SAE TOMORROW TODAY: Is The Rise of Evs The End of the Gas Tax?

With more and more consumers plugging in their cars instead of filling up their tanks, the gas tax is slowly eroding--just like many of our roads and bridges across the country. Less fuel tax means less money for repairing our decaying infrastructure, but Road Usage Charges (RUC) can change that. RUC -- also referred to as a vehicle miles traveled (VMT) fee, a distance-based user fee (DBF), or a mileage-based user fee (MBUF) -- charges motorists based on the number of miles they drive instead of the number of gallons of fuel they put into their vehicles. This evolution to a more usage-based model provides sustainability and fairness in paying for our roads and bridges as more and more consumers move to EVs. As a leading global engineering and professional services firm, WSP USA has led some of the largest and most successful RUC pilots in the country. These efforts have led to wider state consideration and enhanced regional interest in RUC as a viable future transportation funding source. For expert insight, we sat down with David S. Kim, SVP and Principal, National Transportation Policy and Multimodal Strategy for WSP USA, to discuss RUC and how more states are considering RUC funding as an option given the rise in EV ownership and impacts of inflation. He also share insight on transit agencies? complicated and expensive efforts to transition bus fleets to zero emission.