This is one of those “every action causes an equal and opposite reaction” stories. When, or if,
California actually has no gas-powered vehicles on its roads by 2035, how will CalTrans fix those
roads? Currently, the state’s gas tax pays for filling pot holes, repaving, etc. its 51,326 miles of
highways.
Even if the state doesn’t reach its 2035 goal, that tax revenue is already threatened by more
fuel-efficient cars and trucks and the growing popularity of electric vehicles. But, CalTrans is
developing alternate income streams; one of them—a road charge—was presented by Justine
Kokx, CalTrans’ transportation planner, at Tuesday’s Inyo Board of Supervisors meeting.
CalTrans is launching a pilot study to test the road charge concept and is asking for volunteers
while dangling a $250 carrot to sweeten the deal. Here’s how the pilot study works:
Participants will have a plug-in device and mobile app installed in their vehicles. During the
seven-month trial period (March to September), the device will log the miles driven as well as
the roadways travelled on. The data “will be saved and stored securely through a third-party
account manager and vehicle location-specific data will be sanitized.” In other words, where the
car goes is not shared.
The reaction of the Supervisors ranged from Supervisor Jennifer Roeser not liking the
“enforcement piece” (there is no enforcement in the pilot study) to Supervisor Scott Marcellin,
who liked it and Supervisor Matt Kingsley who indicated he’d sign up.
Those interested in the “up to” $250 reward while having their mileage tracked can go to
www.caroadcharge.com for more information.
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the problem comes in not trusting the information to be shared….whether intentionally or not. I have to believe that this information could be subpoena’d by law enforcement. How about insurance companies…..they might be able to get it too. Hopefully they can come up with a different pay as you go process. Perhaps a simple, report your odometer reading once a year to DMV and pay via registration would work better
I missed the presentation, but it seems like reporting an odometer reading when renewing registration each year would be the easiest way to implement this.
I did some simple math-
Average CA driver mileage: ~12,500mi/yr.
I get about 20 mpg, so with the above number that’s 625 gallons of gas per year.
Current CA state excise tax is $0.539/gal.
As an average driver I pay ~$337 per year in gas tax.
Adding $300-$400 on top of registration which is already around $200 for an old truck would be really hard for a lot of people.
Sugarmags, most of us are shocked and appalled to learn that insurance companies already have access to mileage driven and not just through self reporting it. There are huge companies, a main one being LexisNexis, that mine data and sell it. Some of this is your odometer readings taken by mechanics when you get your car serviced – usually at dealerships and large corporate places like PepBoys, etc. (Most smaller, locally owned shops don’t do this) It’s given, or sold, to companies like CarFax and eventually makes its way to your insurance company where it is used, along with other info, in determining the price of your policy in California as miles driven per year is considered a risk factor. That’s nothing to compared to what they gather when people voluntarily sign up for the safe driving apps or put the devices in their cars in exchange for a discount.
“Road charge” in other words TRAVEL TAX
Lauren Prehoda of Caltrans presented the pilot program, not Justine Kokx. Thank you.