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
National Review
J. D. Vance’s One-Track Mind for Railroad Regulation
Ohio senator and GOP vice-presidential nominee J. D. Vance has something of a soft spot for unions, as evidenced by his co-sponsorship of the…
Blog
Free the Economy podcast: Paying for mass transit with Marc Scribner
In this week’s episode we cover California’s minimum wage for fast-food workers, overturning the FCC’s universal service fee, and pushing back on…
Capitol Matters
East Palestine Report: Congress Should Rethink Its Reaction
In almost a decade working for the British Department for Transport, no officials impressed me as much as the accident investigators. They were dedicated experts who…
Search Posts
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…
Duluth News Trubine
Pro/Con: Is government micromanaging US auto industry?
Yes: Industry, motorists victims of over-regulation Over-regulation is slowing growth, stifling innovation and costing jobs across the economy. The auto industry is the prime example.
Bradenton Herald
Auto industry and motorists prime victims of government`s overregulation
Over-regulation is slowing growth, stifling innovation and costing jobs across the economy. The auto industry is the prime example. Auto workers and investors are obviously…
GazetteXtra
Pro: Auto industry and motorists prime victims of government’s over-regulation
Auto workers and investors are obviously harmed by heavy-handed government regulation, but the biggest losers are drivers. In buying new vehicles, they already face higher…
Canada Free Press
Auto industry and motorists prime victim of Feds over-regulation
Auto workers and investors are obviously harmed by heavy-handed government regulation, but the biggest losers are drivers. In buying new vehicles, they already face higher…
The Sacramento Bee
Auto industry and motorists prime victims of government’s over-regulation
Over-regulation is slowing growth, stifling innovation and costing jobs across the economy. The auto industry is the prime example. Auto workers and investors are obviously…
The Hill
Tax cuts and reform for air travelers
The Hill quotes CEI`s Marc Scribner on the Passenger Facility Charge: The Congress Blog has hosted two well thought out pieces on the…
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)…
Fox News
DC weighs gondola system to connect tony Georgetown with outside world
Fox News talks to Marc Scribner on the DC gondola system: "Street cars in the sky — that's how I like to think…
Comment
CEI Comments to the Uniform Law Commission’s Study Committee on State Regulation of Driverless Cars
Full Document Available in PDF On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”), I respectfully submit these comments in response to the…
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…
Blog
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…
Reason
Is Dianne Feinstein Responsible for the Amtrak Crash that Killed Eight? No, But Government Safety Mandates Can Have Tragic and Unintended Consequences.
Reason's Jim Epstein cites Marc Scribner's blog on the Philiadelphia Amtrak derailment: While it's true that PTC works better than ATC at preventing…
Blog
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.
Blog
This Week Is Infrastructure Week
In the lead-up to the May 31 sunset date for federal highway funding, this week is “Infrastructure Week”—a week for scholars, advocates, and policy…
Blog
Not So Fast: Fatally Flawed Research Asserts Alcohol Taxes Save Lives
Last month, researchers at the University of Florida published a study in the American Journal of Public Health that concluded, “Increases in alcohol excise taxes, such…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Comment
CEI Comments to the FAA on Proposed Regulation Regarding Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems
Read the Full Comments Here On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”), I respectfully submit these comments in response to the…
Blog
Let Amtrak Pay Its Own Way
Randal O’Toole of the Cato Institute has a great blog post outlining the various ills besetting America’s government-subsidized passenger rail carrier Amtrak. The gist of O’Toole’s…
Blog
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…
Blog
Could Alcohol Taxes Reduce Fatal Car Crashes?
A new study from the University of Florida asserts that because Illinois instituted an alcohol tax increase in 2009 and the rate of alcohol-related traffic…
Blog
California Drought 2.0, or Is it 3.0?
California’s water woes are back in the headlines after Gov. Jerry Brown commanded a 25 percent cut in consumption last week after extended drought. Pricing matters…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
The Washington Post
Streetcar Fatigue
In the Washington Post, CEI's Marc Scribner discusses "streetcar fatigue" and the quagmire surrounding Washington, D.C.'s H Street Streetcar project: Marc Scribner,…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Washington Times
No Desire for a Streetcar
CEI's Marc Scribner is quoted on the modern streetcar resurgence in the Washington Times: If nearly everybody likes a streetcar, fewer want to…
Mass Live
Can MBTA passengers get a refund on their passes?
Massachusetts Live talks to CEI's Marc Scribner about the issues facing MBTA: Transportation scholar Marc Scribner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute said in…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
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,…
Blog
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…
Roll Call
What Rules To Govern Uber-Type Services?
Roll Call reports on Marc Scribner's presentation at a Cato Institute policy forum on ridesharing regulations: But Marc Scribner of Competitive Enterprise…
Blog
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…
Blog
Premature Capitulation?
Over the decades I’ve spent in this Heart of Darkness (a.k.a., the bowels of American politics), I’ve learned two lessons that have encouraged the steady…
Blog
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…
Study
Free to Prosper
With the start of the 114th Congress comes a fresh opportunity to address the challenges created by a broken government. To kick off this new…
Blog
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…
Blog
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…
Blog
Free to Prosper: Top Priorities for the 114th Congress
With the start of the 114th Congress comes a fresh opportunity to address the challenges created by a broken government. To kick off this new congressional…
Blog
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…
Politico
A streetcar not desired?
Marc Scribner is cited in Politico: Besides costs, critics point to other shortcomings in the projects. For example, they question whether streetcar…
