SB1 Sec 48(a) ZEV Finance Research with ITS Davis
As the market share of zero-emissions hydrogen and electric vehicles increases in California, the motor vehicle fuel tax becomes less applicable as a user fee, and declining revenues could produce shortfalls for maintaining the transportation system. The authors of SB1 sought policy options to raise usage-based revenues from electric and zero-emissions transportation system users.This research was specified in SB1 as a study for the University of California at Davis. Professor Martin Wachs, an internationally-renowned transportation finance expert member of the SB 1077 Road User Charge Technical Advisory Committee, is assisting research at UC Davis with this study.
Falling Transit Ridership: California and Southern California
In the last ten years transit use in Southern California has fallen significantly. This report investigates that falling transit use. The project examines patterns of transit service and patronage over time and across the region and considers an array of explanations for falling transit use: declining transit service levels, eroding transit service quality, rising fares, falling fuel prices, the growth of Lyft and Uber, the migration of frequent transit users to outlying neighborhoods with less transit service, and rising vehicle ownership. While all of these factors probably play some role, the research concludes that the most significant factor is increased motor vehicle access, particularly among low-income households that have traditionally supplied the region with its most frequent and reliable transit users.
The Role of Accessibility in Delayed Retirement
The population of California is aging as life expectancy increases and birth rates decline. Projections from the U.S. Census Bureau show that by 2030, the number of seniors in California will increase to 10.6 million, almost a quarter of the state population. Closely related, but far less studied, is the aging of the workforce as the population ages and many older people delay retirement either because they enjoy working or depend upon earned income to meet their needs. From a recent low of less than 6 percent of the working population, the share of employed Americans who are older than age 60 has climbed to over 10 percent of all workers and is projected to exceed 13 percent of the employed population by the middle of the next decade. The objective of this study is to determine, using data from the California Household Travel Survey, whether there is a relationship in California between mobility and delayed retirement.