- San Francisco Examiner: Scooter-sharing advocates urge SFMTA to keep electric mopeds accessible to residents
POLITICO Morning Transportation for 8/19/2015
By JENNIFER SCHOLTES
NOT-SO-HUMBLEBRAG: We’re blushing, Carly Fiorina. Apparently our story this week on the TSA’s body scanners prompted the Republican presidential candidate to pen a one-star Yelp review about the federal agency and then to tweet from her official campaign account about her digs. Citing the $160 million equipment price tag we divulged and the TSA’s 96 percent failure rate in covert testing, Fiorina writes that “unfortunately, these stories of inept federal bureaucracies have become far too common.” She then follows in the review with nearly 200 words of boilerplate candidate speak about how “The American people are tired of a professional political class that speaks in platitudes and cannot get anything done.” Fiorina’s Tweet: http://bit.ly/1MC0RRB. The TSA’s Yelp page: http://bit.ly/1E4dORh. The story that sparked her ire: http://politico.pro/1Njl92f.
The AP reported (http://abcn.ws/1HV7erj) yesterday that “federal agencies will be joining the ranks of beauty salons, taco stands and other services reviewed on Yelp, and the U.S. government says it will take the online ratings into account to improve what the government calls ‘customer satisfaction.’”
RENEWED TRADE TALKS HINGE ON AUTO DEAL: As trade negotiators zero in on a Trans-Pacific Partnership deal, the pressure is on to close out a compromise on auto rules — and quickly. Pro’s Doug Palmer, who spent much of his summer in Hawaii reporting on the trade talks there, explains this week how the auto issues didn’t get much attention in the past but could now be the thorniest to resolve:
“No doubt about it, automotive ‘rules of origin’ are among the most complicated, mind-boggling and politically sensitive issues that Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiators will tackle over the next several weeks as they scramble to wrap up the trade talks. The controversial rules determine whether imported autos and parts can get tariff cuts or duty-free treatment under the agreement based on how much of their contents come from countries in the pact. That makes them complicated because an average car contains something like 15,000 parts from around the world; mind-boggling because there are several different ways to measure how much of a car is produced within the confines of a free-trade agreement; and politically sensitive because unions and parts manufacturers favor strict rules to protect jobs at home.”
Tick tock: The auto rules-of-origin issue was one of the major hang-ups that caused trade officials to ultimately walk away from the negotiating table in Maui without a deal after Canada and Mexico objected to a plan Japan and the U.S. had agreed upon for looser rules than allowed under NAFTA. Now, negotiators are scurrying to find middle ground in time for Congress to act on the plan before the 2016 election season grows near enough to further politicize the deal and dash its chances at approval.
Pros get all the details from Doug: http://politico.pro/1MCeRuK.
IT’S WEDNESDAY: Good morning and thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and ports.
Reach out: jscholtes@politico.com or @jascholtes.
“I ran through the terminal building to fly by my airline. The man said I could ride the wing, and I said that was fine.” http://bit.ly/1JfLhUH (H/t Shane Downey)
DEBRIEF INTERVIEW WITH FEMA HEAD: As the 10th anniversary of Katrina quickly approaches, current FEMA head Craig Fugate explains how the agency rebuilt after its huge fumble in New Orleans — and reveals the natural disaster he’s most worried about now. Find out on this week’s Debrief video from The Agenda: http://politi.co/1Plxlxg
DOMESTIC AIRFARE CONTINUES STEADY RISE: U.S. travelers paid an average of $388 per domestic ticket in the first quarter of this year, DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported this week: http://1.usa.gov/1J2pMK8. That new average amounts to a 1.7 percent or $6 jump from the same period last year, adjusted for inflation. The average accounts mostly for roundtrip flights, but about a third of the total reflects one-way trips. DOT explains that first-quarter fares rose nearly 8 percent from the recession-affected low of $348 in 2009 to the first quarter of 2011 and then showed little change thereafter, increasing only 3.3 percent from 2011 to 2015. At the high in 1999, first-quarter fares averaged $475.
CONSUMER GROUP SLAMS GOOGLE-NASA DRONE DEAL: Adam Sneed writes for Morning Tech that Consumer Watchdog is setting its sights on another Google project, this time saying the company’s drone-testing deal with NASA gives it an unfair advantage. The consumer advocacy group is asking NASA’s inspector general to end the pact, reported last week by The Guardian (http://bit.ly/1PkOuXM), that gives Google a way to test drones despite the FAA’s ban on commercial operations of unmanned aircraft. Consumer Watchdog says Google has benefited unfairly by operating drones outside of the public eye, at least until its recent filing for an FAA waiver. The group is pushing regulators to do something about several Google projects now, including “Do Not Track” policies, Google’s YouTube Kids service, the “right to be forgotten” and data related to driverless cars.
AMERICANS PRIORITIZE SAFETY IN TRANSPO TECH: Questioning more than 1,000 Americans, a new survey finds that most folks believe the No.1 goal of new transportation technology should be to reduce accidents and increase safety. Just over 50 percent of those surveyed cited the safety aspiration, while 10 percent said it’s most important that new technology guarantee accurate travel time and another 10 percent said it should improve the environment. Most said they want their vehicle to be able to identify other cars in their blind spots and only one-fourth of those surveyed said they thought their vehicle data should be shared with the federal government. Check out the full survey results by NHTB Corp.: http://politico.pro/1WDWd8O
DRIVE ACT OFFSET FALLS FAR SHORT: The multiyear highway bill the Senate passed before leaving for August recess assumes a $9 billion cash infusion will come from the sale of 101 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. But Danny Vinik writes for The Agenda that “there are plenty of problems with the idea, including a big one that Capitol Hill appears to be ignoring. As POLITICO’s Elana Schor recently pointed out, the DRIVE Act assumes a price of $89 per barrel. … The current world price: Less than $45 per barrel. In other words, the government is paying for bills by wildly overestimating how much its oil is actually worth. For these schemes to work, oil would have to nearly double in price by the time the U.S. sells it — something almost no economist expects. … Barring an unexpected increase in oil prices, the mismatch would leave a huge hole in the federal budget, increasing the deficit by billions of dollars.” More from Danny on how lawmakers came up with that oil estimate to begin with: http://politi.co/1J15XTF.
HAWAIIAN AIRLINES SIGNS IN-HOUSE LOBBYIST: POLITICO Influence reports that Hawaiian Airlines, which has relied on outside lobby shops in the past, has registered to lobby. Margaret Cummisky, who previously worked for the late Sen. Daniel Inouye, the Department of Commerce and the Senate Commerce Committee, will be lobbying on behalf of the airlines on a range of issues, including provisions relating to transportation security, TSA reauthorization, FAA funding and action on Open Skies agreements. More from PI: http://politi.co/19CSZuW.
THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ):
— Dark clouds loom for airlines even as their profits take off. The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1TTrssl
— Columbia Pike resident surprised to get $1,537.13 Uber bill. ARLnow.com: http://bit.ly/1TSkJnR
— Idaho replaces mile marker 420 to thwart stoners. AP: http://fxn.ws/1JpX9d5
— How Americans get to work in cities with the lowest car commute rates. CityLab: http://bit.ly/1Jprete
— Christie, Foxx, senators say ‘we can’t afford to wait’ on cross-Hudson tunnel. Capital New York: http://politico.pro/1HUCbf7
— Federal agencies hear testimony on strict new big truck emissions rules. The Wall Street Journal: http://on.wsj.com/1HV6N0c
— FAA continues progress toward integration into the national airspace. GAO: http://1.usa.gov/1TPd4Xh
— Uber’s plan for self-driving cars bigger than its taxi disruption. Mobility Lab: http://bit.ly/1JoTxrM
THE COUNTDOWN: Highway and transit policy expires in 72 days. DOT appropriations run out and the FAA reauthorization expires in 44 days. The 2016 presidential election is in 450 days.
Tags: transportation