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
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…
Politico
Anthony Foxx: DOT will consider banning cell phone calls on planes
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian group, questioned the grounds for DOT’s move. CEI fellow Marc Scribner said the move “runs counter to legislative intent…
News Release
CEI Applauds FCC Efforts on Ending In-Flight Cell Phone Ban
Washington, DC, Dec. 12, 2013 – This afternoon, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) held an Open Meeting. Among other issues, the FCC indicated it would…
Human Events
Amtrak – Another Government-Run Disaster
I am the casualty of a model train collector gone wild. Sorry, Dad, but it’s true. Many a Christmas morning, my brother and I would…
Entrepreneur
The Ridiculous Thing One Congressman Said About Self-Driving Cars
Forbes
The American/US Airways Case Highlights The Absurdity Of Antitrust Regulation
“If the airlines have a history of anti-competitive behavior, they are the least able practitioners of the art in the history of mankind.” This was…
News Release
President Obama Still Doesn’t Get It On Transportation Reform
WASHINGTON, Nov. 8 — At the Port of New Orleans today, President Obama reiterated his call for increased federal infrastructure spending, which has been a…
The American Spectator
BART’s Bogus Ride
It was the 1970s and Britain was the “sick man of Europe.” Labor unions had toppled one Conservative government and were bullying the existing Labour…
The American Spectator
Raising the Federal Gas Tax
Marc Scribner Discusses the Fuel Tax on Fox Business…
Investor's Business Daily
Shutdown Grounds Lawyers In US Air, American Case
Marc Scribner, analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank, earlier said: "American, if it isn't able to merge with US Air, is…
Fox News
DOJ Suits Against Airline Merger Further Alienates Unions
“It’s going further than just a few unions that really don’t represent a lot of people,” Marc Scribner, a transportation policy expert with Washington-based Competitive…
Investor's Business Daily
US Air, AMR Vow To Fight DOJ Lawsuit To Block Merger
"This administration's Department of Justice has a different posture than past DOJs, which had a more conservative approach to antitrust measures," said Marc Scribner, transportation…
Las Vegas Review Journal
Government moves to block airline merger, warns of higher fares, fees
But the open-market-leaning Competitive Enterprise Institute called the Department of Justice action “deeply misguided.” “On the heels of the successful Delta-Northwest and United-Continental mergers,…
News Release
CEI Analysts: Let Airlines Merge, Markets Sort Out Winners, Losers
WASHINGTON, D.C, Aug. 13, 2013 – Despite having allowed two huge mergers involving so-called “legacy carriers” in the last three years, the Department of Justice…
Las Vegas Review Journal
5 questions on high-speed rail and its U.S. future
According to a June report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think tank, the Federal Railroad Administration “has strict crash safety regulation for passenger…
News Release
TSA Flouts Law With Vague Rule on Body Scanners
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 25, 2013 — Yesterday, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) and Robert L. Crandall, former chairman and CEO of AMR and American…
Comment
Comments to the TSA Regarding the Deployment of AIT
Full Document Available in PDF On March 26, 2013, TSA proposed a rule regarding passenger screening using advanced imaging technology after a…
Las Vegas Review Journal
Government regs hurt passenger rail
That’s the message of this paper from the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The writers point out the American safety regulators require passenger rail cars to…
Letters
Coalition Letter to Congress Opposing “Buy America” Provisions for Government Infrastructure Projects
Full Document Available in PDF TO THE MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS Do you want to artificially increase the cost of…
Las Vegas Review Journal
A Recipe for More Coastal Republicans
Josh Barro points us to a new report from David Edmondson and Marc Scribner on one of my favorite subjects — the fact that FRA…
Study
Reducing Passenger Train Procurement Costs
Full Document Available in PDF Interest in passenger rail around the United States has increased in recent years. With their ability to…
News Release
Reducing the Costs of Passenger Rail
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 5, 2013 – With passenger rail funding expiring in less than four months, Congress is poised to scrutinize core features of the…
Journal of Commerce
Mandatory Switching Proposal for Class I Railroads Draws Fire
“NITL and supporters of its flawed proposal ignore the underlying economics of network industries and seek to require the board to make arbitrary and capricious…
Comment
Reply Comments before the STB in EP 711
Full Document Available in PDF On behalf of the Competitive Enterprise…
News Release
CEI Slams Senate Vote on Marketplace Fairness Act
Washington, D.C., May 6, 2013 – Senators crossed a dangerous line today when they voted to approve the dubiously named Marketplace Fairness Act (S. 743),…
CBN
FAA Blames Flight Delays on Cuts, GOP Blames Politics
Bill Frezza, a policy analyst at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, said the delays represent a political calculation. "I don't think there's any doubt right now…
Townhall
Libertarians (And Fiscal Conservatives) Should Oppose Road Socialism
Libertarians and transport economists for decades have advocated tolling as an alternative to fuel taxes, which have…
National Review
The Surge in Freight Rail Investment
Marc Scribner of the regulation-averse Competitive Enterprise Institute has more recently argued that it is unlikely that cost-based rate ceiling would prove beneficial, as…
News Release
TSA Still Isn’t Complying With the Law on Body Scanners
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 27, 2013 — Yesterday, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) as required by a court…
Red Alert Politics
TSA finally agrees to comply with 2011 court order requiring them to take comments on use of full body scanners
“I wouldn’t applaud TSA for doing this since they were required by the D.C. Circuit to open this proceeding by the end of the month,”…
Study
Slow Train Coming?
After a century of severe regulation nearly brought the United States railroad industry to ruin, policy makers in the 1970s began a process that ultimately…
News Release
Railroad Industry Will Suffer Under Proposed Rate Regulations
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 12, 2013 – A new study from the Competitive Enterprise Institute strongly warns against recent efforts to re-regulate the railroad…
Washington Post
In Virginia and Washington, Republicans back tax hikes
Marc Scribner, a fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, was especially harsh toward the governor. “McDonnell is fast proving himself to be the Charlie Crist…
Washington Examiner
Is General Motors creating a subprime auto loan bubble?
"It's becoming Fannie Motors," Competitive Enterprise Institute finance scholar John Berlau told McMorris, referring to the government-backed housing lender Fannie Mae. "They're still using…
Watchdog
Lawmakers bypass Medicaid on way to tax-laden transportation bill
“Gov. McDonnell is fast proving himself to be the Charlie Crist of the Mid-Atlantic,” Competitive Enterprise Institute transportation fellow Marc Scribner said in a disparaging…
News Release
CEI Blasts Virginia House of Delegates Transportation Vote
WASHINGTON, D.C., February 22, 2013 – With overwhelming support from establishment Virginia Republicans, a modified version of Gov. Bob McDonnell’s monstrously irresponsible transportation plan…
National Review
Virginia’s Transportation Mess
Virginia’s transportation-funding system’s drive toward socialism seems to veering even further left. Readers may remember Governor McDonnell’s plan to increase funding…
News Release
Troubled Virginia Transportation Plan Needs Re-Start
Washington, D.C. – February 6, 2013 – As Virginia’s state Senate considers a bill that largely embodies Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proposed overhaul of state…
Richmond Times-Dispatch
McDonnell’s transportation plan veers off-course
Gov. Bob McDonnell’s transportation plan has earned critics on both the left and right. On the left, many are upset the governor’s plan would transfer…
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Gov. McDonnell’s Transportation Plan
One News Now
Politics in Transportation
So far, the list of potential replacements includes Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and National Transportation Safety Board chairman Deborah Hersman. Regardless, Marc Scribner of…
Politico
TSA pulls plug on ‘naked’ body scanners
The Competitive Enterprise Institute has questioned how TSA got the scanners in the first place — and if they even work. “Public and expert comments…
Washington Post
Sales Tax, Gas Tax, Mileage Tax: How To Pay For America’s Roads?
On the right, many groups take issue with McDonnell's plan to rely on sales taxes for roadway funds. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, a libertarian think…
Washington Post
McDonnell’s tax plan draws heat from across the spectrum
The focus on general sales tax revenues, rather than a tax on those who use the roads, also raised eyebrows. The Competitive Enterprise Institute said…
News Release
Gov. McDonnell’s Transportation Tax Plan a Bad Deal for Virginians
WASHINGTON, D.C., Jan. 9, 2013 — Yesterday, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell released his transportation funding plan. His proposal would eliminate the gasoline tax, making…
Project M
Great lowered expectations
The final bill would in turn be partially funded by the $7 billion in federal tax revenues gained as a result of corporations’ reduced tax-deductible…
