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Want Better Airline Service? Deregulate to Enhance Competition
If American consumers wish to enjoy improved service quality in air travel, they should demand that Congress repeal 90 years of anti-competitive federal law.
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White House Reiterates Support for Air Traffic Control Reform
It’s time for members of Congress to set aside their petty differences and get to work on something truly transformative.
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Transportation Safety Best Ensured by Performance Goals, Not Micromanaging
Transportation safety is a top priority in America, whether it’s passenger travel by air, rail, or vehicle or moving commercial freight where it needs to…
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White House Budget Embraces Air Traffic Control Reform
The Trump administration proposes a 12.7 percent decrease in Department of Transportation spending. The most important cut is the administration’s embrace of air traffic control…
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California’s Proposed Autonomous Vehicle Rules Could Be Improved
The California Department of Motor Vehicles published its proposed testing and deployment rules for automated vehicles.
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Right and Wrong on Air Traffic Control Reform
Objections to privatizing the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Air Traffic Organization contradict conservative principles or else have previously been debunked.
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Improve Infrastructure Projects with Financing and Regulatory Reform
Financing and regulatory reform can help public and private investors get the most bang for their buck out of major new infrastructure projects.
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Reps. DeFazio, Massie Introduce Smart Financing Legislation for Airports
New legislation from Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Peter DeFazio (D-OR) would improve the ability of airports to finance improvements to their facilities.
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Trump’s Address a Mixed Bag on Transportation and Infrastructure
President Trump's address to a joint session of Congress, delivering a speech outlining many of his administration’s policy priorities and presenting a mixed bag for…
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Response to Mercatus Center’s Dan Griswold on Trade Policy
Fred Smith and Marc Scribner respond to the Mercatus Center's Dan Griswold on the free market approach to trade policy.
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Responding to More Distortions of Air Traffic Control Reform
Free-market transportation researchers strongly support the air traffic control reform.
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Senate Democrats Cite Bogus Jobs Figures on ‘Infrastructure’ Plan
Senate Democrats unveiled a $1 trillion infrastructure blueprint, claiming the eventual legislation would create 15 million jobs over 10 years. The plan stretches the meaning…
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Obama Highway Administration Released Troubling Vehicle Communications Guidance
Last Thursday, the outgoing Obama Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) released its long-awaited guidance document on the deployment of vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications.
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Transportation Inspector General: FAA Not Prepared for Major Airspace Disruptions
The Federal Aviation Administration’s airspace modernization efforts, known as NextGen, are woefully lacking.
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115th Congress Should Halt Government Assault on Freight Rail
Forced reciprocal switching has been a goal for coal, petrochemical, and agriculture shippers for decades, but regulators have generally made it extremely difficult.
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TSA Deserves a Lump of Coal
The TSA’s widely unpopular body scanners lead many would-be air travelers to take to the much more dangerous highways instead, where some number of them…
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Congress, Trump Administration Must Prioritize Air Traffic Control Reform
Earlier this year, an effort to usher in badly needed air traffic control reform spearheaded by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster died…
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Coalition Submits Comments on Federal Automated Vehicles Policy
Today, CEI was joined by R Street Institute and TechFreedom in comments submitted to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) on the recently released…
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The Great Infrastructure Myth
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to boost infrastructure investment by $1 trillion because there is supposedly an “infrastructure crisis.”…
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CEI-Led Coalition Urges Congress to Defend Railroad Deregulation
Today, a coalition of free market groups led by CEI sent letters to Senate Commerce Committee and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leaders urging them…
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Self-Driving Car Developers Blast Dangerous Draft California Regulations
Today, the California Department of Motor Vehicles held a public workshop on its latest draft deployment regulations for autonomous vehicles.
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Air Traffic Control Reform in Election Season
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) is facing Democratic candidate Art Halvorson in the general election.
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CEI Files Opening Brief in TSA Body Scanner Lawsuit
Yesterday, CEI, The Rutherford Institute, and two CEI employees (VP of Strategy Iain Murray and yours truly) filed our opening brief against the Transportation Security…
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Surface Transportation Board Seeks to Impose Backdoor Railroad Price Controls
The infamously destructive Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) may be history, but many outside of the railroad policy world are unfamiliar with its predecessor: the Surface…
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A Free Market Response to the Federal Automated Vehicles Policy
The quickest way to slam the brakes on innovation is for bumbling bureaucrats to outlaw it.
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National Right to Work Committee Wrong on Air Traffic Control Reform
The handful of conservative critics of air traffic control reform get the facts all wrong.
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Uber Announces Self-Driving Passenger Pilot, Raises New Regulatory Questions
It was just announced that Uber will soon begin piloting its automated vehicle prototype in Pittsburgh—with passengers. This is not the first automated vehicle…
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CEI Files Opening Brief in “Vapes on a Plane” Lawsuit
Today, CEI filed its opening brief against the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), Office of the Secretary of Transportation’s March final rule prohibiting electronic cigarette…
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Authorizing Automated Vehicle Platooning: A Proactive Approach for the States
I recently attended the annual Automated Vehicle Symposium in San Francisco. More than 1,000 attendees from around the world from industry, academia, government, and NGOs…
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Worst Procedural Abuses of the Obama Era: Good Cause, Bad Faith
For the past seven decades, most federal agency actions must comport with the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). The APA lays out the basic processes required…
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New York Times Editorial Board Crashes into Automated Vehicles
In light of Tesla’s foolish decision to rush distraction-causing, low-level automation technology to car consumers, which has resulted in at least one fatality and several…
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Another Anti-Union Conservative Swings at Air Traffic Control Reform and Misses
Most free market and libertarian researchers—at least those familiar with what the House’s AIRR Act (H.R. 4441) actually does and doesn’t do—are…
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Reps. Jolly, Massie, and Bilirakis Introduce Bill Supporting PFC Modernization
Reps. David Jolly (R-Fla.), Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), and Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) have introduced the Restoring Local Control of Airports Act of 2016 (H.R.
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FAA’s Long-Delayed Drone Certification and Operations Rule Disappoints
This morning, the Federal Aviation Administration released a copy of its final rule on Operation and Certification of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, which is to…
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Diana Furchtgott-Roth Still Mistaken on Air Traffic Control Reform
A lonely critique from the center-right of air traffic control corporatization appeared on MarketWatch making a series of incorrect and misleading claims. I have previously…
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Railroad Industry Releases New Economic Impact Report, Urges Regulatory Restraint
Today, the Association of American Railroads (AAR) released its latest State of the Industry Report, highlighting new research from Townson University’s Regional Economic Studies Institute…
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Air Traffic Control Reform Opponents Still Miss the Big Picture, Repeat Errors
Air traffic control is in dire need of reform and modernization, and there is a great plan in the House FAA bill to do just…
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Air Traffic Control in Urgent Need of Reform… If Only Critics Could See That
CEI has for years called for air traffic control reforms now being considered in the House. It is critical for the future health of the…
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Conservatives for Big Government: Air Traffic Control Reform Opponents Have Lost Their Minds or Principles
UPDATE: Diana Furchtgott-Roth has responded. I offer my reply. Right now in Congress, there is a proposal to end a government monopoly, replace…
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Reason’s Bob Poole Sets Record Straight on Air Traffic Control Reform
Reason Foundation Director of Transportation Policy Bob Poole has an excellent article in National Review debunking the myths peddled by a handful of conservatives on the House’s AIRR Act…
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CEI Sues over TSA’s Body Scanners
Today, CEI, The Rutherford Institute, CEI Vice President Iain Murray, and yours truly filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security in the U.S. Court…
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CEI Challenges Illegal “Vapes on a Plane” Regulation
Today, CEI, the Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association (CASAA), and CEI employee Gordon Cummings, as a private individual, filed a lawsuit challenging the…
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If You Build It, They Won’t Come: The Failure of Field of Dreams Transit Planning
Following decades of excessive local government fare regulation that led to a terminal decline in the private mass transit industry, government began taking over the…
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Senate FAA Bill Betrays Free Market and Fiscally Conservative Principles
Last month, I wrote about why everyone should be disappointed by the Senate’s FAA reauthorization bill: it fails to include key air traffic control reforms contained…
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No, the AIRR Act’s Air Traffic Control Reforms Do Not Grant Controllers Strike Powers
Capital Research Center, a conservative policy group in Washington, D.C., recently published an extended essay, “PATCO’s Revenge: Capitol Hill cronyism may give the air…
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Human Achievement of the Day: Don’t Buy the Hyperloop, Bet on Self-Driving Cars
Futuristic transportation technology often captures the imaginations of the press and public. Sometimes, it’s hype-driven nonsense: think the mysterious “IT” that became the mockery-inducing…
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Senate FAA Reauthorization Bill Disappoints
This morning, the Senate Commerce Committee held a markup hearing on their Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2016 (S. 2658). A couple of positive…
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DOT Compromises Safety and Efficiency for Union Favoritism
Today, a draft proposed rule from the Department of Transportation’s Federal Railroad Administration has been making the rounds. It will be published in the…
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Beware of Misleading CBO Score of the AIRR Act
The AIRR Act (H.R. 4441), the FAA reauthorization bill in the House, contains badly needed reforms of U.S. air traffic control. See my FAQ on what…
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Is Conservative Opposition to the Passenger Facility Charge Softening?
CEI is a strong supporter of transportation user fees. We prefer tolls over fuel taxes, and local airport user fees over tax-funded federal…
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DC Streetcar Opens as a Monument to Morally Bankrupt Urban Planning
On Saturday, February 27, the DC Streetcar finally opened its 2.2-mile stretch on H Street and Benning Road N.E. Years delayed and for a cost…
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Up in the AIRR, Part 2: Unmanned Aircraft Systems
To date, CEI’s analysis of the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act (H.R. 4441) has largely focused on proposed air traffic control reforms, which CEI…
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Up in the AIRR, Part 1: Passenger Facility Charge Modernization
To date, CEI’s analysis of the Aviation Innovation, Reform, and Reauthorization (AIRR) Act (H.R. 4441) has focused on proposed air traffic control reforms, which CEI strongly…
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NYT Editorial Board Repeats Falsehoods on Air Traffic Control Reform
The New York Times editorial board has staked out a position on proposed air traffic control reform legislation, and it doesn’t like it. To anyone…
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House Committee Narrowly Approves Eleanor Holmes Norton’s Deadly E-Cigarette Science Denialism
Following three government reports in the 1980s highlighting the low cabin air quality caused by cigarette smoking and the health risks of passive smoke,…
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CEI Welcomes Obama Administration’s Automated Vehicle Push, With Caveats
The Obama administration’s plan to pump $4 billion over 10 years to “accelerate” the development and deployment of automated vehicles. How they exactly plan to…
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2016 Regulatory Schedule for the U.S. Department of Transportation
Last year, the Federal Aviation Administration’s two drone rulemakings got a lot of attention: their strange attempt to implement Congress’s airspace integration mandate and their unlawful…
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Automated Vehicles Update: California DMV Releases Draft Rules and Some Notes about that Crash Study
CALIFORNIA DMV AV OPPS RULES PROPOSED: On December 16, the California Department of Motor Vehicles released its draft licensing and operations rules for consumer automated vehicles,…
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FAA Releases Mandatory Drone Registration Interim Final Rule
On December 16, the FAA will publish its interim final rule (IFR) on Registration and Marking Requirements for Small Unmanned Aircraft in the Federal…
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FAST Act Debrief: A Few Policy Notes on the Latest Highway Bill
Last Friday, December 4, President Obama signed into law the FAST Act, which reauthorizes federal surface transportation programs through Fiscal Year 2020 to the tune…
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Problems with Mandatory Drone Registration
On Saturday, the Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Registration Task Force issued its recommendations on a mandatory UAS registration proposal. The report is available here. On…
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Government Submits TSA Body Scanner Final Rule Schedule to Court
On October 23, 2015, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordered the Department of Homeland Security to produce a schedule for final rule…
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Barbara Boxer: Confirm PR Flak for Key Safety Role or the Transportation System Gets It
Yesterday, the Senate confirmed Sarah Feinberg to head the Federal Railroad Administration. Feinberg has been acting administrator since January. She replaced Joseph Szabo, who had…
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Court Rules against Government in TSA Body Scanner Case
Earlier today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled against the government in CEI’s challenge to the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) illegal…
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Is a Drone Registration Mandate Illegal?
Today, the Department of Transportation announced the creation of a task force to develop recommendations for a national drone registration mandate. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx stated…
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Initial Thoughts on the Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act
This morning, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee released its Surface Transportation Reauthorization and Reform Act. Unlike the Senate bill, which relies on imaginary pay-fors…
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Drone Policy Update: FAA Proposes $1.9m Fine, 3 More Bills Vetoed in California, and More
FAA PROPOSES RECORD FINE FOR UNAUTHORIZED UAS OPERATIONS: On October 6, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced it was proposing a $1.9 million civil penalty against…
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No, Politicians Shouldn’t Outlaw Driving to Usher in Self-Driving Cars
Over at Fusion, Kevin Roose has what is perhaps the worst article on automated vehicles (AVs) I’ve ever seen. In it, he calls for a near-term…
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USDOT Wants it Both Ways with Off-Peak Freight Movements
Over at the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Fastlane blog, Greg Nadeau, administrator of the Federal Highway Administration, has a post touting USDOT’s support for off-peak freight…
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Drone Policy Update: California Bill Vetoed, New Model Aircraft Guidance, and More
CALIFORNIA UAS BILL VETOED: On September 9, California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed Senate Bill 142 that would have imposed trespass liability on unmanned aircraft system (UAS)…
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Did North Dakota Just Authorize Pepper-Spraying Police Drones?
The Daily Beast’s Justin Glawe has written an article about a North Dakota law aimed at limiting law enforcement use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), or…
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New York Times Editorial Board Clueless on Smart Car Safety and Security
On Sunday, August 9, The New York Times ran an editorial, “Protecting Cars from Hackers,” discussing the recent publicized hacking incidents of Fiat Chrysler and Tesla vehicles, with…
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“Flypocalypse” Shows Air Traffic Control Too Important to Be Left to FAA
This past Saturday, hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled due to an air traffic control software glitch in the Washington, D.C. area. Naturally, #flypocalypse began…
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CEI Sues TSA for Violating Federal Law and Court Order on Body Scanners
Yesterday, July 15, 2015, CEI filed a petition for writ of mandamus with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Our suit requests the court enforce its…
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Reimagining Surface Transportation Reauthorization: Pro-Market Recommendations for Policy Makers
Today, CEI published my white paper, “Reimagining Surface Transportation Reauthorization: Pro-Market Recommendations for Policy Makers.” In it, I lay out the case for making…
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Ten Years After Kelo v. New London
Ten years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a 5-4 decision upholding the City of New London, Connecticut’s “right” to condemn Connecticut homeowners’…
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Long Mass Transit Commutes Are Horrible for Your Health
Joseph Stromberg at Vox.com has an article up arguing that “commuting alone by car” is “associated with obesity, high blood pressure, sleeplessness, and general unhappiness” relative…
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Yes, It Is Stupid to Blame Lack of Subsidies for Amtrak’s Derailment
This morning, Amtrak Northeast Regional service was finally reopened following last week’s tragic derailment in Philadelphia that has killed at least eight and injured approximately 200.
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New Tax Foundation Report Endorses PFC Modernization
The Tax Foundation today released a new report, “Improving Airport Funding to Meet the Needs of Passengers.” Authored by Tax Foundation economist Alan Cole, the…
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Why Is the Federal Government Threatening Times Square’s Billboards?
Colleagues tipped me off to an absurd news story about how the federal government is threatening to punish New York City for its famously gaudy Times…
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ERAM Deployed Five Years Late, NRC Blasts FAA on NextGen Delays
We saw two announcements on air traffic control modernization last week. The first was that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had finally completed its En Route…
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CEI Submits Comments to FAA on Small Drone Certification and Operations Proposed Rules
Today, I submitted comments to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of CEI on its notice of proposed rulemaking for small unmanned…
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Google Now Opposes State Automated Vehicle Legislation?
Back in 2012, I warned that California’s bill (now law) that would explicitly recognize the legality of automated vehicles and order state regulators to develop a…
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Administration’s GROW AMERICA Act 2.0 Mixes Bad with Good
Today, Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx unveiled the administration’s latest surface transportation reauthorization proposal. Like the previous White House bill, the latest iteration of the…
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Grover Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform Are Wrong about Passenger Facility Charge
I saw some unfortunate news today: Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform sent a letter to Congress opposing a possible increase in the cap of the…
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Benning Road: The Last Refuge of Streetcar Apologists
Washington City Paper’s Housing Complex blogger Aaron Wiener has an unintentionally hilarious article on the slow-motion implosion of the D.C. Streetcar. But before I get to Wiener’s…
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How Not to Fix, and Fix, Federal Surface Transportation Policy
A lot of misinformation and scaremongering swells around transportation infrastructure policy in Washington. We are told our highway network is on the verge of collapse…
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Vapes on a Plane: More on Why DOT’s Proposed In-Flight E-Cigarette Ban Is Fatally Flawed
Over at CNN.com, I have a piece arguing against the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) forthcoming rule aimed at outlawing “vapes on a plane.” I explain why…
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What the U.S. Can Learn from Canada on Aviation Innovation
As I continue to digest the sUAS NPRM, which is expected to be published in the Federal Register on Monday, I came across Canadian drone attorney Diana…
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First Thoughts on FAA’s Small Unmanned Aircraft System Proposed Rules
At 10am on Sunday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced its draft rules to govern small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The announcement is not particularly surprising,…
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Ridesharing and Regulation
Earlier this week, I appeared on a Cato Institute panel organized by Cato’s Matthew Feeney, author of a new report on for-hire vehicle safety issues. Video…
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Transportation Roundup: Obama Budget, DOT 2045, and Sad Transcontinental Railroad Nostalgia
The President’s FY 2016 Budget On Monday, the White House released its DOA FY 2016 budget. Like President Obama’s previous budgets, this one has no…
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Invest in Transportation Act of 2015 Violates Fiscally Conservative Transportation Principles
It was just announced that Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) would introduce the Invest in Transportation Act of 2015. The bill aims to offer…
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Gas Tax Mission Creep: From User-Pays to Carbon Tax?
The Niskanen Center is a new libertarian think tank that we at CEI look forward to working with on a number of issues. However, one where…
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WSJ Editorial Board: Abolish the Federal Gas Tax
In recent days, a growing number of congressional Republicans have signaled a willingness to increase the federal excise tax rates on gasoline and diesel. As I…
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Automated Vehicles Update: Big Feature at CES, California Rules Delayed, Georgia Cautious on Regulation
It’s been a few months since I last checked in on automated vehicles (AVs), commonly called driverless cars or autonomous vehicles. Below are some developments of…
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Poll: Two-Thirds of Americans Oppose Federal Gas Tax Increase
A new poll from Benson Strategy Group and SKDKnickerbocker found that 67 percent of Americans oppose increasing the federal gasoline tax by 15 cents, or an…
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Rep. Tom Petri Invokes Bad Reagan Policy to Justify Increasing the Gas Tax
Yesterday, retiring Rep. Tom Petri (R-Wisc.) joined wacky Rep. Earl "United Streetcar" Blumenauer (D-Ore.) to endorse increasing the federal gasoline tax by 80 percent.
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United Streetcar: The Solyndra of Transportation
Over the weekend, The Washington Post published a fascinating article about the rise and fall of United Streetcar, an Oregon-based manufacturer that owes its very existence to the…
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Congress Needs to Act to Bring about a Drone Revolution
Earlier this morning, a full panel of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) overturned a previous ruling from an NTSB administrative law judge in the Pirker case. In Pirker, the…