Robert Poole
Director of Transportation Policy, Reason Foundation
Robert Poole is director of transportation policy and Searle Freedom Trust Transportation Fellow at Reason Foundation.
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A Tale of Two Space Launch Vehicles
The contrast between NASA and SpaceX launch vehicles is profound and points the way toward increased, and lower-cost, access to space.
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Increasing the Use of Private Activity Bonds for Infrastructure Projects
It is time to think bigger about the potential for private investment in transportation infrastructure.
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A New Challenge to U.S. Highway Public-Private Partnerships
A revenue-risk concession is a highway business, which has the kind of direct customer-provider relationship that you have with your cell-phone company and other service providers.
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On High-Speed Rail, Look at the Costs and Results Before You Leap
President-elect Joe Biden has talked about a “rail revolution” that would include large increases in funding for Amtrak and potentially coast-to-coast high-speed rail service.
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How Public-Private Partnerships Can Help Truckers and Highways
Long-term toll concessions, like one proposed in Denver, are the trucking industry’s best hope for achieving its goal of a rebuilt and modernized Interstate highway system.
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It’s Time For More Private Investment in Transportation Infrastructure
Other countries are far ahead of the United States in routinely tapping private investment via long-term public-private partnerships.
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Why Metro Denver Should Consider the E-470 Toll Road Lease Proposal
A private company says it would pay off the toll road’s $1.9 billion debt, spend nearly $2 billion on improvements to the highway, and lower toll rates for E-470’s most frequent users.
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An Attack on Pedestrian Safety Campaign and How We Talk About Transportation Policies
A well-meaning pedestrian safety effort generates ire.
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Federal Public-Private Partnership Legislation: A Modest Proposal For Transportation Projects
There is a case for bipartisan agreement on policy changes that cost the government nothing but would increase the extent to which private capital is invited to invest in rebuilding America’s aging infrastructure.
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Would Leasing a Toll Road Contradict the Users-Pay Principle?
Under the toll road leases that exist worldwide today, customers are protected from outsize rate increases, and their toll payments are used, properly, for the capital and operating costs of the toll road.
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Satellite-Broadband Service Is the Best Way to Get Internet Access to Rural America
Throwing billions of taxpayers' dollars at rural broadband projects is not the answer to the digital divide.
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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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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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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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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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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.
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Florida Legislators’ War on Tolling Comes With Costs
The ways the financial bond market and rating agencies have reacted to the state's anti-tolling measures should be a big wake up call to the governor and state legislature.
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Florida’s Anti-Toll Legislation Threatens the State’s Economy
Florida has $10 billion in planned toll projects in the pipeline. These projects are now in peril unless the state’s recent anti-toll policies are reversed.