TCI Regional Policy Design Stakeholder Submissions

We should all I favor TCI for many reasons.

We know that the combustion of diesel fuel and gasoline in cars, trucks, and trains is increasing the prevalence of asthma and heart disease and is costing millions of dollars in extra healthcare costs. We know that gasoline- and diesel-fueled vehicles are currently the major source of greenhouse gas emissions in Rhode Island. We know they have greatly contributed to our historic emissions of those long-lived pollutants. When products cause public harm, it is sensible public policy to charge the suppliers of those products or to tax the consumers of those products. I favor TCI because it imposes a fee on the suppliers of products that cause public harm.

None of us like sitting in traffic. None of us like hunting for a parking spot. None of us like paying to park our cars in Providence or at the beach. Most of us would prefer fast, frequent, convenient, clean, and affordable public transit to those destinations. We who enjoy bicycling and running do not like riding and running on streets where we are at risk from motor vehicles; we would prefer more, safer, better paths for bikes and runners. A lack of money is keeping us from having the things we would prefer. I favor TCI because it will provide money for better public transit and safer streets and paths.

I favor TCI because it will provide the incentives needed to build the new electric infrastructure we will need and want.

Electric cars are cheaper to operate and maintain, quieter, more convenient, and more fun to drive. Electric trucks and buses will be better neighbors. EVs will soon cost no more than conventional vehicles. And yet, many people have no place they could charge an EV -- not where they work, and not where they sleep. There is a lot of work to be done building that charging infrastructure, and lots of workers will be needed. TCI will help local businesses and local workers.

As an engineer and the founder of a Rhode Island company that employs over 50 people, I know that transitions from one era to another create opportunities for new business growth and new careers. We are clearly in the early stage of a rapid transition in how we generate and use energy. We can continue to bleed billions of dollars a year away to fossil fuel providers outside our state, or we can take sensible steps to wean ourselves off those polluting fuels and facilitate the transition to a cleaner, cheaper, better, more beautiful future. TCI is a sensible step.

Putting a big battery in every garage and driveway will be a good way to soak up low cost energy from solar panels and wind turbines when those generators peak. Increasing electricity consumption will help to lower the cost per kWh. TCI will cause both things to occur faster.

I applaud the public servants and private sector experts who have worked so hard on TCI thus far, and I hope that our legislators and fellow citizens will strongly support the adoption of this new policy.

This will seriously impact my ability to work. Despite being highly trained and experienced at my job I can only earn minimum wage where I live. There are no jobs near me that are similar. There is no public transportation. Every job I've had in the past 6 years has required me to commute an hour to an hour and a half daily to get to work. In northern Maine there are no alternatives. And buying an electric car wouldn't help. A) I can afford the price and B) they don't yet get enough mileage to get me to and from work.

The added cost in gas would effect my ability to heat my home because the added cost of delivery would be passed onto me . tradesmen like electricians, plumbers and carpenters as well as appliance repairman who are all already struggling with costs of doing business vs charging fees clients can afford to pay would be critically hampered and maybe even forced to me leave Maine due to increased costs.

Please do not do this!! Maine and the working poor such as must can not afford it!!

The Swarm Solution for Climate-Friendly Transportation by Kenneth A. Capron
The TCI is anticipated to be expensive. We know that. The immense costs of changing processes and/or acquiring new equipment may seem overwhelming. New infrastructure is even more ominous. Change itself is a hard sell. Potential CO2 efficiencies on the table currently are focused on electrification of vehicles even though an extensive roll-out of EV's may require an upgrade in the capacities of the electricity production and distribution systems. And EV's (cars, busses, etc.) still result in deterioration of the roadway and wear and tear on the vehicles. In fact, if one does an in-depth analysis of ALL the costs associated with existing transportation and related factors and the overall climate impacts, it may surprise consumers into awareness and action. Big Time.

The facts say that the existing transportation sector is unsustainable for all but the most populous states. As an example, Maine has approx. 28,000 miles of roads and an equally overwhelming number of bridges. Just at the State level, we have a shortage of $232 million in annual road and bridge repairs and maintenance. And that's just for about 8,000 miles out of the 28,000 total. Can you really imagine how we can afford this year after year with no solution in sight? Even TCI can't make a substantive impact on sustainability. And in Maine, at least, few businesses exist that could make a dent in funding the repair of the old and the addition of new transportation infrastructure.

Overwhelming problems demand overwhelming solutions. TCI is actually only a small piece of the long-range solution that will move us toward tomorrow's climate-friendly transportation systems. But TCI does invite the opportunity to try something new. It may just be that we have literally reached the end of the road. Really.

I have been working on developing a new mode of transportation which combines maglev motive power with swarm intelligence to automate the movement of people and products. After all, that's all transportation really is - the logistics of moving something from one place to another. The only difference is who is controlling movement within that process. Left up to humans, transportation is a nightmare. Accidents, drunk drivers, squished pedestrians, traffic deaths, trains killing people, Uber assaults, missed appointments and so on. Left to the companies that make vehicles and sell fuels, we end up with a system that produces somewhere around 40 percent of climate-changing greenhouse gas emissions.

Now cut that out! We are an intelligent species (are we?). Surely we can develop a safe, fast, reliable, inexpensive and climate-friendly mode of transportation. Take away the powered vehicles and suddenly the surface is more amenable to pedestrians, bicyclists, scooters and, yes, even horses. Remember the horse?

So I set out to create a mode of transportation that is climate friendly. We need a system that is fully automated - no human intervention needed. I wanted to create a system that responds rapidly, OnDemand, to your needs and then delivers you non-stop to your stated destination. I wanted it to be impervious to weather and run any day any time 24/7/365. In order to avoid intersections and rail crossings that slow ground transport, I wanted a system that was elevated up out of the way. And I wanted infrastructure that lasts hundreds of years unlike our roads and highways. Do you realize just how harmful asphalts are to the air we breathe and the organics in the environment? Every day we breathe in microscopic particles of soot, smog, rust, paint, tires and dirt kicked up by cars and trucks. Is your windshield pitted? Mine sure is - like riding behind sand trucks for hours on end.

My interests in innovation and problem solving led to a system I call MicroRail. Micro because it is a small scale, perhaps 1/8th that of a bus or rail car. And rail for lack of a better label for the overhead structure which will guide hundreds of vehicles and their passengers to and from any other point on the system. To eliminate CO2, magnets will serve as the driving force behind this system. Magnets produce no gases, and due to lack of friction they create zero particulate. An FTA study that ended in 2012 looked at the feasibility of low-speed maglev transportation. The 2 page executive summary of that study points out the many benefits of a maglev powered system. It also highlights the gorilla in the room for such a system - cost.

"magnetic levitation technology offers a cost-effective, reliable, and environmentally-sound transit option … Maglev promises several attractive benefits, including the ability to operate in challenging terrain with steep grades, tight turns, all-weather operation, low maintenance, rapid aceleration, quiet operation, with superior ride quality, ... is unmanned and operates on elevated guideway …".

That last part is very important since the guideway is designed to prevent injury to animals unlike ground transportation. It saves you from the need to explain your lost cat to your child.

Now comes the issues of cost. Richard Thornton, PhD, who led the FTA study at MagneMotion in Massachusetts made a very compelling argument for substantially lowering costs. Most people envision a massive elevated train weighing 20 tons per vehicles when they hear MicroRail. But Thornton emphasized that a "swarm" of small vehicles served by lightweight infrastructure would be much less expensive and substantially more responsive to the transportation needs of humans and businesses. He suggest a 1/7th scale vehicle. We have opted for 1/8th scale, just a little bit smaller, in order to maximize the savings. We have also focused on lighter weight materials that have only become available recently - composites. Composites are light weight, stronger than steel, have extensive life spans and can be easily manufactured.

The vehicles that form the Swarm are expected to carry four to six passengers and weigh less than two tons each and move at any speed up to 100 mph. Each is individually controlled and contains most electronics needed for passengers to communicate and work during their ride. And each is voice controlled. " 'Alexa', take me to DiMillo's." As these 'pods' develop, we expect to offer customized variations, unique designs, and multiple paint schemes. The outside limit to their range will be the extent of deployment of the system. In the other direction, they will be micro enough to provide service to each street and eventually each driveway. A trip that may take 30 minutes today will be cut to 5 minutes with MicroRail. From your door to your destination will be reduced by more than half. We're even innovating a maglev lift to lower passengers from rail to ground or vice versa.

The challenge is cost. We are partnering with USM and numerous experts around the nation to solve the many challenges to be faced. We have a variety of engineers, urban planners, business advisors, lawyers, authors, sociologists and others who will attack every challenge along the way.
Our goal is to have a scale prototype on the Gorham USM campus by year-end 2020 and a full operating system by year-end 2021 with the full link between the Portland-Gorham campuses by the end of 2022. Obviously, the more funding we have, the sooner we can start eliminating the use of gas powered vehicles.

As soon as the prototype is approved, MicroRail will be deployed aggressively. Every trip provided with MicroRail will eliminate a trip in a gas powered vehicle. That makes it an especially good fit for the TCI program. In preliminary calculations, a 15 mile route in Greater Portland would eliminate 7200 metric tons of CO2 annually. For an application in Acadia National Park which had 3.2 million visitors in 2018, MicroRail would eliminate 32,000 metric tons of CO2 annually - just for the travel on MDI. The greater the deployment of MicroRail service, the greater will be the tonnage of CO2 withheld from our atmosphere. It is the single most effective way to make a dent in transportation related CO2. And overall it will cost the consumer, the taxpayer, less too. It's a win-win for the environment and consumers.

As all common sense people would do, they would balance their budgets and control their spending to ensure that they can maintain their homes, autos, children's education, etc. We the citizens expect the same from our elected officials. We did not consciously vote for Representatives to take it upon themselves to spend, spend, and spend. We elected our Representatives to work in our best interest. No candidate was voted into office with a carte blanche credit card. Our expectation is that our Representatives work diligently to reduce unnecessary costs and balance the state budget. The citizens of Massachusetts elected NOBODY to fall in line behind any Senate or House leaders. It was our intent to elect independent thinkers who ensured us that they have our backs. Continually raising taxes is not what was expected. If I want to buy a new house, or car, I reduce spending and save in order to do so! I expect the same from my Representatives.

Stop Maine involvement in TCI. Maine is a rural state and electric cars do not work for us. We are retired and can not afford a gas increase. We drive a pickup as our life style here in Maine requires a truck (fishing, camping, out door activities) We are Vacationland!! Electric cars are not conducive to outdoor activities. Most Mainers have commutes to their jobs and have no reasonable way to cut back on miles driven. We are a state with the oldest population in the country on limited incomes. If you want to encourage people/businesses into our state raising the cost to live in an already expensive place to live doesn't make sense. Portland is in southern Maine. There is so much more to Maine than Portland. The "other" Maine is rural, poorer and against TCI

I am widowed, retired ,on fixed income.And live in rural area.Electric vehicles,the required charging stations is not affordable nor practicable in here in Maine which has a large population of retirees, veterans & we have a huge problem with opioid addiction& we are # 1 in babies born opioid-exposed .Your priorities are amiss. REMEMBER who you work for . We cannot afford the transition to electric vehicles, NOR A .17 cent/ gallon GAS TAX!!! Please bow out of the TCI.

I am a citizen of Maine who supports the transition to green energy and I want Maine to belong to the Transportation and Climate Initiative. The most important issue facing all of us is climate change and transportation is a major contributor to it. In the Portland, Maine region, the Portland West Rail & Trail Alliance is trying to get a commuter rail & walking trail built along a 5 mile existing rail line from Westbrook to Portland. This would be a great project to support. I also support installing more public charging stations for electric cars and transitioning public bus fleets to electric busses.

Please find the attached letter from 21 participating organizations of the MA TCI Table. The letter includes recommendations from health, business, environmental, transportation, justice, academic, and planning organizations to ensure that the TCI program is both environmentally ambitious and equitable.

Thank you for your work to advance a clean, modern transportation system that works for all.