Innovation in Transportation Proceedings of a Workshop, September 24-26, 1979, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, D.C. (1980) / Chapter Skim
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PANEL REPORTS
PANEL REPORTS
Pages 197-238
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From page 199... ...
We then looked at the congressional level of government and identified barriers to innovation that are somewhat similar to those in the executive agencies: inconsistent leadership and lack of long-term plans and policy commitments in pursuit of transportation goals.
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From page 200... ...
In the research setting, academic institutions were singled out for special consideration. This is because of their value as a source of new, innovative talent for the transportation industry.
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From page 201... ...
Part B Changes in the current process affecting program acceptance and definition and coordination should be made to foster transportation innovation.
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From page 202... ...
My reaction to that point was that we have substantial regional differences and that, desirably, we should have a little less government. We should have the performance requirements of our goals and objectives identified at the federal level, but allow regional areas to resolve their local differences.
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From page 203... ...
It is people who are the customers. Now, admittedly, the local governmental units and operating entities might be the agents of and the spokesmen for the people, but we have plenty of examples in this country in which, because of our political process, they do not always accurately enough reflect the real desires, willingness, and interest of the people.
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From page 204... ...
The export/import bank has been very successful and at practically zero cost. Another analogy is the so-called "MIKI" arrangement in Japan, where the consortium of banks, operating with industry and government with federal goals in mind, has been enormously successful in pulling Japanese industry up from really nothing, to a world leader.
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From page 205... ...
Forty percent of the huge contribution to GNP that freight shipping makes is from local trucking, that is, the pickup and delivery of goods in metropolitan areas. Now, contrasted to that, the total cost of line-haul trucking nationally is l0 percent less than the cost of local trucking, and, lo and behold, all railroad freight, despite its enormous tonnages, is only about one-third as costly as local trucking.
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From page 206... ...
GRAY: Well, as we looked at the situation for the transportation activities of DOT, I was struck by the remarkably small amount of money they spend on research and development in comparison with the part that transportation plays in their total R§D. It is a very minuscule part, and I believe that one of the things that would help stir innovation across the board would be more vigorous and aggressive programs -- a better stated program with longer-range objectives of what needs to be accomplished in the whole field of transportation.
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From page 207... ...
Considering the role of universities, it was unanimously agreed that university engineers and scientists must play a strong role in DOT's formulation of an innovative transportation research program. In addition to the advancement of knowledge and understanding, the universities are also the source of trained personnel who are essential for the future health and well-being of all transportation activities spanning the spectrum from theory to practice.
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From page 208... ...
First, the government effort is supported by competent technical staffs at the state and municipal levels. Equally important, the basic funding for the highway program involves cost-sharing by the local agencies.
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From page 209... ...
In the air traffic control instance, the government is both the purchaser and the user of the system, with direct accountability for its effectiveness. The conclusion must be drawn therefore that when the federal government plays a controlling role in market-oriented development programs in areas where it will be neither the direct purchaser nor the end-user, the results tend to be less than satisfactory.
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From page 210... ...
DISCUSSION BENINGTON: Let me ask a question about the role of the government in applied research. We agree with you in the air traffic control area.
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From page 211... ...
has been done by or at the direction of those agencies that were actually building the highways or maintaining them; that is, by the state and local highway departments -- not by the Bureau of Public Roads (now the Federal Highway Administration) here in Washington.
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From page 212... ...
What our panel was discussing yesterday was the possibility that that principle could be extended to other DOT grant programs, most importantly, the Urban Mass Transportation program. Thus federal money could be used as both a carrot and, to some extent, a stick to get the local governmental units in urban transportation to start thinking in more innovative terms and to start working on their own new technology, instead of sitting back and waiting for the federal government to do it.
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From page 213... ...
I can assure you it would have been a very short meeting if any senior university person had come back to my office, after having taken the federal taxpayer's money and having spent it, and told me I should not have given it to him; it would have been a very short meeting, indeed. If the universities are convinced -- and I do not look to the past, I look to the future -- that the things that they are being asked to do by the Department of Transportation, or others in the transportation area, are not what they should be asked to do, then I would suggest that these senior university people should be exerting their efforts (l)
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From page 214... ...
GOLDIE: I would like to take just one narrow area and attack it in specific. The suggestion that the urban mass transit funding use the same l l/2 percent idea that the Federal Highway Administration has used.
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From page 215... ...
This, along with the Highway Planning and Research l l/2 percent funds, very often on the planning side directed in quite some degree by the Bureau of Public Roads with a hands-off but cooperative attitude, was I think responsible for the advances that were made. And, on the planning side, to distinguish that from the technological or physical research, the Bureau of Public Roads, with the states -- because of the states' participation as users and therefore their willingness to adopt these things and try them -- made enormous advances in the methodology in transportation planning.
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From page 216... ...
PIKARSKY: As someone who has been in the urban mass transit industry for many years and is considered within the industry to be an innovator, I think there is a fundamental defect in this panel's comment about new technologies of the future. I believe that most marketing studies indicate that the greatest factors influencing the use of transit are convenience, time, and dollars.
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From page 217... ...
Rather, we would hope to illuminate, based on our extensive multidisciplinary discussions, some important areas for further consideration by qualified groups of experts The transportation sector is different from most other sectors of industry in that it includes the public and the government as well as industry. Both the government and the public sector tend to bring pressure on the limited capital available to the industry sector by forcing it to spend a disproportionate amount on mandated capital expenditures, rather than elective capital expenditures, which include innovation.
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From page 218... ...
Justice should spur development of the transportation sector rather than attempt to restrict productive growth. For example, we believe some integrated, intermodal transportation companies might be organized that would excite and stimulate efficiency in service and 2l8
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From page 219... ...
But the little guy, the innovative guy, who does not have production contracts, is therefore up against a stacked deck. Perhaps graduated taxes should be eliminated for the individual, and maybe for the lower levels of small corporate earnings, to make more capital available to the individual entrepreneur and to small business.
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From page 220... ...
We certainly concur with what you have just said about the change of the federal tax laws to permit accelerated depreciation over two years as an example -- I do not see any reason why it should be as many as five -- to allow small business owners to defer taxation. In particular, we need changes in the law that IRS and the accounting standards groups have promulgated and applied to industry in our country, the law requiring write-off of research and development funds in the year in which they were incurred.
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From page 221... ...
The functions of the Federal Highway Administration are in still another category, as are the functions of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. And the Federal Railroad Administration is, again, quite different.
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From page 222... ...
This would be especially pertinent to the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration, and the Urban Mass Transportation Administration. Each of these makes large grants.
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From page 223... ...
That kind of a provision decreases the contractor's chances of a competitive position in the commercial market and makes it less attractive for them to go that route. We suggest that DOT follow again the new proposed Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR)
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From page 224... ...
Unlike a lot of federal policies, this one is so short and it is so neat that I am going to read it to you. There is a preamble to define things, but the proposed policy in this FAR reads as follows: "Agencies shall encourage the submission of unsolicited proposals and avoid organizational or regulatory constraints that may inhibit generation and acceptance of innovative ideas from prospective contractors." So somebody has already done the homework, and we just suggest that this acquisition regulation be anticipated and that DOT practices be changed accordingly.
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From page 225... ...
We did not really know how to tackle this one at all. We did perceive it as a problem, and we used the word "disconnect." There is a little disconnection at any given moment between what the public thinks it wants, what the federal government thinks the public ought to want, and what the local government may, in its wisdom, believe is good for the city or the public.
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From page 226... ...
The next recommendation has to do with urban mass transit. Somehow we kept coming back to this, both from considerations of failures and from the consideration of other projects with opportunities to do something innovative.
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From page 227... ...
In other words, the DOT in this model tries to be helpful to the local governments, without preempting the local functions or decision-making responsibilities by providing qualified products for consideration. I am sure we can get a lot of argument on that, but we throw it out as a suggestion to consider.
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From page 228... ...
This is a way of, in principle, perhaps doubling the amount of RDT§E funds to be made available to improve the efficiency and the effectiveness with which those federal grant monies are being spent. And, with these funds, universities, local professional groups, and local commercial and not-for-profit groups could be called upon, and supported, to study transportation problems.
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From page 229... ...
as many requests for such funds as he has appropriations to fulfill them. Now, he would not suggest to those state and local bodies who would use such grant funds to develop, construct, install, and operate their transportation systems how to do so, but he would point out that DOT has developed analyses, components, subsystems, whatever, that improve the efficiency and the effectiveness of those transportation systems if sensibly employed.
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From page 231... ...
As I said earlier, in my remarks during discussion of a previous paper, we recognize very well that there were some real difficulties when one of our objectives was to use aerospace technology to help solve transportation problems, particularly surface transportation, including rail and urban mass transit. There were many technologically naive people in the government, and in industry, who thought that we could use this talent and make great progress in transportation R§D.
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From page 232... ...
Puckett touched on one of the most important aspects, the case of unsolicited proposals. We would lower the threshold of authority in awarding sole source grants or contracts.
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From page 233... ...
In our discussions of rail, urban mass transit, and highway, we thought there was certainly one case where there was a very important opportunity for a strong federal program, not large in terms of many of the programs that the country has undertaken, but nonetheless a large one. This program would have the aim over the next four or five years of really increasing our system understanding of a much improved urban mass transit technology.
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From page 234... ...
Certainly, the maintenance of the highways is one of the major challenges we are now finding. In the case of FAA, we felt that the automation of the en route control function should be given very high priority.
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From page 235... ...
Automation would lower the number of controllers needed, even though there is increasing air traffic, particularly in general aviation. If the machine is properly programmed, and we are convinced that can be done, then it is going to be more attentive through the hours than the air traffic controllers can be.
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From page 236... ...
Another recent case has been the Federal Aviation Administration. Under pressure from the Hill to seek broad inputs on the future of air traffic control, the FAA established a committee that looked into different aspects of the air traffic control business.
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From page 237... ...
So do not forget this element. I have been prompted to say this by a comment that was made, I know in good faith, that we must somehow or other find a way to get urban mass transit ridership up to the 20 percent level.
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From page 238... ...
We will certainly make this effort, and hope the net effect will be positive. Again, I express my gratitude to all of you for taking the time from your very busy schedules, and from the many other important duties you have, to be with us.
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