Project Description
The sustainability of the fuel tax as the primary mechanism to fund long term transportation needs is in question. The ever increasing fuel efficiency of the US auto fleet and the development of alternative fuel vehicles are leading may in the transportation industry to consider fees based on vehicle mileage (VM), as opposed to fuel consumption, as a viable successor to the fuel tax. This effort represents the first step towards implementing a Texas based evaluation of VM fees. The researchers convened an advisory committee, and conducted focus groups and stakeholder interviews with the purpose of determining whether VM fees are a viable solution for Texas’ long term transportation needs and, if so, how a statewide evaluation should be carried out.
