying, but that shouldn’t blind…
WIRED
Outdated Auto Safety Regulations Threaten the Self-Driving Revolution
Self-driving cars should be welcomed for their substantial safety and mobility gains for the traveling public, especially the elderly and disabled. But the federal government’s failure…
Washington Examiner
Air Traffic Control Might Finally Move Into The 21st Century
America is long overdue for an overhaul of our radar-based air traffic control system. Yet federal modernization efforts are plagued by delays, cost-overruns, and shifting…
U.S. News & World Report
The Right Kind of Stimulus
Ask any politician about infrastructure, and they’ll tell you they’re for it. And why wouldn’t they be? Most politicians view infrastructure spending as a means…
The Hill
Taxpayers, Travelers Win with a Modernized Airport Facility Charge
Everyone from typical travelers to President Trump has decried the sorry state of American airport infrastructure. Airports would like to have the freedom to impose…
The Washington Examiner
Air Traffic Control Might Finally Move into the 21st Century
America is long overdue for an overhaul of our radar-based air traffic control system. Yet federal modernization efforts are plagued by delays, cost-overruns, and shifting…
Washington Examiner
Air Traffic Control Reform Is a No-Brainer
Air travelers expect air traffic control to work, and that it be out of sight and mind. Unfortunately, ongoing government failure to modernize the Federal…
RealClear Future
Straight Talk on the “Talking Car” Mandate
Will another driver’s car “talking” with yours someday save your life? The answer, from regulators and many automakers, is a resounding “Yes.” Such a promising…
Wall Street Journal
For a Cost of Only $16 per Californian . . .
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) writes that the U.S. Department of Transportation’s decision to defer a $647 million federal grant for Caltrain electrification was “foolhardy”…
Fox Business
A Trade Policy to Boost American Competitiveness
President Donald Trump’s early actions on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, North American Free Trade Agreement, and the nomination of avowed protectionists to key roles have shaken…
USA Today
Let the Market Take Care of Infrastructure
As the dust continues to settle from President-elect Donald Trump’s surprising victory, one idea is quickly gaining bipartisan currency in Washington: more infrastructure investment. House…
The Hill
Meet the new Robber Barons
There was a time when railroad tycoons built empires by exploiting government connections to take advantage of the little guy. Today, the tables are turned,…
Tribune News Service
Banning Cars from Urban Centers: Costly, Few Benefits Provided
“Take back our streets!” is a common refrain among urban activists. No, they’re not talking about reducing violent crime, as many of them reside in…
National Review
Who Ruined Air Travel? The Airlines, their Unions, and their Politicians
Over on the homepage, Josh Gelernter makes a strong case that the left ruined air travel. He is right when…
The Washington Examiner
What the Near-Death of the Railroad Industry Can Teach American Business Leaders
Business executives deal with the spiraling cost of complying with government regulation every day. This burden has become so large and pervasive that many have…
MSNBC
The Real Problem with the TSA Can’t Be Fixed with Yelp Reviews
This article was co-written with Harper Jean Tobin, Director of Policy at the National Center for Transgender Equality, and John Whitehead, President of The Rutherford…
The Wall Street Journal
Little State Choice With the FHTF Funds
T. Peter Ruane’s claim (“It’s a Rough Road in Any Direction,” Letters, Aug. 6) “that all of the decisions…
The Hill
The conservative case for a modernized Passenger Facility Charge
Recently in these pages, Grover Norquist, president of the venerable Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), argued that modernizing the airport Passenger Facility Charge (PFC)…
The Washington Examiner
Gondolas in D.C.? Transit policy should not be a high-wire circus act
The Washington Post’s Perry Stein recently wrote a fascinating article on a proposed new transit link between Georgetown and Arlington. No, it wasn’t…
CNN
Don’t Ban E-Cigarettes on Airplanes
These are good times for anti-smoking campaigners. But you wouldn't know it from listening to their rhetoric. At the urging of anti-tobacco activists, the Department…
The Modesto Bee
Tolls Less Regressive than Gas Taxes; Force Truckers to Finally Pay Fair Share
The United States faces a transportation infrastructure dilemma. According to recent estimates from the Reason Foundation, reconstruction and needed capacity enhancements to the Interstate Highway…
The Skeptical Libertarian
Reasons Libertarians Should Be Skeptical of Uber Politics
Libertarians, we may have an Uber problem. Don’t get me wrong, friends of freedom. I love Uber. I use Uber at least once a week.
1776
Commercial Drones Face Sky-High Regulatory Barriers
The widespread adoption of commercial unmanned aircraft systems—commonly called “drones”—should be right around the corner. But overcautious, burdensome regulation threatens to hold it back. To…
The Hill's Congress Blog
Republicans sell out free-market principles for union favors
Co-authored with CEI Research Associate Matthew La Corte. The Norwegians are coming!” That’s hardly a call to send Americans scurrying to the barricades. But if…
USA Today
GOP fighting cellphone freedom
Should the federal government outlaw rudeness? Some senior Republican lawmakers seem to think so. Since 1991, the Federal Communications Commission has barred cellphone use on…
Forbes
The American/US Airways Case Highlights The Absurdity Of Antitrust Regulation
“If the airlines have a history of anti-competitive behavior, they are the least able practitioners of the art in the history of mankind.” This was…
The American Spectator
BART’s Bogus Ride
It was the 1970s and Britain was the “sick man of Europe.” Labor unions had toppled one Conservative government and were bullying the existing Labour…
Townhall
Libertarians (And Fiscal Conservatives) Should Oppose Road Socialism
Libertarians and transport economists for decades have advocated tolling as an alternative to fuel taxes, which have…
Richmond Times-Dispatch
McDonnell’s transportation plan veers off-course
Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation plan has earned critics on both the left and right. On the left, many are upset the governor’s plan would transfer…
Washington Post
Driverless Cars Are On the Way. Here’s How Not to Regulate Them.
Nevada, Florida and California have all legalized driverless cars, and the District is considering whether to follow suit. The goal is worthwhile, and the potential…
Wall Street Journal
Letter to the Editor: ‘Infostructure’ Is Fine but Roads Are Still Essential
Mr. Mead correctly identifies three major problems facing infrastructure funding: nimbyism, cronyism and an outdated vision of what infrastructure ought to be. However, there is…
The American Spectator
Worst Congress Ever?
It's no surprise that 60 percent of Americans, according to a new poll from Public Policy Polling for the leftist Daily Kos website, think that…
McClatchy DC
TSA Flouts the Law on Body Scanners
Also appeared in: The Charlotte Observer, Tulsa World, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Press of Atlantic City, and Juneau Empire. For more than…
Twin Cities
A Highway Bill Everyone Can Hate
Also appeared in: The Arizona Daily Star, The Sacramento Bee, The Press of Atlantic City, South Bend Tribune, The Bellingham Herald,…
National Review
Don’t ‘Drill for Roads’
Congress is well known for going down roads to nowhere. In the case of the upcoming highway-bill reauthorization, that may be true in a…
Multi-Housing News Online
Not All Public-Private Partnerships Are Created Equal
In recent years, policymakers have taken to promoting public-private partnerships (PPPs) as somewhat of a silver bullet to various problems. They typically tout them…
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Rail in Ohio (Letter to the Editor)
Journal Sentinel
Stop pretending that it’s high-speed rail
On Nov. 2, voters across Wisconsin made their voices clear on government-run passenger rail: Don't build it. Voters in Dane, Kenosha and Racine counties soundly…
Trib Live
High-speed train wreck
Appeared in: The Bellingham Herald, Lexington Herald-Leader, Athens Banner-Herald, The Sacramento Bee, Great Falls Tribune, Fort Worth…
Washington Examiner
We’ve Been LaHood-Winked on Transportation Mobility Grants that Push Big Green’s Anti-Car Agenda
On Wednesday, President Obama’s Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, announced the grant recipients of his department’s $600 million Transportation Investments Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER II)…
Forbes
Hurricane Katrina, Houston And The Humanitarian Case Against Zoning
On a Monday morning in late August 2005 Hurricane Katrina made landfall along the…
Daily Caller
Five Years After Kelo
Today marks the five-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s notorious Kelo v. New London decision. In a 5-4 ruling, the Court held that seizing…
Opposing Views
What’s With Obama and His Obsession With Trains?
In 2000, Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment (the “Monorail Initiative“) authorizing the creation of a high-speed intercity rail network. However, as the economy slowed…
Washington Times
Tolls, More Freeways Would Improve Transport (Letter to the Editor)
The editorial "Freeways are the solution to congestion" (Comment & Analysis, April 12) got it half-right. Widening roads to support more cars is far less…
Detroit News
Avoid Land Grabs while Downsizing Detroit
If history is any guide, Mayor Dave Bing’s recent announcement that he intends to pursue aggressive central planning to shrink Detroit is bad news. For…