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[quote user="wabash1"] In what might be the only intelegent statement being made on here in 2 days, and several pages but just what does tolls and the highway system haft to do with trains . this topic is way off course, and the only thing it has in common is your trying to link trailers and railroads, just my 2 cents [/quote] The thread was about saving fuel as a collective benefit to the country by shifting truck freight to rail, and accomplishing this by a public subsidy to rail to create the necessary new infrastructure.  Part of the justification stated for the public subsidy was that trucks get a public subsidy, so rail should get one too.  As I recall, you made the point that trucks pay fees for their use of public roads, so there is no public subsidy for trucks.  Collectively paying for public roads led to the discussion of the possibility of private roads paid for by user fees, and paying tolls for premium fast lanes.  I brought up a system that would track vehicles and charge all drivers the entire cost of roadways through tolls.   <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p> The closest we have come to implementing this system are several state proposals to eliminate the gas tax per gallon, and replace it with a tax per mile, which basically amounts to a toll.  This system would require a state mandated GPS unit in every vehicle that would keep track of where each driver goes and the roads driven on.  It would calculate a charge for the miles driven.  When you go to a gas station to buy gas, the GPS unit would present a total bill for the mileage, and it would be paid when you pay for the gas purchase.  Then the gas station would send the tax collected to the state.  So you would be paying the tax at the gas station as you do now, but it would be a tax on miles driven rather than a tax per gallon of gas.  Basically the new system would turn every road into a toll road, and turn every gas station into a tollbooth.   At the same time, there are many other ideas emerging that could be accomplished by a GPS tracker, and it would be ideal to combine them with the tax collection GPS device.  One idea is congestion pricing that raises the amount of the toll as traffic congestion increases.  Another idea is to automatically control the vehicle speed so it cannot exceed the speed limit.  Another idea is to enforce eco driving, so drivers accelerate slowly and have less need for braking.  Certainly this system will require your seatbelt to be fastened just to start the engine.
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