Browsing: Transporation

The city of Milwaukee announced it is building a new line for the $128 million streetcar known as The Hop. Unanswered anywhere in the strangely incurious media is why the city would open that line now.

Minimum markup laws hurt consumers by making goods more costly. Wisconsin should repeal its antiquated minimum markup law, as Badger Institute has advocated for decades.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos on Wednesday renewed a call for Wisconsin to adopt tolling as a way to pay for state infrastructure projects.  An alternative is needed, he said, as increased fuel efficiency and an increase in electric cars on the road are contributing to declining gas tax revenues.

In recent years, Wisconsin has been transferring money from the general fund into the transportation fund. And for many years, every projection has shown that gas tax revenue likely has peaked and henceforth will decline as cars get better mileage and as more electric vehicles hit the road.

The motor vehicle fuel tax, long the mainstay for highway funding in Wisconsin, is becoming unsustainable as a revenue source due to increased vehicle mileage and popularity of vehicles that use no fuel. Now is the time to consider a replacement.

Why would a citizenry want its government to require, by law, higher prices? At anytime, it’s a good question but, as veteran journalist Ken Wysocky points out, at a time of raging inflation, it takes on a new urgency.

It’s campaign season, so the only numbers that seem to matter to the mainstream media are the ones in polls.

As a way for funding an important public good — highways — Wisconsin’s gas tax was pretty good

Inside a $1.2 trillion bill, state Republicans say, is a progressive spending dream list 

As streetcar ridership and funding dwindle, alderman warns of long-term fiscal burden

Outdated Wisconsin law hampers electric automaker’s direct-sales business model

Highway funding, which relies on the gas tax, will be hard hit as fuel sales decline

The Hop, a $128 million streetcar that travels a 2.1-mile loop in downtown Milwaukee, is a classic boondoggle made possible by federal grants (i.e., taxpayer money). Meanwhile, the Joseph Project, a Milwaukee transportation enterprise that rejects government funding, is helping central city residents secure good-paying manufacturing jobs in neighboring counties. With a small fleet of church vans (most of them donated), the Joseph Project creates taxpayers instead of fleecing them.

Video shows how The Hop fleeces taxpayers while the Joseph Project creates them.

Poor pavement condition and high spending mean the state isn’t getting top value from its highway dollars

A tolling system on our interstate highways will make sure that all cars using our roads, even those from out of state, will contribute toward their upkeep and maintenance.

State funding for local roads should be used only for projects that create better and more efficient transportation routes or spur economic development.

Wisconsin needs to face the reality of declining fuel-tax revenue and transition to per-mile charges

The Department of Transportation now has the opportunity to study tolling as a path forward to fix our crumbling infrastructure

A better way to help the disabled get to work.