There has been considerable discussion about the extent to which motor-vehicle use in the US is "subsidized," making petroleum-based motor vehicle use more attractive than other transportation modes. Estimates of these subsidies vary widely, and in many cases can be criticized on methodological...

Analyses of the full social cost of motor vehicle use in the US often estimate an "oil import premium" that includes the military cost of defending oil supplies from the Persian Gulf. Estimates of this cost have ranged from essentially zero to upwards of a $1 per gallon (about $0.25 per liter)....

The demand for rail transit funds greatly exceeds available monies. Worse, there is wide-spread disagreement over the wisdom of building rail systems in American cities. The Urban Mass Transportation Administration’s (UMTA’s) transit analysis methods have relied on...

Electric vehicles (EV) are periodically promoted as quiet, pollution-free alternatives to gasoline vehicles. They have failed each time because of inferior performance and high costs. In this paper, we conduct an updated and detailed evaluation of the performance, costs, environmental impacts,...

Alternative vehicular fuels are proposed as a strategy to reduce urban air pollution. In this paper, we analyze the emission impacts of electric vehicles in California for two target years, 1995 and 2010. We consider a range of assumptions regarding electricity consumption of electric vehicles,...

Hydrogen is an especially attractive transportation fuel. It is the least populating fuel available, and can be produced anywhere there is water and a clean source of electricity. A fuel cycle in which hydrogen is produced by solar-electrolysis of water, or by gasification of renewably grown...

Transportation energy issues are moving to the forefront of the public consciousness in the U.S. and particularly California, and gaining increasing attention from legislators and regulators. The three principal concerns motivating interest in transportation energy are urban air quality, oil...

Population growth, continuing suburbanization, and higher labor-force-participation rates, combined with a virtual halt in new freeway construction, have led to rapid increases in traffic congestion in the U.S. This congestion is costly, for example, the cost of highway congestion in the Lose...

Electric vehicles (EV) are periodically promoted as quiet, pollution-free alternatives  gasoline vehicles. They have failed each time because of inferior performance and high costs. In this paper, we conduct an updated and detailed evaluation of the performance, costs, environmental impacts,...

Cities often opt for rail transit even when agency evaluations conclude that other alternatives are superior in performance and efficiency. The choice of light rail transit (LRT) in Sacramento, California serves as a case study. When adjustments are made for overstated assumptions and irregular...