Air travel and rail transport were early examples of deregulation bringing huge benefits to consumers and industries. Yet automobility, air travel, and freight rail, are increasingly threatened with further regulation that will reduce their ability to transport goods and people. CEI opposes these attacks by arguing for greater freedom in mobility and opposing perverse transportation industry regulations.
Transportation Issue Areas
Featured Posts
Blog
UAW revival gets flat tire in Alabama
The United Auto Workers (UAW) on Friday lost a high-profile bid to organize 5,000 Mercedes-Benz workers in a plant near Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The loss…
Blog
UAW loses 13,000 members
The United Auto Workers (UAW) lost 13,000 members in the last year, according to filings the union made to the Labor Department. The UAW said…
Issues & Insights
Want Higher Air Fares? Overregulate Credit Cards
Yesterday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Department of Transportation held a joint hearing “investigating” airline and credit card reward programs. The Director and Secretary of…
Search Posts
One News Now
Advice to gov’t on autonomous cars: Don’t mess it up
One News Now discusses the White House's announcement of new initiatives on automated vehicles, with Marc Scribner. Marc Scribner, fellow in transportation policy…
Comment
CEI Comments to the Federal Aviation Administration regarding Registration and Marking Requirements for Small Unmanned Aircraft
Full Document Available in PDF On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”), we respectfully submit these comments in response to the…
Blog
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…
Letters
Coalition Letter on the Unlawful TSA Screening of Airline Passengers
Full Document Available in PDF Dear Chairman Chaffetz and Ranking Member Cummings: We are writing to you regarding the TSA’s recent claim…
Blog
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…
USA Today
TSA May Require a Full-Body Scan, Rather than Pat-Down
CEI's Marc Scribner comments to USA Today on the TSA's recent decision to end its policy of allowing all travelers to opt for a…
Blog
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,…
Blog
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…
Bloomberg
U.S. Cities Spend $1.2 Billion on Streetcars to Nowhere
Bloomberg quotes transportation expert Marc Scribner on cities investing in streetcars. While streetcars in Portland, Oregon and Seattle have succeeded — measured by…
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Route to the Future
The Philadelphia Inquirer discusses the efficiency of trolley systems with Marc Scribner. Marc Scribner, research fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a Washington-based free-market…
Blog
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…
Washington Examiner
House, Senate reach deal on bill to renew Ex-Im Bank
The Washington Examiner discusses the approved highway bill with Marc Scribner. "We are disappointed that Congress has once again chosen to bail out…
News Release
CEI Comment on Highway Bill Conference Report
CEI transportation policy expert Marc Scribner praised parts of the federal highway bill released today out of a congressional conference committee. Scribner praised parts of…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Study
Reviving Capitalism
The near-death and rebirth of American railroads is a case study in business leaders fending off regulation.
Comment
CEI Comments Responding To the FAA Request for Information on Registration of Unmanned Aircraft Systems
Full Document Available in PDF On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”), I respectfully submit these comments in response to the Federal…
Blog
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…
Law360
TSA Ordered To Make Final Body Scanner Rule
The D.C. Circuit on Friday ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to submit a schedule for when it will issue a final rule on…
Blog
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…
Litigation
CEI Challenges TSA Body Scanner Policy
On July 15, 2015, the Competitive Enterprise Institute filed a lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for violating the law by deploying body scanners…
News Release
CEI Prevails: Court Orders TSA to Bare Its Body Scanner Rule
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) won a favorable ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ordering the Transportation Security Administration…
The Daily Signal
Another Dud Highway Bill from the House
The Daily Signal discusses the new Highway Bill and looks to Marc Scribner for information on the bills expansion of the federal government's role in…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
News Release
CEI Report: Keep the Skies Open for Drones
A new report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute warns that laws and regulations curtailing use of civilian drones could hold back big economic and…
Study
Keeping the Skies Open for Drones
Drone technology could transform the way we live and work, offering great potential in precision agriculture, aerial photography, to infrastructure inspection, and disaster response. But overzealous…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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)…
The Hill
Biden run could be a boon for Amtrak
Marc Scribner talks to The Hill about what Joe Biden's possible presidential run means for Amtrak: Competitive Enterprise Institute Transportation Research Fellow Marc…
The Wall Street Journal
Streetcar Projects Suffer a Bumpy Ride
The Wall Street Journal talks to CEI's Marc Scribner on Atlanta's streetcar system: “What Atlanta did was a huge mistake,” said Marc Scribner, a research…
Blog
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…
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
“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…
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 Heartlander
House Transportation Chairman Proposes Privatizing Air Traffic Control
The Heartlander cites CEI`s Marc Scribner on privatisation of air traffic control: Marc Scribner, a transportation policy research fellow with the Competitive Enterprise…
Letters
Coalition Letter Supporting Aviation Industry Modernization
Full Document Available in PDF The Competitive Enterprise Institute joined a coalition of free-market organizations in writing a letter to aviation leaders of the…
Blog
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…
FoxNews.com
TSA sued over airport body scanners
Marc Scribner is quoted in a report on a lawsuit filed by CEI over the deployment of body scanners in airports: “There is…
Legal Brief
CEI v. TSA
At issue in this case is TSA’s multi-year failure to complete its…
News Release
CEI Sues TSA For Violating Federal Law With Body Scanners
The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) filed a lawsuit today against the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for violating the law by deploying body scanners before following…
The Washington Times
Desire cools for streetcar in D.C. amid missteps, costs
The Washington Times cites CEI`s Marc Scribner on the streetcar system: There’s at least one thing on which opponents and supporters of a…
Forbes
U.S. Airlines Face Antitrust Collusion Investigation–What’s The Big Deal?
Airlines, apparently including United Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines…
Blog
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…
Study
Reimagining Surface Transportation Reauthorization
Full Document Available in PDF Many transportation policy observers estimate that stagnating revenues and increases in fuel efficiency will cause the current…
The Daily Caller
Objections To Optional Tolling Plan Are ‘Silly,’ Experts Say
The Daily Caller cites CEI`s Marc Scribner on optional tolling plan: “The I-77 corridor has seen a 20 percent increase in traffic volumes…
News Release
Highway Bill Bailout and Spending Schemes Put America’s Roads and Bridges at Risk
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released a new report criticizing spending and bail-out schemes Congress is considering that would put our nation’s roads…