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CEI Submits Comments to DOT on Aviation Consumer Protection Authority Modernization
Today, CEI submitted comments in response to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s notice of proposed rulemaking in the matter of Defining Unfair or Deceptive Practices.
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House Democrats Dust off January Infrastructure Wish List as Faux-Response to Coronavirus Crisis
House Democrats announced a coronavirus infrastructure response as part of a “phase 4” relief bill. A transportation infrastructure stimulus package makes no sense as a…
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New York Times Explains Foolishness of Trump’s General Motors Nationalization
Last Friday, President Trump nationalized General Motors, ordering the company to produce as many ventilators as HHS Secretary Alex Azar says is necessary to address…
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Transportation Infrastructure Stimulus Is No Cure for Coronavirus Economic Slump
As we enter a new era of slapdash bailouts driven by a dangerous mix of panic, ignorance, and opportunism, we face a growing list of…
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CEI Comments to FCC on Proposed Reallocation of 5.9 GHz Band
On March 9, CEI submitted comments to the FCC on its proposal to reallocate a portion of the 5.9 GHz band from Intelligent Transportation Systems…
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U.S. Department of Transportation Proposes Modernizing its Aviation Consumer Protection Authority
Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao announced a new proposed rule that would “align its definitions of unfairness and deception with the principles set forth by…
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Department of Homeland Security’s “Trusted Traveler” Programs Now Privilege Mexican Nationals over U.S. Citizens from New York
Late yesterday, it was reported that the Department of Homeland Security has suspended entry of New Yorkers into four “trusted traveler” programs. Today, the department…
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CEI Leads Coalition in Support of the Revamping American Infrastructure Act of 2020
Today, CEI was joined by 10 other organizations in a letter to members of the House of Representatives supporting the Revamping American Infrastructure Act of…
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Year in Review 2019: Transportation
The Competitive Enterprise Institute had a busy year in the transportation policy trenches. We worked at the federal, state, and local levels on a variety…
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CEI Leads Coalition to Congress Urging Close Oversight over Possible New Railroad Price Controls
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) led a group of scholars and advocates from 13 free market organizations urging Congress to exercise close oversight over…
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Remembering Transportation Economist Shirley Ybarra
On November 10th, longtime CEI friend Shirley Ybarra passed away. Shirley was an accomplished transportation economist and a leading thinker on innovative transportation infrastructure finance…
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CEI Leads Coalition Letter Supporting Airport Financing Reform
Today CEI led a coalition letter in support of H.R. 3791, the “Investing in America: Rebuilding America’s Airport Infrastructure Act,” the bipartisan airport financing reform legislation…
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Federal Highway Administration to Rescind Outdated Patent Rules
The Federal Highway Administration announced it will rescind its World War I-era regulation governing the use of patented and proprietary materials in federal-aid highway projects.
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Unleash Markets to Reduce Traffic Congestion
Congestion is a persistent and growing problem facing America’s road networks. The challenge facing policy makers is how to address this growing problem. Given that…
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Modernizing Passenger Facility Charge Can Promote Airport Investment, Reduce Federal Spending
The passenger facility charge (PFC) is a local airport user fee that serves as an important revenue tool with less federal meddling than its primary…
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CEI Leads Coalition in Support of Bipartisan Passenger Facility Charge Reform
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) sent a letter to House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leadership supporting the bipartisan H.R. 3791, Investing in America: Rebuilding…
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Uniform Law Commission Can Improve Uniform Automated Operation of Vehicles Act
After two years of work, last week the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) published its model state legislation on automated vehicles. By and large, ULC’s Uniform…
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CEI Releases ‘Authorizing Automated Vehicle Platooning, 2019 Edition’
CEI has released my fourth annual report on state barriers to vehicle platooning, “Authorizing Automated Vehicle Platooning: A Guide for State Legislators, 2019 Edition” (read the 2018…
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Surface Transportation Board Delays Consideration of Regulatory Reform Petition
Yesterday, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) published a decision on a March 2019 rulemaking petition from the Association from American Railroads (AAR). The AAR petition…
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Congress Should Authorize Longer Trailers When Reforming National Highway Policy
In 1982, when Congress designated the National Network—the approximately 200,000 miles of truck corridors that crisscross the U.S.—it also set a 28.5-foot minimum limit on tandem…
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Remove Government Barriers to Promote Efficient Highway Investment
Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute released my new report, “Transforming Surface Transportation Reauthorization: A 21st Century Approach to Address America’s Greatest Infrastructure Challenge.” In it, I…
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Federal Railroad Administration Withdraws Proposed ‘Featherbedding’ Train Crew Rule
Today, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) released a draft notice indicating that it will be withdrawing a 2016 proposed rule that would have required trains…
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Focus Ride-Hailing Policy on Consumer Benefits, Not Protecting Competitors
As we pointed out last year when New York City attacked Uber, Lyft, and other ride-hailing firms by imposing an interim supply cap, politicians fighting…
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Bloomberg Reporter Justin Bachman Gets Duped by TripAdvisor Front Group
I wrote back in November 2018 of the false, scurrilous, ad hominem attacks on Competitive Enterprise Institute Adjunct Fellow Fran Smith’s appointment as consumer representative…
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CEI Leads Free-Market Coalition to Dispel Passenger Facility Charge Myths
Today, CEI and seven other free-market organizations sent a letter to members of Congress aimed at dispelling myths circulating about the airport passenger facility charge…
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CEI Leads Coalition Urging Surface Transportation Board to Withdraw Proposed Switching Rule
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) led a coalition of 20 other free market organizations urging the Surface Transportation Board (STB) to withdraw a harmful…
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Department of Transportation Should Rescind Crew-Size ‘Featherbedding’ Proposal
Unions in the railroad industry have a long history of “featherbedding,” the pejorative term for the practice of creating pointless make-work jobs. Most infamous was…
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User Fees, Rather than Tax Dollars, Can Promote Airport Efficiency and Lower Airfares
This morning, I testified before the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives at a hearing titled, “The Cost of Doing…
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Higher Taxes, Wasteful Spending Not Solutions to Infrastructure Problems
In recent years, there have been increasing calls to raise federal fuel excise tax rates in order to address what many have called an infrastructure…
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Conservative Criticisms of Passenger Facility Charge Again Miss Mark
Our friends at the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) recently sent a letter to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in advance of a hearing…
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CEI Leads Coalition in Support of Nationwide Road Usage Charge Pilot Program
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute sent a letter to Congress urging members to preserve and strengthen the users-pay/users-benefit highway funding principle and to establish a…
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Would a TSA Strike Force an End to the Shutdown?
As the current partial federal government shutdown drags on and many federal employees continue to go without pay, some pundits have suggested that one way…
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Eliminate Obsolete Patented and Proprietary Products Regulation
Today, I submitted comments to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on behalf of CEI in response to a notice of proposed rulemaking on promoting innovation in…
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Year in Review 2018: Transportation Policy
CEI had a busy year in the transportation policy trenches. We worked at the federal, state, and local levels on a variety of projects. Below…
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American Association for Justice Places Trial Lawyer Interests over Saving Lives
The bipartisan AV START Act would create the first national highly automated vehicle regulatory framework in the U.S. This legislation is necessary to speed deployment…
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Cathy Chase’s AV START Act Flip-Flop
Cathy Chase, now the president of the lobby group Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, was previously a strong supporter of the Senate’s bipartisan AV…
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Rubberstamping Regulations Is Not Consumer Protection
Earlier this week, Tribune Publishing’s syndicated travel writer Ed Perkins criticized the appointment of CEI’s Fran Smith to the newly reconstituted Aviation Consumer Protection Advisory…
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CEI Comments on Possible Federal Automated Vehicle Pilot Program
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute submitted comments to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in response to its advance notice of proposed rulemaking on…
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New Federal Railroad Administration Rule Can Help Reduce Passenger Train Costs
Today, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) published its long-awaited final rule to modernize passenger railcar crashworthiness standards. When it takes effect on January 22,…
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Dockless Bikes, E-Scooters, and Urban Transportation Policy Hypocrisy
In August 2017, I wrote about the municipal government cronyism and monopoly franchise agreements driving the controversy over unsubsidized dockless bikesharing companies. In the rapidly…
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Will New Congress Seek Reforms to Highway Taxation?
Could the 116th Congress be the perfect storm for mileage-based user fees? With a divided Congress and with the current surface transportation law expiring at…
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Can Self-Driving Taxis Reduce Urban Poverty?
In last year’s omnibus spending package, Congress allocated up to $1.5 million to the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) to conduct a study on the…
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David Friedman Swings and Misses at AV START Act
Axios recently launched a newsletter dedicated to automated vehicles. In the most recent issue, David Friedman attacks bipartisan legislation in Congress aimed at speeding…
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Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Airline Deregulation
Forty years ago today on October 24, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the Airline Deregulation Act into law. This bipartisan legislation led to the elimination…
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Environmental Protection Agency Considering Backdoor Subsidies for ‘Talking Car’ Tech
During the final days of the Obama administration, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) proposed its “talking car” mandate. This would have required new…
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Automated Vehicles 3.0 Guidance Continues Green-Lighting Innovation
Last week, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) released the third iteration of its guidance for automated vehicles, Preparing for the Future of Transportation:…
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To Promote Highway Safety and Innovation, Senate Must Pass AV START Act
It has now been over a year since the U.S. House of Representatives passed the bipartisan SELF DRIVE Act by voice vote. Its companion bill,…
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Senate Should Pass on Joan Claybrook’s Advice and Pass AV START Act
Why are self-styled safety advocates opposing the first legislative step that could help usher in the greatest automotive safety improvements in history? This is a…
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New York City Continues War on Affordable Consumer Travel
Yesterday, the New York City Council voted to impose a one-year cap on the number of ride-hailing vehicles able to operate in the city.
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House Transportation Chairman Proposes Examining Shift to User Fees for Highway Funding
Rep. Bill Shuster (R-PA), the outgoing chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, this week released a legislative discussion draft of a new infrastructure bill,…