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<\/p>\nSacramento, CA…The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is recruiting volunteers who reside and travel in rural and tribal communities to participate in the latest testing phase of a \u201croad charge\u201d pilot. Up to 500 volunteers will participate in a seven-month simulated road charge system, which charges drivers based on the number of miles they travel rather than the amount of gas they use to support the state\u2019s critical transportation infrastructure. There will be no cost to participate, and upon completion, volunteers will be eligible to receive an incentive of up to $250.<\/p>\n
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\u201cRural and tribal communities have unique travel needs and may interact with a road charge system in different ways,\u201d said Caltrans Director Tony Tavares. \u201cIt is essential that Caltrans understands their needs as it develops an equitable and convenient alternative to the gas tax.\u201d<\/p>\n
Starting in March 2023, the California Road Charge Public-Private Roads Project will explore the technical aspects of reporting mileage, as well as engage rural and tribal communities in a conversation about their communities\u2019 priorities in a potential road charge system to fund road and highway maintenance.<\/p>\n
This pilot will simulate how participants interact with a road charge system by reporting mileage and \u201cpaying\u201d mock invoices. The pilot will conduct surveys to gauge participants\u2019 preferences and experience.<\/p>\n
As vehicles become more fuel-efficient and the state\u2019s transition to zero-emission vehicles accelerates, Caltrans is researching possible alternatives to the state gas tax, which California has historically relied on to build and maintain the state\u2019s transportation system. Volatile oil prices and California\u2019s phasing out the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035 add increased urgency to research ways to bring long-term stability to transportation funding. For that reason, Caltrans is testing various methods to collect per-mile rather than per-gallon fees.<\/p>\n
This demonstration is funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation\u2019s Surface Transportation System Funding Alternatives Program and will build on Caltrans\u2019 previous road charge pilots: California\u2019s Road Charge Pilot in 2017, which introduced the road charge concept to Californians, and California\u2019s Four-Phase Demonstration, which tested the road charge concept across several platforms including pay-at-the-pump and electric vehicle charging station systems, usage-based insurance, transportation network company fleets, and automated vehicles.<\/p>\n
Volunteers interested in participating in the pilot \u2013 and the incentive of up to $250 \u2013 may visit http:\/\/www.caroadcharge.com\/projects\/public-private-roads-project\/ and complete the participant recruitment survey. Participants must be California residents over the age of 18. The pilot is employing the highest standards in data protection and safeguarding, ensuring that Caltrans will not receive any sensitive information from participants.<\/p>\n
To learn more about the California Road Charge Project and the Road Charge
\nProgram, please visit www.caroadcharge.com.<\/p>\n
###<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sacramento, CA…The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is recruiting volunteers who reside and travel in rural and tribal communities to participate in the latest testing phase of a \u201croad charge\u201d pilot. Up to 500 volunteers will participate in a seven-month simulated road charge system, which charges drivers based on the number of miles they travel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":155556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,4,1,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-life-style","category-news","category-traffic-fire","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Fullscreen-capture-282023-93904-AM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=155555"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":155557,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155555\/revisions\/155557"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/155556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=155555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=155555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=155555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}