[sustran] Re: hgtrans: distance based fuel tax technology test

[pjavsicas at earthlink.net]

Doesn't seem like a great leap in technology to then adjust the on board
chip for the vehicle's fuel efficiency - or emissions rating.

Peter Javsicas

Original Message:
-----------------
From: Eric Bruun ericbruun at earthlink.net
Date: Thu, 16 Sep 2004 21:51:09 -0400
To: CONS-SPST-SPRAWL-TRANS at LISTS.SIERRACLUB.ORG,
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Subject: hgtrans: distance based fuel tax technology test


       
           
            Mileage Tax Road Tested 
           
           
           
           
                  Jul 20, 2004  
                  GPS World  
           
           
              
           
      Working under a grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation,
two engineering professors at Oregon State University designed and
demonstrated a GPS and wireless system for "vehicles miles traveled" (VMT)
that could replace the state?s gasoline tax. The system calculates how many
miles a vehicle has traveled since its last refueling, computes a fee, and
adds it to the fuel cost while the vehicle is still at the fuel pump. 
      Watchdogs have already objected that such a system would charge the
same mileage rate for gas-guzzling SUVs, super-efficient hybrid cars, and
everything in between. Others have pointed to a potential threat to
privacy. (Impetus for the project actually came from projections that
increased fuel efficiency could reduce state revenues from gas taxes to the
point, as early as 2014, that it could no longer maintain road
infrastructures.) 

      On the plus side, using GPS in the on-vehicle device gives the
capability to implement "congestion pricing" ? charging different per-mile
rates based on roads or regions traveled, or times of day. It could also
exclude miles driven outside state borders. 

      In a May demonstration, researchers David Kim and David Porter drove
prototype vehicles through zones set up within the city of Corvallis to
demonstrate how the system counts miles and then wireless incorporates the
user fee into fuel purchases at test gas pumps. AFX Technologies
International of Dallas, Texas, customized the in-vehicle units, based on
its Mobile Minion asset tracking product, which uses Trimble?s Lassen SQ
GPS module. 

      The VMT will start a pilot trial with 400 volunteer drivers in
Eugene, Oregon later this year.  


       
           
      
     



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