Robin Briggs#PSRC Transportation Policy Board meeting today on how to close the emissions gap and meet our 50% GHG reduction goal. Good news! There is a way. But, not easy.
They looked at 3 policies. First is a Road Usage Change of .25/mile. For comparison, the current plan assumes .10/mile peak and .05/mile off peak, and the State is currently planning for 2.7/mile. At current prices and average mileage, gas is about .20/mile now. Obv this would require much better transit.
Next is work from home 20%. For comparison during the pandemic it was about 33%, and before the pandemic about 8%.
Last is faster EV adoption, assume 100% new vehicles are EV by 2030. State currently figures this to be 65%.
Taken together, these 3 get us about a 50% reduction in GHG by 2030. But this requires doing all three, getting State permission for the RUC, and using the RUC revenue to improve transit. This is a reach.
What can we do? We need to push forward on land use changes so that improving transit by itself will make much more improvement. I'm hoping more for more modeling on that option.
We need to advocate at the State level for a local overlay on the RUC, and for flexible spending.
And we need to work at our local level to get a good Comprehensive Plan in every jurisdiction, such that these goals are actually achievable.