Transportation Proposal
We in Texas have a transportation system that is designed for motor vehicles. In practical terms, a Texan must maintain a motor vehicle in order to drive to the places they need to go. Our transportation system is very expensive, inefficient, unsafe, and increasingly uneconomic.
We need alternatives
To serve the public interest the transportation system must consist of a variety of modes — motor vehicles, bus systems, bicycle tracks, pedestrian walkways, and rail systems. Each of these modes competes for the same rights of way and access space, and the same transportation infrastructure dollars. The challenge is to make all these modes work together to provide a safe, reliable, accessible, and economical transportation system. This requires some adaptation of roadways, some new construction, some innovations, and continuing focus on public service. There are many examples of success around the world. It will be a long process to achieve the necessary diversity in transportation. There is a public transportation base in Texas cities, but we must expand public transportation more rapidly.
Proposal to improve urban transportation
I propose that we allocate 10% of state transportation spending to increasing the urban bus fleet with the objective of providing commuter transit and high frequency bus routes, and also to building safe bicycle tracks with practical, useful routes.
An effective way to reduce rush hour traffic congestion is to use a commuter bus network, with frequent feeder buses connecting neighborhoods and transit centers where the commuter buses will take passengers to employment centers. Reducing traffic congestion has been a stated goal of Texas transportation policy for decades, yet congestion only increases. This is because expanding highways and widening streets will not reduce congestion. To reduce congestion it is necessary to reduce the number of cars on the road by providing commuters an alternative mode. A well-designed commuter bus system would provide reasonably quick commuting and the ability to do something productive during the trip. It should also be understood that commuter use is only part of the constituency for public transit.
[It has been argued that roads are congested because they are free to use — no access charge. This argument might support tolls, congestion fees, and raising fuel taxes. I do not believe the public would support these ideas.]
High-frequency bus routes are needed in our urban areas. These are routes where the waiting time for a bus is around 10 minutes or less. These routes should be selected by local transit agencies so there is a high degree of confidence that ridership will be increased.
Public transportation offers advantages to the public such as safety and economy. Advantages can be grouped as option value, transport value, land use value, and enterprise value. Simply having a transportation choice is valuable to the public by reducing the monopoly power of motor vehicle interests. The transportation service itself has value to the many Texans who cannot or do not want to drive. The land use value lies in the possibility of reducing city land coverage by parking lots and freeing space for more valuable uses. The enterprise value lies in the employment and economic activity of the transportation service. Evaluating the Congestion Relief Impacts of Public Transport in Monetary Terms
We need to build bicycle routes in our cities. A well designed bicycle route is called a cycle track. These provide several benefits to city dwellers which makes them a good urban transportation investment. An example cycle track is the Cleveland, Ohio Midway Network. Cycle track design is described in Cycle Tracks, a publication of the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. Practical and recreational bicycle routes bring urban benefits which include improved public health, reduced traffic congestion, and enhanced local economies.
It is necessary for voters to demand action to improve urban transportation. We cannot rely on the Texas Department of Transportation for any help in improving alternatives to motor vehicle transportation.
TxDOT creates an expensive single mode system
The state transportation system is under the direction of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). The projected budget for TxDOT is some $40 billion for the 2027-2028 budget cycle; roughly $20 billion per year. In addition to the TxDOT budget, I estimate Texas cities and counties will also spend well over $10 billion per year for roads. In total, this amounts to over $1,000 per year for every man, woman, and child in Texas, just for roads and highways. TxDOT funding is primarily from dedicated funds, sales tax, and federal funding. City and county road budgets are primarily from property taxes. State fuel tax provides about $2.8 billion, or less than 10% of road and highway spending in Texas. Fuel tax would need to be about $2 per gallon for fuel taxes to pay for the roads. There is no revenue justification for TxDOT promoting motor vehicle transportation and excluding other modes.
TxDOT’s biennial 2026-2027 Legislative Appropriations Request includes a total funding request of $40.4 billion and dedicates approximately $35.8 billion, or 89 percent, of the total TxDOT budget for … state highway projects. … It also includes seven percent for other purposes (debt service and regional subaccounts), approximately two percent for other modes of transportation (aviation, maritime, rural and small urban public transit, and rail), and two percent for TxDOT administrative services. TxDOT Funding 2027
While about 70% of Texans live in one of the top six metropolitan areas and 83% of Texans live in urban areas, less than 1% of TxDOT spending is for public transportation or bicycle infrastructure.
TxDOT released a statewide public transportation plan, Texas SMTP 2050, which I interpret to mean exactly what it says — public transportation improvement will arrive, if at all, in 2050 — far in the future. The plan refers to a survey in which 86% of respondents want improvements in public transportation. The necessary information to plan public transportation has long been known and it is patently ridiculous to think that TxDOT needs decades to study the matter. The TxDOT strategy is to discuss and plan for as long as possible, maintaining the appearance of public service while continuing to lock Texas into the special interest agenda of a single mode transportation system.
TxDOT is a captured agency
The transportation system has been dedicated to a special interest agenda for many decades. TxDOT is overseen by the Texas Transportation Commission, representing the finance, automotive, fossil fuel, property development, and highway contractor interests. The transportation system is designed to maximize profits for these special interests. Corralling the public into auto dependency is the most effective way to channel monetary benefits to these special interests.
Consistent with being a captured agency, TxDOT has patterned itself after the federal government Military Industrial Complex. TxDOT promotes a grandiose mission for itself with its $146 billion Unified Transportation Plan, while it places projects in legislative districts around the state to create leverage over elected officials and to direct real estate development. Just as the federal Military Industrial Complex is deeply concerned with global fossil fuel trade, TxDOT places great emphasis on high fossil fuel consumption transportation modes. TxDOT's system is what has been called an "iron triangle" complex of special interests, bureaucracy, and elected officials.
A defining feature of these systems is a fundamental conflict of interest, as the complex often profits most when it is least effective at solving the underlying social problem. If the stated goal, such as national security or public health, were fully achieved, the infrastructure and continuous stream of revenue supporting the complex would diminish. Therefore, the system’s economics are rooted in generating continuous demand for its products or services, regardless of whether that demand aligns with the actual public need. This dynamic ensures that the complex remains self-sustaining by prioritizing perpetual growth and spending. What Is an Industrial Complex? Definition and Examples (emphasis added)
TxDOT is obsolete
A recent report by the International Energy Agency provides insight into the transformational change in transportation that is happening worldwide.
Electric car sales topped 17 million worldwide in 2024, rising by more than 25%. Just the additional 3.5 million cars sold in 2024 compared to 2023 outnumber total electric car sales in the whole of 2020. China maintained its lead among major markets, with electric car sales exceeding 11 million — more than were sold worldwide just 2 years earlier. Global sales were slightly tempered by stagnating growth in Europe, … continued to increase in the United States … Significantly, outside of these three major markets, there was a record increase in sales of nearly 40% to reach 1.3 million, closing in on the United States’ sales of 1.6 million electric cars.
It is not simply sales growth of electric cars (EV’s). In Great Britain Octopus Energy has a program to integrate EV's into the electrical grid system, Octopus EV. In Europe there is growing development of EV integration in the electric grid. These developments foreshadow new directions of innovation, technology, and economic alignments. The TxDOT single mode transportation system and its iron triangle political structure are not well suited to these changes. We are throwing good money after bad unless we make significant changes in transportation policy to create a multi-modal system.
As EV’s and renewable energy reduce fossil fuel dependence worldwide, the fossil fuel industry will continue to decline and its intimate connection to Texas transportation will drag the state down unless we take effective measures to disentangle our systems from fossil fuel dependence.
The cost to the public
The cost to the public is unsafe, stressful transportation, excessive cost of roadways, poor transportation economics, fossil fuel and auto dependency, lack of choice, and the unfairness of a single-mode transportation system. Besides very high roadway spending, TxDOT also has significant bond debt which compounds the expense. In addition, TxDOT’s single mode design of the transportation system has forced the use of toll roads, which have huge bond debts and represent an unfunded liability to the state.
Other countries have beautiful cities with well designed bicycle tracks, efficient and accessible public transportation, and useful passenger rail systems. We in Texas do not have these things because the TxDOT agenda is to cause cities to be built for cars instead of people and assure special interest profits over a truly functional transportation system.
It is time to change direction
I believe we must pursue a transportation policy of creating alternative modes that are available to the public. It will be a long process, but I want visible tangible actions by the legislature in 2027. I do not believe it will be more expensive than the the transportation status quo and may even mean less spending. We simply shift spending from monumental highway projects to other transportation modes. Improving public transportation and bicycle infrastructure are two of the most important and beneficial policy changes we can make.
Use your vote to make a difference
The establishment political parties will not implement meaningful transportation policy changes. Rather than serving the public interest they will continue to protect and preserve the establishment status quo and favored special interests. Voters must prove they require change by voting for third-party candidates. The more votes for Kevin McCormick for Lieutenant Goveror the more likely it becomes that the Texas Legislature will make positive improvements in transportation policy.
Regards