politicalcivility.com Blog

Rep. Rob Bishop came to the Sutherland blogger briefing this morning and shared some thoughts on energy policy in the US and his proposal to affect compreshensive change versus the piecemeal approach we have seen over the last 20 or so years.  Ethan Millard over at SLCSpin posed the question of why hasn’t Congress done anything substantive to mitigate the issues we are now facing, when they’ve been looking at this data for more than a decade.  Bishop’s remark revealed human nature at work in DC.  It just wasn’t painful enough for people to make real change.

I guess time will tell if the voters feeling the pain at the pump translates in to pain at the ballot box for incumbents not used to listening to the broader population.

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Bishop is part of a Western Republican Caucus that will be shortly announcing a comprehensive energy policy platform that focuses on THREE areas

1. Incentivizing New and Current Forms of Conservation
2. Boosting Production of ALL Energy Forms from Wind to Coal and Everything in Between
3. Innovation in Energy Solutions from Energy Sources to Energy Delivery Systems

Also in the plan are 12 Steps (reminds me of an AA meeting) to facilitating these strategies.  The overall goal of their proposal is energy independence for the United States.

Okay, now that I’ve complained about the sad state of the UTA, my next question to myself is, “Fine, Lyall, what do you propose?  It does little good to be an armchair quarterback.” 

With that in mind, I look to principles of good government.  I am not arguing that public transportation does not have a role, but why do we assume that the state government should run the program.  Why not open up the system to the private sector to compete over transportation alongside the UTA?  The UTA, based on the audit, is obviously showing signs of a monopoly.  Prices are going up, service is going down, and a constant stream of red flowing from their balance sheet.

I think we could learn a lot from Indianapolis while under the leadership of Mayor Stephen Goldsmith.  In his book, “The Twenty-first Century City,” he speaks about meaningful ways to introduce competition and thus innovation in to services that local and state governments have performed over the past 50 years.  It is interesting to note that not all of Goldsmith’s city services ended up in the hands of the “private” sector.  He makes an important distinction that privatization is not the end goal.  A private monopoly is just as bad as a public monopoly.  Competition is the key.  It’s time to let the UTA compete with the local entrepreneur to deliver a service that for many of our neighbors in need is a key service.

Final Low Lights:

(4) Subsidized Total Cost per Passenger Boarding

• Bus: 87% or $5.11
• Light Rail: 86% or $3.51
• Vanpool: 75% or $3.53
• Paratransit: 92% or $36.82

In sum, this means that the Utahns are subsidizing public transportation to the tune of $162 Million in 2006.  All this for a service that does little to relieve congestion, adds significant amounts of pollution, and lacks oversight and accountability.

More Lowlights:

(2) 4.5% of traffic using some form of mass transit.  The most opptimistic estimates put usage of mass transit at 7% in 2030.  The problem is given population increases over that same time, mass transit is going to do little or nothing to reduce congestion, and if bus use goes up, pollution will actually be worse as car emissions are reduced by technology.

(3) Lack of independence and lack of accountability: the state audit found that:

“We are concerned about the strength of the board’s oversight.  We question whether the board is prepared to ask questions regarding such matters as the adequacy of ridership data, the level of taxpayer subsidy, and whether UTA has an appropriate pricing strategy.”

The UTA is a mess on many fronts.  Last week the Utah legislature received an audit of the UTA.

 Lowlight (1): UTA adding significantly to pollution woes.  From the Audit:

“In fact, buses create more NOx (really bad pollution fumes) than if all 2006 transit passenger miles had been traveld in passenger cars.”