InfoHive – Transportation

Who should have their eyes and ears open on this veto? Everyone involved in building roads, financing roads, supporting bond policies… you’re all impacted with this, drivers- you too. Manufacturers moving good around- you too…. so let’s get some takeaways to improve our arguments and get infrastructure built with fewer road bumps…and fewer puns…

What did Governor Newsom in California veto? SB 1351 (2020 | CA) which was $5 billion for bond financing for roads and transportation infrastructure

Why did he veto bond financing for roads?

• California’s budget calls for pay as you go financing
• He does not support long term debt obligation for maintenance of infrastructure
• Caltrans needs access to future revenues for roads and bridges and the bill locks up future revenue with debt financing

SB 1351 Veto Message by Governor Newsom

LandLine | California governor vetoes road bond bill

What obstacles are cities trying to overcome in EV awareness:

• Most people can’t name an EV make and model
• Don’t think there are enough chargers
• Don’t know about incentives programs

How are cities combating this in the new economy?

• St. Petersburg, FL & The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy are offering virtual EV ride alongs
• City of Orlando, the Electrification Coalition, and the Climate Challenge, the Orlando Utilities Commission have a new incentive program for buyers & dealers
•  City of Indianapolis—in partnership with its Clean Cities Coalition, and Forth Mobility through the Climate Challenge hosting virtual workshops on workplace charging
• City of San Antonio Office of Sustainability partnered with the Alamo Area Council of Governments and Forth Mobility to put on a series of virtual events focused on EV basics, the EV landscape in Texas, and electric mobility options beyond the personal vehicle, such as electric bikes, trucks, buses
• Seattle, WA: local credit union ExpressCU partnered with local environmental justice organization ECOSS to offer a Spanish-language virtual event about the benefits of EVs in general and ExpressCU’s innovative EV fair financing program in particular.
• San Jose and LA partnered with Forth Mobility, rideshare companies, and other stakeholders to offer English and Spanish language educational events about EVs for rideshare drivers

NRDc | Cities Turn to Virtual Electric Vehicle Education in 2020

The companies working on solar panels in and on truck beds? Worksport, a Toronto-based manufacturer of pickup-truck accessories

How could it work?

• bed-mounted batteries
• stored energy to power appliances and tools at jobsites, campsites…

Will the solar panels only work in EV trucks? No, traditional fuel and hybrid trucks could also have solar power truck beds

Are there power generation estimates? On the Cybertruck, Elon Musk estimates 15 miles of range per day.

@physisinvest on instagram

Business Insider | A solar-panel bed cover brings sustainable power to gas-powered pickups — and could someday help charge EV pickups from Rivian, Ford, and GM

If you’re an autonomous vehicle manufacturer, how do you monitor drivers? Well, you could put a camera in the rear view camera

What would this camera monitor? Driver’s eyes. Eyes open? Eyes closed? Looking down? Sunglasses? Did the driver’s head turn to look somewhere?

How was this camera made public? A hacker discovered it

The data privacy questions for business, insurance, privacy advocates, legislative work, regulatory work:

• can a company keep this data?
• for how long?
• does it have to be disclosed to the driver? to law enforcement in an accident? to insurance companies?
• what happens if the data is hacked?

Electrek | Tesla hacker reveals what driver-facing camera is looking for

The City: Seattle, WA

The sales tax: 0.1% to 0.15%

The estimated revenue from the sales tax? $42 million a year

Voter approval required? Yes

Which tax sources were rejected?

• 0.1% sales tax with $60 car tab fees that would have raised $56 million a year
• a 0.2% sales tax was rejected because of the regressive nature of sales taxes
• transportation bonds
• construction impact fees were rejected as the funds are limited to infrastructure

The Stranger | Washington Is Stuck Funding Transit with a Sales Tax

Utah is considering road-use charge to supplement the state gas tax.

Has Utah dabbled in road use tax? Yes, Utah collects a road use tax from some alternative-fuel vehicle owners

How is Utah’s road use tax structured?  2,000 enrolled vehicle owners the option to pay a $120 flat fee or a 1.5-cent-per-mile fee.

LandLine | Utah panel discusses road-use charge

Utah | Road Use Charge Program

Which state is considering regulation of road trains? North Dakota

What is a road train? road trains span to 200-feet long and weigh close to half a million pounds and travel on ordinary roadways

Where are road trains in use? The Australian Outback

What type of roads are perfect for road trains? Long, straight stretches of lightly traveled roads

What types of limitations is North Dakota considering in their pilot?

• No moving of hazardous materials like oil
• Shorter than 200 feet length of the trains 

KXNET | Legislature studying “Road Trains” for North Dakota

Uber’s delivery service adjusted net revenue exceeds that of its ride share service.

Does that mean the ride share program disappears? No, the two exist to support each division such as in times like a global pandemic.

Tech Crunch | Uber’s delivery business is now larger than ride-hailing

UPDATE: COVID + Ride Share. Moving Forward

How can Ride Share Move Forward with COVID?

• Delivery Service. Uber signed up 500,000 restaurants by June worldwide for delivery service. That’s 50% more than last year.
•  New cleaning standards. Uber provides cleaning supplies and masks for drivers. 
• New ride requirements like masks & self-certifying that riders are symptom-free of COVID-19

Bankrate | The future of rideshare services after COVID-19

The City: Seattle

The minimum wage proposal is part of Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan’s “Fare Share” program with has also imposed ride share fees.

The policy questions on how to distribute a minimum wage to gig drivers:

• whether the driver uses ride share as his principle source of income
• whether the driver uses ride share as a means to earn extra cash
• current legislative draft: pay drivers $0.56 per minute
• why $0.56 per minute, because if they spend 50% of their time waiting for a share ride, this rate would put them at Seattle’s minimum wage

What do the City’s economists from New School  & University of California Berkeley say? Current average driver take-home pay is about $9.73 per hour

What does the industry economist from Cornell say? Drivers earn about $23.25 per hour, above Seattle’s minimum wage.

Geek Wire | Debate over Uber and Lyft driver pay comes to a head as Seattle prepares to set minimum wage

NY Times | Seattle Passes Minimum Pay Rate for Uber and Lyft Drivers

The City: Seattle

The Hazard pay for delivery drivers in the time of COVID was funded by CARES Act proceeds and contained in SEATTLE COUNCIL CB 119799 (2020)

The amount of the hazard pay: extra $2.50 per order in addition to their usual pay

Potential penalties: penalties for noncompliance can range up to $546.07 per “aggrieved party” for a first offense

Eater Seattle | DoorDash and Postmates Pay Out More Than $350,000 to Seattle Gig Workers Due to Hazard Pay Law