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This study used data from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey California Add-On sample to explore how replacing the current state vehicle fuel tax with a flat-per-mile-rate road-user charge (RUC) would affect costs for different kinds of households. We first estimated how household vehicle fuel efficiency, mileage, and fuel tax expenditures vary by geography (rural vs. urban) and by income. These findings were then used to estimate how much different types of households pay in the current per-gallon state fuel tax, what they would pay if the state were to replace fuel taxes with a flat-rate road-usage charge (RUC) that would generate revenues similar to the current state fuel tax (2.52¢ per mile driven), and the difference in household expenditures between the fuel tax and RUC. We find that rural households tend to drive more miles and own less fuel-efficient vehicles than urban ones, so they pay comparatively more in fuel tax and would pay more with the RUC as well. However, this rural/urban variation is less for the RUC than the fuel tax, so moving to a flat-rate RUC would redistribute some of the overall tax burden from rural households (that drive more miles in fuel-thirsty vehicles) to urban households (that drive fewer miles in more fuel-efficient vehicles). Transitioning from the fuel tax to RUC would also generally shift the fuel tax burden from lower-income to higher-income households, with one exception: expenditures would rise for low-income urban households. However, the variation in the tax incidence between the gas tax and RUC is quite modest, amounting to less than one dollar per week for both urban and rural households at all income levels.

The COVID-19 pandemic occasioned significant financial distress and uncertainty for many U.S. transit operators. In the face of this crisis, the federal government provided substantial supplemental operating support. To understand how this fiscal turmoil and relief have affected U.S. transit systems, we conducted two nationwide surveys of transit agency staff in 2020 and 2021-2022. While pandemic-induced financial shortfalls affected service in 2020, with capital projects delayed too, these effects became much more muted by 2021/2022. Most systems reported moderate to substantial increases in federal funding during the pandemic, more so than other funding categories. However, nearly half foresee financial shortfalls once federal relief funding expires. Agencies with higher pre-pandemic ridership and farebox recovery are particularly affected by fare revenue losses and more likely to anticipate shortfalls. In the near term, difficulty hiring and retaining front-line workers was a pressing concern, while very few had plans to maintain pandemic fare suspensions.

In the United States, roughly one-third of students in public and private K-12 schools ride a school bus to school; in Georgia, that share is even higher (46%). But policy differences between and within states complicate explanations of school trip mode choice. To address this and create a consistent choice set, this article uses the 2017 National Household Travel Survey Georgia Add-On to construct a statewide analysis of school trip mode choice among school-bus-eligible students, as Georgia state law requires students receive a bus service if they live 1.5 mi or more from school, creating a consistent choice set. I use a binary logistic regression model and marginal effects to determine factors predicting school bus use on morning trips to school in Georgia among a suite of trip, individual, household, and environmental characteristics. I find that Black students, older students, and students in greater Atlanta are more likely to use a school bus, while students who live further from school, girls, students who have at least one parent with a college degree, and students who have at least one parent with a flexible work schedule are less likely to do so. Additionally, for those who are age-eligible, possessing a driver’s license strongly predicts not using a school bus. Notably, neither family income nor family structure are significant predictors of school bus use. Ultimately, these findings have implications for state school bus policy in Georgia and help elucidate who uses this important service so that resources can be directed appropriately.

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