I left my tolls in San Francisco? The Bay Area considers charging motorists a per-miles-traveled fee to cut traffic, reduce smog - and raise revenues.
Highway toll roads have become a way of life in many parts of the country but regulators in the San Francisco Bay area are looking at enacting new fees that would tax motorists for every mile they drive – no matter what roads they drive on.
A preliminary plan was approved last week, officials with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments contending that driving fees would be an effective means to reduce the region’s endemic traffic problems and curb pollution. That such fees would also raise revenues at a time when local governments are struggling to repair roads and fix crumbling bridges wouldn’t hurt, either.
But the proposal, which now moves ahead for further study, also raises the specter of Big Brother watching everywhere you drive. And that could scuttle the measure, the Associated Press reports.
Nonetheless, “The last thing we’re interested in is where you go and what you do,” Commission spokesman Randy Rentschler insisted. “What we’re trying to do is get people to figure out a way to raise revenue that they could support.”
The Bay area is just the latest region to consider a so-called Vehicle Miles Traveled, or VMT, fee. Such proposals have been fielded in Georgia, Washington State and Oregon and several pilot studies – where motorists were given a sum of money from which they deducted fees depending on how much they drove – found that drivers wound up logging fewer miles, according to a report in the San Jose Mercury News.
The paper said the regional association estimates it could generate as much as $15 million in new fees daily through a VMT program.
Ostensibly, gasoline taxes were intended to serve as a sort of miles-driven tax, but as cars continue to get more fuel-efficient that translates into lower taxes per mile. And politicians routinely view the idea of raising gas taxes as a third-rail issue on the par with cutting Social Security.
Many parts of the country – including California – have tried to counter the challenge of raising vehicle taxes by switching to toll roads when new highways are built. But motorists in Southern California have largely steered clear of those turnpikes forcing tolls up which, in turn, leads to even lower usage.
Meanwhile, insurance companies have also begun experimenting with VMT-based rates that they insist could yield significant savings for those who clock relatively low miles. Many insurers, such as Progressive, are also offering alternative policies that track the way motorists drive, reducing rates for those considered safe drivers, raising rates for those considered more risky.
The two San Francisco Bay area government groups hope to have a draft proposal ready by January that could include a VMT option. A vote on a new 25-year transportation plan is expected to follow next April.