West Coast distance charge programs: an open market as the gateway to implementation in the United States
Now known are the technologies, systems and many of the appropriate policies for adopting and implementing a fully functioning, operational distance charge system for light vehicles in the United States, alongside emergence of a supporting commercial market. As this article notes, many US states are headed in this direction especially in the western part of the nation. The new US federal grant program greatly assists the states in these investigations. The next steps toward a distance charge mandate in the United States are, in essence, political. As the general public and policy makers in the United States gain more intimate knowledge of distance charge models, political support should improve (provided the public continues to accept the longstanding user pays policy for road funding). If during this process, discovery of additional helpful technological, systemic or policy measures occurs, states will adopt them and further improve the chances for adoption of a mandate for distance charging in the near term. Widespread, mandated distance charging in the United States is not that far away.
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