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
This week in ridiculous regulations: train crews and airport concessions
Our colleague R.J. Smith passed away. R.J. coined the term “free-market environmentalism,” ran CEI’s private conservation efforts for many years, and was a valued…
Daily Caller
Here’s Why It Could Take Longer To Rebuild The Baltimore Bridge Than The Whole Transcontinental Railroad
CEI’s Ryan Young is cited in Daily Caller about the length of time it is going to take to rebuild the Balitmore bridge: “If…
Blog
Will EPA empower California to ban gasoline-powered cars?
Did Congress authorize the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to outlaw the sale of new internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles? Did it authorize the EPA to…
Search Posts
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…
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…
Project M
What the Government Doesn’t Get About Fuel Economy
Vehicle prices that are too high for average families to afford is a big problem. Easy and affordable access to personal transportation (automobiles) is one…
Washington Post
Driverless Cars Are On the Way. Here’s How Not to Regulate Them.
Nevada, Florida and California have all legalized driverless cars, and the District is considering whether to follow suit. The goal is worthwhile, and the potential…
Wall Street Journal
Letter to the Editor: ‘Infostructure’ Is Fine but Roads Are Still Essential
Mr. Mead correctly identifies three major problems facing infrastructure funding: nimbyism, cronyism and an outdated vision of what infrastructure ought to be. However, there is…
Washington Examiner
How did the U.S. fall behind Canada in air traffic safety?
From Sean Higgins article in The Washington Examiner: We wouldn't have to run a lot of these risks in the first place if the United…
Washington Examiner
Government of unions, by unions, for unions
In 2009, the U.S. government bailed out the auto industry, ostensibly to save the livelihoods of thousands of Americans who work for automakers and their…
Washington Examiner
Bailout Losses
John Berlau Featured in Special Report on Auto Bailouts…
Washington Examiner
After Billions Of Taxpayer Dollars, Green Transportation Is A Bust
Ethanol as government energy policy has been an economic and environmental bust. There’s little debate: it inflates motor fuel prices, while compromising the environment. And…
The American Spectator
Worst Congress Ever?
It's no surprise that 60 percent of Americans, according to a new poll from Public Policy Polling for the leftist Daily Kos website, think that…
QC Online
Editorial: Naked truth about TSA
From an editorial in The Dispatch and The Rock Island Argus: The fact that TSA is pursuing the case is no surprise given…
McClatchy DC
TSA Flouts the Law on Body Scanners
Also appeared in: The Charlotte Observer, Tulsa World, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Press of Atlantic City, and Juneau Empire. For more than…
