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
Blog
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…
Roll Call
Friday Q & A: Marc Scribner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute
Part 1, Part 2 Analyst Marc Scribner at the Competitive Enterprise Institute examines transportation policy from a staunchly pro-market standpoint. Here are excerpts…
Blog
Voters Reject Three Rail Transit Boondoggles
Yesterday, voters across the country had the opportunity to vote on a number of transportation ballot measures. Three of these involved spending for new rail…
Blog
What Will the SpaceShipTwo Crash Mean for Commercial Space Flight Regulation?
The crash of a test flight of billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo, which cost the life of one, riveted many around the globe on Friday afternoon.
Blog
New Jersey’s Driverless Car Bill: One Step Forward, Three Steps Back
Yesterday, the New Jersey Senate Transportation Committee in a unanimous vote reported S734, a bill that would recognize the legality of autonomous vehicle testing…
News Release
Mandates for Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications Technology Called Into Question
WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 – Federal regulators are poised to impose a big mandate on new cars and trucks, requiring vehicle-to-vehicle communications technology aimed at averting…
Comment
Comments to NHTSA Regarding Vehicle-to-Vehicle Communications
Full Document Available in PDF On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”), I respectfully submit these comments in response to the…
Blog
Misguided Regulations Threaten Automated Vehicle Innovation
Earlier this week, I appeared on a Cato Institute panel titled, "The End of Transit and the Beginning of the New Mobility: Policy Implications…
Roll Call
With Autonomous Cars, A World Without Red Lights?
Marc Scribner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute said misguided government regulation may delay development of autonomous vehicles. Regulators may be well-intentioned, but they’re slow, he…
Blog
Is Driving to Work in Decline?
Over at The Washington Post's Wonkblog, urban affairs reporter Emily Badger has a post up on the recently released U.S. Census Bureau American Community…
Products
Response questioned
David Heckman’s response (“A bad idea,” Your Views, Sept. 6) to my recent op-ed (“Tolls less regressive than gas taxes,” Views, Aug. 31) conflated mine…
Blog
Are Consumers Smart Enough to Understand Airline Ancillary Fees?
In May, I criticized the Department of Transportation’s opening of a rulemaking on airline ancillary fees (baggage, seat assignments, etc.), noting that the primary…
Comment
CEI Comments in DOT-OST-2014-0056
View the Full Comments Here The Department of Transportation is using consumer complaints over baggage and other fees as a pretext to…
Watchdog.org
Officials quiet as police cite Uber-driving, retired Navy dad
Marc Scribner is a transportation expert at the Washington, D.C-based Competitive Enterprise Institute. He says the problem lies with Virginia’s laws — laws that didn’t…
Blog
STB Reauthorization Bill Threatens Rail Investment
The U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has scheduled a markup for tomorrow afternoon of the Surface Transportation Board (STB) Reauthorization Act (S.2777). If…
Blog
Regulator: True Ridesharing Illegal in California
In the past, I’ve noted that carve-outs for ridesharing providers leaves more innovative and disruptive business models—particularly future automated services—illegal. While self-driving on-demand transportation…
Blog
User Fees Are Not Taxes: The Case for PFCs
I've noted in the past the natural appeal passenger facility charges (PFCs) should have with fiscal conservatives. These are the user fees airports…
Human Events
Words Matter
We teach our children words matter—both in their intent and their actual use. Unfortunately, many grow up to become politicians or bureaucrats adept at manufacturing…
The Modesto Bee
Tolls Less Regressive than Gas Taxes; Force Truckers to Finally Pay Fair Share
The United States faces a transportation infrastructure dilemma. According to recent estimates from the Reason Foundation, reconstruction and needed capacity enhancements to the Interstate Highway…
Blog
Michael Grunwald’s High-Speed Rail Fantasies
Perhaps the one thing Time magazine's Michael Grunwald loves more than drone assassinations of American citizens and dissident journalists is heavily subsidized passenger rail. This is not the…
Blog
Uber and Regulation: Pro-Business Is Not Pro-Market
“Republicans love Uber. Young urban voters love Uber. And Republicans hope that means young voters can learn to love the GOP.” That was the opening…
Blog
Public Still Favors Transportation User Fees over Tax Increases
Voters in Missouri yesterday rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have imposed a 0.75 percent sales tax to fund transportation, with nearly 60 percent opposing a…
Blog
New Report Highlights Driverless Car Urban Impact; Takes Techno-Dystopian Stance
Earlier this month, Professor David Begg of Transport Times published a new report on automated transport technology focusing on the potential impacts on London. This is one of…
Blog
Uber, Regulation, and Free Markets
Libertarians are justifiably excited about the prospects of ridesharing companies such as Uber and equally justified in their disgust of regulators intent on preventing the…
The Skeptical Libertarian
Reasons Libertarians Should Be Skeptical of Uber Politics
Libertarians, we may have an Uber problem. Don’t get me wrong, friends of freedom. I love Uber. I use Uber at least once a week.
Blog
Labor and Employment Scorecard: Pension Smoothing as a “Pay-For” in Highway and Transportation Funding Act
On July 15, 2014, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) scored U.S. House of Representatives Roll Call Vote #414 on final passage of the Highway and…
Letters
An Open Letter to the United States Congress: Protect Taxpayers and Empower the States by Reforming Transportation Spending
Full Coalition Letter Available Here Congress is set to consider major transportation spending legislation this year. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, Americans for Prosperity and…
Watchdog.org
Taxicab industry has history of lobbying, donations
The Virginia DMV’s order for Uber and Lyft to cease all operations in the commonwealth is the latest showing of the taxicab industry’s influence in…
Watchdog.org
When it Comes to Uber, Consumers May Speak Loudest
Uber was founded in 2009 as a venture-funded transportation company, allowing riders and drivers to connect on their mobile devices and see other people’s reviews…
Forbes
The Rise Of Uber Should Have Politicians, Regulators And Crony Capitalists Shaking With Fear
Consumers love choice and convenience, especially when it comes to getting from point A to point B. So as Uber takes the world by storm,…
The Hill's Congress Blog
Republicans sell out free-market principles for union favors
Co-authored with CEI Research Associate Matthew La Corte. The Norwegians are coming!” That’s hardly a call to send Americans scurrying to the barricades. But if…
Blog
One Year Later: TSA Still Flouting the Law on Body Scanners
CEI Research Associate Matthew La Corte contributed to this article. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) uses more than 700 full-body imaging scanners in 160 airports nationwide.
Blog
Distracted by Paranoia, Obama Administration to Regulate Map Apps?
A story in The New York Times is making the rounds about an Obama administration proposal to clarify the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) authority to…
The Hill's Congress Blog
Distracted Drivers Or Driverless Cars?
The treatment of self-driving vehicles by policymakers represents one of the major barriers to their emergence, according to the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Only New…
Mass Live
Boston taxi drivers’ union to protest ride sharing service Uber
Services like Uber and Lyft upset cab drivers because they challenge the longtime status quo that has devolved into a cartel that limits innovation and…
One News Now
GM In Heavy Case Over Faulty Ignition Switches
Earlier this year, Toyota agreed to a $1.2 billion settlement with the Justice Department in a criminal probe over the company's recall of Toyota…
Progressive Railroading
Obama administration sends four-year transportation bill to Congress
Meanwhile, Competitive Enterprise Institute transportation policy expert Marc Scribner was more critical. Bailing out the Highway Trust Fund would violate "the long-standing user-pays/user-benefits principle in…
One News Now
Transportation Analyst: Hands Off Driverless Cars, Uncle Sam
A transportation policy analyst warns that lawmakers and regulators should steer clear of driverless vehicles when they arrive. Marc Scribner is a fellow for the…
Georgia Policy
Steer Clear of Overregulating Autonomous Autos
If anything drives transportation policy as a solution to congestion and mobility challenges in Georgia, it should be the recommendations in a new report from…
CQ Researcher
Self-Driving Cars Promise Safer Highways if Regulators Keep Hands Off, Study Says
Wider adoption of technology to allow vehicles to drive themselves promises to usher in a new era of safer motoring — as long as lawmakers…
News Release
When Robot Cars Arrive, Lawmakers and Regulators Should Steer Clear
WASHINGTON, April 23 – Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) released a new report by transportation policy expert Marc Scribner to help policymakers address regulating…
Study
Self-Driving Regulation
Leonardo da Vinci first sketched the design for a self-propelled cart in the late 15th century. In 2010, Google announced its fleet of self-driving cars…
Comment
Comments to USDOT in the matter of Use of Mobile Wireless Devices for Voice Calls on Aircraft
Full Document Available in PDF On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise Institute (“CEI”), I respectfully submit these comments in response…
Study
Bait and Reciprocal Switch
Full Document Available in PDF America’s freight railroad industry is one of the greatest success stories of economic liberalization. After decades of…
News Release
Special Interest Lobby Threatens Freight Rail Deregulation
WASHINGTON, March 24 – A new effort by special interest groups threatens much-needed freight-rail investment, according to a new…
Comment
Comments to the Federal Communications Commission in the matter of Expanding Access to Mobile Wireless Services Onboard Aircraft
Full…
Mass Live
Increased Boston-To-Springfield Passenger Rail Service May One Day Become A Reality
Marc Scribner, a research fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, thinks investment by the state on a primarily private rail line is unnecessary because private…
USA Today
GOP fighting cellphone freedom
Should the federal government outlaw rudeness? Some senior Republican lawmakers seem to think so. Since 1991, the Federal Communications Commission has barred cellphone use on…
USA Today
Experts: DOT probably has legal legs to ban calls
The libertarian Competitive Enterprise Institute offered a dissenting voice Thursday, calling it “clearly arbitrary and capricious” for DOT to ban cellphone calls under consumer protection…
Washington Examiner
Not-so-friendly skies: Deregulation didn’t fail, it was never really tried
Anderson said that, although the 1978 Airline Deregulation Act eliminated the Civilian Aeronautics Board, the DOJ attorneys to this day use the old CAB antitrust…