Blog
Techno-Phobic California Politicians “NHTSA” Google’s Driverless Car
Last week, I wrote about Google’s amazing new self-driving car, which CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman and I had the opportunity to test-ride in…
Blog
Rep. Nick Rahall Responds, Agrees with Me on MAP-21’s “Sleight of Hand” Pay-Fors
This morning on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Ranking Member Nick Rahall (D-W.V.) was read a passage from a blog post…
Blog
The Future of Automobility Is (Almost) Here: Google’s Self-Driving Car
[caption id="attachment_55209" align="alignleft" width="350" caption="CEI General Counsel Sam Kazman about to take a spin in the Google car. (Photo by Marc Scribner)"][/caption] This morning,…
Letters
Coalition Letter to Surface Transportation Bill Conferees
Full Document Available in PDF CEI signed a coalition letter to House…
Blog
The Highway Bill and Sen. Jeff Bingaman’s Anti-P3 Propaganda
I've written extensively about federal surface transportation reauthorization, which is currently pending in conference. CEI, along with The Independent Institute and Reason Foundation,…
Newsday
Transportation bill stymied in Congress
From Alfonso A. Castillo's article in Newsday: Marc Scribner, a spokesman for the Competitive Enterprise Institute — a think tank that advocates limited government —…
Letters
Coalition Letter to Minnesota Legislature on MnPASS
Full Document Avilable in PDF Dear Members of the Minnesota House and Senate, Highway congestion during peak traffic times is an ongoing…
Blog
The Awful Truth about the Highway Bills
If you ever needed additional proof that the politics of Washington are not just broken, but soaked with gasoline and set ablaze in a ditch…
Blog
Department of Transportation Bureaucrats Fail Tolling 101
Peter Samuel's extremely valuable TOLLROADSnews brings us this gem, "FHWA Office of Highway Policy Information - sloppy & stupid”: So under Toll Facilities, New…
Blog
Fred Weekly: Crony Capitalism
Blog
A Response to Cato’s Tim Lee on “Private” Turnpikes
Cato Institute adjunct scholar Tim Lee has an article up on The Atlantic‘s website, entitled “The Mirage of Free-Market Roads.” In it, he lays out his…
Blog
House Should Reject Senate Highway Bill, Move for Another SAFETEA-LU Extension
Just before 1pm today, the Senate passed its surface transportation reauthorization bill, the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21, S. 1813). MAP-21…
Politico
Highway Bill Now Over to John Boehner
From Kathryn A. Wolfe's article in Poltico: Marc Scribner, writing on the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s blog, urged the House to reject the Senate…
Blog
Senate Should Reject Anti-Tolling Highway Bill Amendment
I previously wrote about Sen. Herb Kohl’s (D-Wisc.) terrible amendment to the Senate’s MAP-21 bill that would allow the Department of Justice and Federal…
News Release
Senate Highway Bill Offers More Big Government Business as Usual
Washington, D.C., March 1, 2012 –The U.S. Senate is currently considering the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21, S. 1813),…
BBC
The American bus revival
Transit ridership, and public transport in general, is growing faster than car mileage, which appears to have peaked in the US, according to American…
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,…
Blog
Airline Carbon Taxes: The EU vs. the World
On Tuesday and Wednesday, representatives from 23 nations gathered in Moscow to discuss their response to the European Union’s mandatory airline carbon taxes. CEI’s Fran…
Blog
Lame Duck Sen. Herb Kohl Continues Quixotic Battle Against Rail Carriers in Senate Highway Bill
Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.), who will not be seeking reelection this November, decided that he would make one last-ditch attempt to get his awful piece…
Letters
Coalition Letter Urges Congress to Reject Linking Drilling Revenues to the Highway Trust Fund
Full Document Available in PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute, Reason Foundation, National Taxpayers Union, Taxpayers for Common Sense, and…
International Business Times
Highway-Oriented House Transportation Bill: Why It’s Hated by Everyone
E&E News
As House rolls out highway bill, clash looms over drilling provisions
Politico
Opposition to Arctic National Wildlife Refuge Drilling Takes Right Turn
Torque News
NRDC Says to Speaker Boehner’s Energy Plan, Don’t Drill and Drive
Switchboard
House Republicans Hijacking Transportation Bill to Drill, Baby, Drill
Blog
Media: If You Wear Headphones while Walking, You’re as Good as Dead
Various media outlets are trying to scare the bejesus out of us by reporting on a new study published in this month's issue of Injury Prevention,…
Blog
Congressional Democrats Join Republicans’ Call for GAO Investigation into California High-Speed Rail Boondoggle
In a letter sent Tuesday to the Government Accountability Office, 11 House Democrats called on the watchdog agency to investigate California's high-speed rail program. The…
Blog
Driving Continues to Decline in 2011
October 2011 marked the eighth straight month [PDF] of declining year-over-year vehicle-miles traveled (VMT) in the U.S. Compared to October 2010, driving was down…
Washington Times
Inside the Beltway: Driving Force
The Volokh Conspiracy
Texts, Lies and Distracted Driving
Orange County Register
Driven to Distraction by Cellphone Ban
Blog
NTSB Recommends Useless National Ban on All Mobile Phone Use while Driving
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) yesterday called on all states to ban "the nonemergency use of portable electronic devices (other than those designed…
Overlawyered
Hands Off That Handsfree Phone!
Blog
Second Major Labor Group Condemns Occupy Movement’s Planned West Coast “Solidarity” Port Shutdown
The Occupy movement is planning to force a shutdown of West Coast ports, claiming they are standing in solidarity with the International Longshore and Warehouse…
Blog
Don’t “Drill for Roads”
Over at National Review Online, I have an op-ed up explaining why fiscal conservatives should oppose House Republicans’ plan to direct oil and gas…
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…
Switchboard
Even Conservatives Agree: Don’t Drill for Roads
Blog
Fred Weekly: Research & Development
Blog
Fred Weekly: Residual Claimant Problem
Transportation News Daily
A Conservative Critique of House Republican Transportation Proposal
Blog
Update on FMCSA’s Proposed Hours-of-Service Rule
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), the agency tasked with writing and enforcing safety regulations for large trucks and buses, is due today to…
Blog
Longshoremen’s Union Rejects Occupy Oakland’s Call for “Solidarity” West Coast Port Shutdown
After briefly shutting down their [adopted] city's port earlier this month, Occupy Oakland is calling for a December 12 shutdown of all West Coast…
Blog
Fred Weekly: Give Thanks for Capitalism
Blog
Fred Weekly: Conflicts of Interest
Blog
House Republicans’ Shortsighted Proposal to Fund Roads through More Drilling
Recently, Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives have proposed opening up more federal land and offshore areas to natural resource extraction. Such…
Blog
Fred Weekly: Occupy Wall Street
In the latest episode of “Fred Weekly,” CEI President Fred Smith discusses the Occupy Wall Street movement and why the protesters ought to be targeting…
Blog
Mississippi Voters Pass Initiative Restricting Eminent Domain Powers
Yesterday, voters in Mississippi overwhelmingly passed Initiative 31, which will limit eminent domain condemnations for private benefit. Despite opposition from Republican Governor Hailey…
DC Velocity
STB Decision Delaying Action on Rail Switching Leaves Shipper Group Hot Under Collar
Blog
Surface Transportation Board Rejects Misguided Push to Re-Regulate the Railroad Industry… For Now
Late last week, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) refused [PDF] to initiate a rulemaking (Ex Parte 711) proceeding that was petitioned by the shippers'…
Blog
Wealthy Chanhassen, Minnesota, NIMBYs Oppose Retail Competition, Support Development Socialism
Reading the tired, silly claims of left-wing, anti-Wal-Mart activists generally makes me yawn. But it annoys me to see some of my former neighbors from…
Blog
Truck Drivers Don’t Need a Revised Hours-of-Service Rule
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) is poised to enact a revised hours-of-service (HOS) rule that would greatly impact commercial motor vehicle operators.
Blog
Congress Should Reject Tying a Repatriation Tax Holiday to a National Infrastructure Bank
It was reported on Tuesday that Senate Democrats intent on creating a National Infrastructure Bank (NIB) have quietly thrown Republicans a bone on the…
Blog
The Legal Battle Over Honolulu’s Train to Nowhere
Rail transit advocates in Honolulu, Hawaii, have seen better days. Significant opposition is threatening the future of the proposed 20-mile, $5.5 billion elevated rail transit…
DC Velocity
Freedom to Move: Interview with Marc Scribner
Blog
Quantifying Capital Bikeshare’s Supposed “Success”
Last week, D.C.'s Capital Bikeshare program celebrated its millionth trip and one-year anniversary. U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood celebrated the milestone with a…
Letters
Coalition Letter on D.C. Taxicab Medallion Bill
Full Document Available in PDF Dear Members of the Council of the District of…
Blog
Do We Really Need Government-Funded Anti-Piracy Training?
Just introduced by New Jersey Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R), the Piracy Suppression Act of 2011 aims to improve U.S. policy with respect to ocean pirates…
Blog
Eminent Domain and Redevelopment: Down in the Dumps
Remember New London, Connecticut, the dying industrial town that threw property rights under the bus thanks to 2005’s notoriously awful Kelo decision? I’m sure your…
Blog
Welch vs. Lee: What About Freight?
Libertarian urbanist -- call him a "market urbanist" -- Timothy B. Lee recently had an article at Forbes.com in which he criticized Matt Welch…
Biersdorf and Associates
Eminent Domain Abuse and Attorney Fee Recovery
Blog
Eminent Domain, Rick Perry, and the Trans-Texas Corridor
Attorney Alan Ackerman has a post up highlighting and commenting on an article that argues that critics of Texas Governor Rick Perry from the right…
One News Now
What China’s rail recall should tell U.S.
Blog
CEI Joins Coalition to Oppose New Air Travel Taxes
Joining Americans for Tax Reform, National Taxpayers Union, Americans for Prosperity, and others, the Competitive Enterprise Institute signed a letter [PDF]…
Human Events
Big Brother Goes Green
Blog
Robert Reich Doesn’t Understand Surface Transportation Funding
Over at Salon, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich has a predictably empty article on the debt ceiling deal in which he denounces Republicans for…
Comment
CEI Replies to the National Industrial Transportation League’s Petition for Rulemaking to Adopt Revised Competitive Switching Rules
Full Document Available in PDF On behalf of…
Bloomberg
‘You’re Fired’ Doesn’t Mean Fired to Four of 10 Air Controllers
Blog
NYC Bureaucrat Tries to Harsh Urban Apiarist’s Buzz for Not “Watering” Beehive
Although New York City reversed its position on urban beekeeping in Spring 2010 and legalized the practice, there are apparently still some government employees with…
Blog
CEI’s Iain Murray Interviewed on New Book, Stealing You Blind
CEI Vice President for Strategy, and director of CEI’s Center for Economic Freedom, Iain Murray has a new book, Stealing You Blind: How Government…
Blog
How Wealthy Are You?
Blog
Mica and Duncan’s Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bill Calls for 42% Cuts from SAFETEA-LU Levels
Today, House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) and Highway and Transit Subcommittee Chairman Rep. Jimmy Duncan (R-Tenn.) announced they would be introducing a $230-billion,…
Blog
New Video on the D.C. Taxicab Medallion Bill
Reason.tv has a new video up today, “D.C. Taxi Heist: How a new law would screw drivers and riders,” that explains why Washington’s proposed…
Florida Political Press
Ron Rushing, Citizen Candidate For U.S. Senate Opposes Sun Rail Project
Blog
Third Time’s the Charm: Ray LaHood Announces TIGER 3
Late last week, the Department of Transportation announced it was launching a third round of TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery -- I feel…
Washington Examiner
NYT: Tea Party vs. John Mica’s Myopic Monorail to Nowhere
Blog
Planning to Disaster: The Zoning Apparat vs. Paula Deen’s Chickens
Those who know me are aware that one of the two weird -- so I've been told -- policy issues I'm obsessed with is urban…
One News Now
Information Requested in High-Speed Rail Project
Blog
Rail Carriers, Shippers Battle Over Regulation Before the Surface Transportation Board
On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, I've been involved in an ongoing proceeding before the Surface Transportation Board, the independent Department of Transportation agency…
Blog
Update on the Arrest of Reason.tv’s Jim Epstein at Yesterday’s D.C. Taxicab Commission Hearing
Blog
Reason.tv Reporter Arrested at D.C. Taxicab Commission Hearing
Blog
CEI Submits FOIA Requests to DOT Over California High-Speed Rail
This morning, the Department of Transportation should receive the two Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests I submitted on behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
Legal Brief
CEI’s FOIA Request to Department of Transportation Regarding the Central Valley High-Speed Rail Corridor
Full Document Available as PDF The attached Freedom of Information Act request letters…
Blog
The Few, The Proud, The Greek Liberals (It’s Lonely Being a Libertarian in Greece)
As the crisis in the eurozone continues to spiral out of control, I’ve sometimes thought about what must be going through the heads of…
Blog
John Hospers, RIP
Blog
Planning to Disaster: San Diego and California’s Sustainable Communities Strategies
The San Diego metro area has been institutionalizing its boring reputation by undertaking in recent years what is arguably the most aggressive regional planning effort…
AOL - Jobs
What’s Really to Blame for Air Traffic Control’s Increasing Errors
Blog
Report: Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) Bridge Will Lose $4.5 Billion Over 20 Years
Via Peter Samuel of TOLLROADSnews, a new report from Conway MacKenzie estimates the proposed Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) bridge would lose in…
Blog
California High-Speed Rail All Strung Out on Stimulus on the Outskirts of Town
Emily Washington of Market Urbanism highlights this Los Angeles Times article on the latest — depending on your outlook: hilarious or pathetic —…
Comment
CEI Replies to Consumers United for Rail Equity Before the Surface Transportation Board
Full Document Available as a PDF On behalf…
Blog
Somin on the Judicial Reaction to Kelo
George Mason University law professor Ilya Somin posted online the other day his paper on the judicial reaction to the Supreme Court’s infamous…
Blog
Obama Calls on Federal Agencies to Move to Alternative Fuel Vehicles by 2015
Today, President Obama issued a memorandum that directed executive agencies to develop purchasing and deployment plans for replacing the entire federal vehicle fleet with…
Blog
Donald Trump: Casino Welfare Queen and Takings-Abuser of Widows
With Donald Trump ending his quixotic-yet-simultaneously-cynical candidacy for president, this might not have the punch it could have had on his campaign, but I still…
Blog
Alan Bock, RIP (1943-2011)
Blog
Tom Palmer on the Morality of Profit
The Atlas Economic Research Foundation‘s Tom Palmer has a new video explaining why profits are moral and how the profit motive brings out…
Blog
Planning to Disaster: Paso Robles, Calif. Adopts Form-Based Code
I’ve previously written about the dangers of form-based codes (see here, for instance), the Euclidian zoning replacements that, rather than gut government planning abilities,…
Blog
Brookings Report: Time to Fix America’s Broken Transit Policy
Following my post yesterday on Portland’s immense rail transit waste comes this new report from the Brookings Institution. Released today, the report (and…
Blog
Rail Transit Pipe Dream is Alive and Not-So-Well in Portland
If you’ve been following the free-market critiques of rail transit, you know that Portland, while frequently touted as “the city that works” by lefty…
National Review
Raise DC Cab Fares; Don’t Create a Cartel
Blog
D.C. Councilmembers Propose Taxicab Medallion System… Again
Washington, D.C., is one of the five taxicab jurisdictions in the country that allows for essentially free entry. While the cab situation in D.C. is…
Blog
Randal O’Toole on the Future of Automobility
Cato’s Randal “Antiplanner” O’Toole discusses replacing the gas tax with tolls and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) taxes, the importance of signal coordination and adaptive…