Feb 8, 2010 6:18 pm US/Eastern
Mileage Tax Could Be New Way To Pay For MA Roads
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
It's an election year, so you are not going to hear politicians talking about new ways to collect tolls, but one year from now Massachusetts could be testing exactly that. Call it a new way to pay for our roads.
Over the past few years, there have been several proposals made to help the state make money while easing congestion on the roadways, including
open road tolling. This system is similar to a transponder system, but drivers don't have to slow down for toll booths.
WBZ has learned there is a new idea catching Massachusetts' attention and it's already being tested out in another state.
MILAGE TAX
James Aliosi, the state's former top transportation official, predicts a new road usage tax is in our future. It's an idea he really likes. "We can raise a heck of a lot of money this way and it's a fair way."
What is he talking about? Call it a mileage tax.
Why?
As strange as it sounds, the problem today is fuel efficient cars mean less revenue from the gas tax. So while roads crumble and costs keep going up, revenues continue to decline.
It is a huge national problem, so most experts agree there needs to be a new way to collect money for roads, in most cases, a whole new way that would replace existing tolls.
Scott Belcher is the CEO of Intelligent Transportation Systems in Washington DC. They are a "think tank" charged with helping to solve this country's transportation problems.
He is very concerned about falling revenue and deteriorating roads. "We will not be a first world economy if we cannot maintain an infrastructure that allows us to move goods throughout the country. And we are inching close to that kind of a crisis situation."
So rather than increase the gas tax, almost half the states in the country, including Massachusetts, are considering taxing drivers for the miles they drive.
"We are not talking about charging people for driving down Main Street in downtown Billerica," said Aliosi. "We are talking about charging for the main interstate system, like Route 2, Route 9 and Route 128."
HOW WOULD IT WORK?
WBZ has learned state officials are studying a pilot program from Oregon. There, volunteers had on-board computer devices installed in cars.
Local gas stations were fitted with wireless electronic readers. The car's device shared the current mileage with the reader at every gas stop. The data would be instantly sent to a main computer. The mileage would be compared against the car's last visit and then a tax is computed. The fee is then added to the gas bill.
In Massachusetts, it could be a computer chip on a license plate that is read every time the car is inspected.
RUSH HOUR COULD COST YOU
In the Oregon test, drivers were also charged more if they drove during rush hour, and that too could be coming to Boston.
"In the major urban areas like Boston, it is going to be impossible to build your way out of congestion," said Belcher. "You really are going to have to take advantage of technology."
How much more would it cost at rush hour?
In the Oregon test, it was roughly eight times as much. That would make the Weston toll during rush hour $10 instead of $1.25.
And congestion pricing, as they call it, reduced traffic by more than 20 percent.
Aliosi likes this idea as well. "If you are using a system that is severely burdened by congestion …polluting the environment….and all of the consequences with that …you have to pay a premium price."
To avoid concerns about big brother, Vehicle Mileage Tolling technology would not record cars' exact location but rather movement from one geographical zone to another. This would also allow for different prices regionally.
Aliosi says a system like this "is inevitable."
The exact price structure would have to be worked out by lawmakers. Here in Massachusetts, if all the toll booths and the state gas tax were eliminated, the mileage tax would have to make up for that and then some.
Transportation experts say the extra money generated by congestion pricing would go to alternative transportation like the MBTA and commuter rail.
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