In This Issue

	Lawmakers look to Tax Airlines' Fees
	Fairfax Leaders complain about Deteriorating Roads
	Judge rejects Challenge to Metrolink Cameras that Monitor Engineers
	Obscure Provision Saves NJ’s Matching Federal Funds
	Congestion Pricing Proposed for Chicago
	Court Upholds Congestion Pricing Rule for Airlines
	AASHTO: Freight Industry Faces Infrastructure Crisis

Lawmakers look to Tax Airlines' Fees

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. House Democrats are considering legislation to tax the revenue airlines are collecting for checked bags, seat selection and other services. Airlines are increasingly relying on such fees to offset high fuel costs and low ticket sales. Ticket surcharge revenue rose 13% in the first three months of this year, to $1.3 billion, compared to the same period in 2009, according to government data.

Legislators criticized airlines for charging for items that came with the cost of a plane ticket until three years ago. House Transportation Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D., Minn.) and Rep. Jerry Costello (D., Ill.) held a hearing to decide whether legislation should be enacted to rein in the fees and make sure the government gets a portion of the revenue. "You can impose these taxes with impunity by calling it a fee," Rep. Oberstar said, adding that the fees are simply a "backdoor price increase."

Passenger fares are currently subject to a 7.5% excise tax, but ancillary fees are not included under the tax. If the excise tax was applied to baggage fees, which airlines made about $2.5 billion from last year, the government could have collected an additional $186 million in federal excise taxes, according to congressional investigators.

Governments charge fees all the time which makes this even more ironic. Whom do they think will eventually pay the taxes? They’ll be passed on to us, of course. I am not saying the airlines should be enriching themselves unchecked with their fee system, but the reality of what will happen is pretty clear. The airlines aren’t going to absorb such taxes in a goodwill gesture to their customers. It is the same situation when Congress wants to add taxes to the “big oil” companies. The trickledown theory works by passing all taxes to the consumer. TW

Fairfax Leaders complain about Deteriorating Roads

Virginia - The deterioration of the roads in Fairfax County has prompted the Fairfax Board of Supervisors to send a letter to state transportation officials to complain about county road conditions, saying they have received "hundreds of resident complaints." Supervisor Jeff McKay, D-Lee District, who proposed the letter, said VDOT officials need to address the county's road issues or inform the county about ways that local officials and residents can help out. "I've got crosswalks in front of Metro stations that don't have paint on them anymore," McKay said. "I've got school crossings that don't have paint anymore, I've got medians that aren't mowed and I've got trash laying along the roadsides."

State Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton said earlier this month that maintaining local streets was becoming "increasingly difficult," and that the state's first priority was to maintain and improve Virginia's highways and interstates. "We have limited resources," Connaughton said. In May, the department announced a program encouraging volunteers to cut grass on local medians. However, they are required to submit to a lengthy permit process before getting out their mowers.

"You'd need a lawyer to get that permit," McKay said. "[VDOT] needs to simplify the process by which people can help." Supervisor John Cook, R-Braddock, agreed to the letter, but said the board needs to stop blaming VDOT and look to Virginia officials to develop a solution.

Seems like the letter should be going to the people with power to raise money, not to those who can only spend what they are given. TW

Judge rejects Challenge to Metrolink Cameras that Monitor Engineers

California - A lawsuit claiming the Southern California commuter rail agency is violating employees' rights by using cameras to monitor train engineer activities has been dismissed by U.S. District Judge Percy Anderson in Los Angeles. The National Transportation Safety Board has ordered that all passenger rail systems install video systems similar to Metrolink's, which has placed cameras in both locomotive and passenger car control areas.

The cameras were prompted by the 2008 disaster in Chatsworth in which a Metrolink train ran a red light and slammed head on into a freight train. Twenty-five people died and more than 100 were injured. The NTSB determined the Metrolink engineer, who worked for a contractor, was distracted by text messaging when he ran the red light just before the collision.

The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen sued Metrolink in both federal and state court, claiming the rail agency exceeded its authority, failed to properly negotiate workplace changes and improperly trod into federal regulatory jurisdiction. Anderson threw out the entire lawsuit, after finding engineers retained disciplinary procedural rights and the union representing locomotive engineers failed to prove violations of federal regulations. The state case against Metrolink is continuing.

"The cameras are critical to making sure there are no rule violations in the cab area," said Metrolink board Chairman Keith Millhouse, an attorney who said the decision was legally sound and would boost safety efforts to the five-county rail system. "I think they lose from a legal standpoint, but also from a public perception standpoint. And I don't think they want to do that."

Public safety is involved. This is akin to pilots not wanting their statements recorded in the black box, or a public safety officer videotaped by a dash mounted camera while making an arrest. What are the engineers trying to hide? What don’t they want us to know about their performance while speeding down the track? TW

Obscure Provision Saves NJ’s Matching Federal Funds

New Jersey - Amid the fierce debate to raise the state gas tax by as much as 20 cents, a little-known provision has surfaced that could provide much-needed relief for officials struggling to find a way to fund the state’s transportation system. The federal transportation matching-funds legislation allows capital spending by toll road authorities to count as part of the state match, confirmed U.S. Highway Administration spokeswoman Nancy Singer.

The New Jersey Turnpike Authority’s massive 10-year capital program includes $1.3 billion in spending on capital projects in both 2011 and 2012, $1.2 billion in 2013 and more than $1.5 billion between 2014 and 2016. The Turnpike Authority’s expenditures are large enough for the state to qualify for $1.6 billion in annual federal transportation funding.

“The toll credit provisions of the federal aid program were clarified in 2005 to make it clear that debt service and toll revenue does not count, but that capital construction programs do,” Singer explained. “Not all states can take advantage of it, but New Jersey, which has a lot of toll roads, is able to use it.”

Congestion Pricing Proposed for Chicago

CHICAGO – Congestion pricing may be a solution to Chicago’s traffic woes, according to a federally-funded study from the Metropolitan Planning Council and the Illinois Tollway. After analyzing the concept for Chicago’s expressways, the MPC said congestion pricing fast lanes for the city’s peak travel times would be welcomed by drivers willing to pay $2.19 to $5.39 for a quicker commute.

“If you think traffic is bad now, it’s going to double in the next 20 years,” said the MPC’s Emily Tapia Lopez. Chicago traffic congestion is the third worst in the nation, with local drivers spending an average of two-and-a-half days per year sitting in traffic. The delays are estimated to cost the region $7.3 billion a year in wasted time, fuel and environmental damage.

The study recommends high occupancy tolls lanes that could benefit the region if installed on the Kennedy reversible lanes, the Jane Adams Tollway from I-290 to Elgin and the Stevenson from I-355 to downtown. In the Chicago model, I-55 drivers could cut 17 minutes from the commute between Midway airport and downtown by paying $1.75 to drive in the express lanes. Proponents of congestion pricing say the concept would encourage carpooling and make drivers reconsider driving during rush hour.

Researchers did not give a timeline for implementing the plans in the Chicago area if lawmakers approved the proposal. The Illinois Tollway already offers truckers a discount for traveling during off-peak hours.

Court Upholds Congestion Pricing Rule for Airlines

WASHINGTON – A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday rejected a challenge by the airline industry to the U.S. DOT’s regulation allowing airports to charge airlines more to land their planes during peak times in order to reduce delays. The department’s higher landing-fees rule was made final in 2008, in an effort to decrease congestion in the nation’s busiest airports.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously upheld the regulations, saying the “creativity” of regulators should be welcomed to relieve flight congestion. The petition by the Air Transportation Association, the carriers’ Washington trade group which represents companies including Delta Air lines, said the rule was discriminatory and unreasonable. The airlines claimed the rule wrongfully allowed state and local airport authorities to charge fees preempted by federal law and did not provide adequate guidance to airports on how the U.S. DOT would evaluate the reasonableness of the fees. “It is entirely reasonable to expect an airline, and in turn its passengers, to pay a premium for the opportunity to arrive at a peak time,” the court wrote.

AASHTO: Freight Industry Faces Infrastructure Crisis

A new study says the nation’s freight system, including highways, railroads, ports, waterways and airports, is facing a massive crisis as funding has slipped far below the amount needed to maintain, not to mention improve, movement of goods in America. In a news conference releasing the report in Pennsylvania, Gov. Edward Rendell stood at the Norfolk Southern Intermodal Facility in Harrisburg and said, “This report outlines what’s at stake if we fail to invest to meet the growing demands on our transportation infrastructure. This includes the roads, rails and seaports we need to move raw materials and goods to market and keep our economy globally competitive.”

The report, “Unlocking Freight,” compiled by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), identifies key projects in 30 states that would improve freight delivery and dependability, and calls for the development of a nationwide multimodal freight plan. This also includes a wide range of expansion infrastructure efforts, particularly for highways.

AASHTO President and Mississippi DOT executive Director Larry L. “Butch” Brown said, “The simple fact is: no transportation, no economy. They are inseparable. We must invest to maintain and strengthen the American ‘transconomy.’”