Drivers Band Together to Fight Rising Gas Prices, But Are They Creating a Bigger Problem for the Future?

In a press release issued by the Department of Transportation on June 18th, it is stated that transit ridership is on the rise. April marked the sixth month in a row that Americans drove less, with a mind boggling 1.4 billion fewer highway miles recorded got April of 2008 than there had been for April of 2007. Even the decline in driving from the prior month was a sharp contrast, with American logging 400 million less miles in April than they had in March.

Noting that there is a need to find new revenue sources for highway and transit programs, Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters says that there was a 1.8 percent drop in vehicle miles traveled on all public roads in April of 2008 compared to April 2007. A decline of nearly 20 billion miles Americans traveled this year, nearly 30 billion since November.

This is a double sided coin, however, since the decline in driving also means a decline in funding for the Federal Highway Trust Fund. The fund receives 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline sales and and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel sales, but with less gas being sold, the fund receives less funding.

As nice as it is to save money by finding more fuel efficient methods of transportation, it could also mean a degrading transportation system if alternate sources of revenue are not approved for the Federal Highway Trust Fund.