Robert Poole is Director of Transportation Policy and Searle Freedom Trust Transportation Fellow at Reason Foundation.
Poole, an MIT-trained engineer, advised the Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush administrations on infrastructure issues.
Surface Transportation
In the field of surface transportation, Poole has advised the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, the White House Office of Policy Development, National Economic Council, Government Accountability Office, and state DOTs in numerous states.
Poole's 1988 policy paper proposing privately financed toll lanes to relieve congestion directly inspired California's landmark private tollway law (AB 680), which authorized four pilot toll projects including the successful 91 Express Lanes in Orange County. More than 20 other states and the federal government have since enacted similar public-private partnership legislation. In 1993, Poole oversaw a study that coined the term HOT (high-occupancy toll) Lanes, a term which has become widely accepted since.
California Gov. Pete Wilson appointed Poole to the California's Commission on Transportation Investment and he also served on the Caltrans Privatization Advisory Steering Committee, where he helped oversee the implementation of AB 680.
From 2003 to 2005, he was a member of the Transportation Research Board's special committee on the long-term viability of the fuel tax for highway finance. In 2008 he served as a member of the Texas Study Committee on Private Participation in Toll Roads, appointed by Gov. Rick Perry. In 2009, he was a member of an Expert Review Panel for Washington State DOT, advising on a $1.5 billion toll mega-project. In 2010, he was a member of the transportation transition team for Florida's Governor-elect Rick Scott. He is a member of two TRB standing committees: Congestion Pricing and Managed Lanes.
Aviation
Poole is a member of the Government Accountability Office's National Aviation Studies Advisory Panel and he has testified before the House and Senate's aviation subcommittees on numerous occasions. Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Poole consulted the White House Domestic Policy Council and the leadership of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee.
He has also advised the Federal Aviation Administration, Office of the Secretary of Transportation, White House Office of Policy Development, National Performance Review, National Economic Council, and the National Civil Aviation Review Commission on aviation issues. Poole is a member of the Critical Infrastructure Council of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation and of the Air Traffic Control Association.
Poole was among the first to propose the commercialization of the U.S. air traffic control system, and his work in this field has helped shape proposals for a U.S. air traffic control corporation. A version of his corporation concept was implemented in Canada in 1996 and was more recently endorsed by several former top FAA administrators.
Poole's studies also launched a national debate on airport privatization in the United States. He advised both the FAA and local officials during the 1989-90 controversy over the proposed privatization of Albany (NY) Airport. His policy research on this issue helped inspire Congress' 1996 enactment of the Airport Privatization Pilot Program and the privatization of Indianapolis' airport management under Mayor Steve Goldsmith.
General Background
Robert Poole co-founded the Reason Foundation with Manny Klausner and Tibor Machan in 1978, and served as its president and CEO from then until the end of 2000. He was a member of the Bush-Cheney transition team in 2000. Over the years, he has advised the Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush administrations on privatization and transportation policy.
Poole is credited as the first person to use the term "privatization" to refer to the contracting-out of public services and is the author of the first-ever book on privatization, Cutting Back City Hall, published by Universe Books in 1980. He is also editor of the books Instead of Regulation: Alternatives to Federal Regulatory Agencies (Lexington Books, 1981), Defending a Free Society (Lexington Books, 1984), and Unnatural Monopolies (Lexington Books, 1985). He also co-edited the book Free Minds & Free Markets: 25 Years of Reason (Pacific Research Institute, 1993).
Poole has written hundreds of articles, papers, and policy studies on privatization and transportation issues. His popular writings have appeared in national newspapers, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Forbes, and numerous other publications. He has also been a guest on network television programs such as Good Morning America, NBC's Nightly News, ABC's World News Tonight, and the CBS Evening News. Poole writes a monthly column on transportation issues for Public Works Financing.
Poole earned his B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and did graduate work in operations research at New York University.
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Frequently Asked Questions: Why Should States Consider Leasing Their Toll Roads?
Why lease an asset? Won't toll rates go up? Isn't this a terrible time to consider leasing infrastructure?
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Surface Transportation News: Diverting Gas Taxes to Amtrak, Toll Road Traffic Recovering, Hyperloop and More
Plus: The fiscal impact of automated vehicles, a poll on gas taxes and mileage fees, a ruling on availability payments being debt, and more.
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Trump, Unions Call For More Taxpayer-Funded Airline Bailouts
Paying tens of thousands of airline employees not to work for three more years—waiting for air travel to return to pre-pandemic levels— makes no sense for federal taxpayers or airlines.
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Aviation Policy News: Commercial Airlines’ Turbulent and More Competitive Future
Plus: Environmental groups blast planned supersonic aircraft, could hydrogen be the answer for greener aviation, long-term P3 back in play in St. Louis, and more.
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America Needs to Prioritize Rebuilding and Modernizing Interstate Highways
“The interstates have long been the backbone of our country’s transportation system, but most of them have exceeded their design lives and in many places are worn and overused."
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Surface Transportation News: Coronavirus and Traffic Congestion, Hyperloop Feasibility, and More
Plus: The collision ahead for electric trucks and infrastructure, testing mileage-based user fees, concerned scientists vs. ride-hailing, and more.
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Why Florida Should Shift from Gas Taxes to Per-Mile User Fees— and How to Do It
This policy brief focuses on how Florida policymakers can address the looming highway-funding problem by transitioning from per-gallon taxes to per-mile charges.
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Aviation Policy News: Feeling Comfortable Flying During Coronavirus and the Math on an FAA Bailout
Plus: Technology to clean airline cabins during the coronavirus pandemic, battle of European airport slots, reducing emissions, and more.
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Why the New House Transportation Bill Wouldn’t Achieve Its Environmental Goals
If Congress really wanted to make transportation greener, it would provide more incentives for electric vehicles and encourage intercity buses to take Amtrak’s place.
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Surface Transportation News: High-Speed Rail Proposal, Infrastructure Stimulus, and More
Plus: How coronavirus is impacting automated vehicle development, private financing infrastructure trends, and more.
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Aviation Policy News: Airlines Get Changes to Stimulus Bill, Bad GPS Decision, Mask Mandate, and More
Plus: The problems with the airport grants in the CARES Act, contract towers still more cost-effective than FAA-run air traffic control towers, and more.
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Annual Privatization Report 2020 — Transportation Finance
This report reviews developments in the infrastructure investment fund world, focusing on transportation.
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Annual Privatization Report 2020 — Aviation
This report reviews developments worldwide and in the United States regarding private-sector participation in airports, air traffic control, and airport security.
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Surface Transportation News: Improving I-35 in Texas, Opening Up Interstate Rest Areas, and More
Plus: Calls for New Jersey to further subsidize transit, CAFE and SAFE emission regulations, and more.
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Central Planning of Airline Service Is a Bad Idea — Even If Airlines Took Bailouts
Airlines are required to continue serving all the points they served on the date the coronavirus stimulus bill passed, regardless of whether they have any passengers.
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Aviation Policy News: Bailout Terms for Airlines and How COVID-19 Will Change the Airline Industry
Plus: Why airports are faring much better than airlines during the pandemic, thinking bigger about remote/digital towers, and more.
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Surface Transportation News: Infrastructure Stimulus Bill, Highway Investment and COVID-19
Plus: How COVID-19 could change transportation, how Congress could foster productive investment in highways, priced managed lanes for Chicago, and more.
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The Airlines and Boeing Don’t Deserve Special Treatment In Coronavirus Stimulus Bill
Taxpayers should not be put at financial risk by lending their money to poorly-run businesses.