Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | T | The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)

IT'S NOT HOW CARS GUZZLE, BUT HOW FAR.

Article Excerpt
Byline: David Steves The Register-Guard

Larry Gunn takes satisfaction in driving a super-efficient hybrid car that emits minimal pollution and curbs his dependence on foreign oil.

And with today's high gas prices, his hybrid saves him thousands of dollars in fuel costs.

"I try not to feel too superior about it," said the 71-year-old Eugene resident, who can drive his Toyota Prius for a year on 220 gallons of gas - a fraction of the 1,100 gallons a Ford Excursion will go through to cover the same 12,000 miles.

But every gallon of gas that Gunn avoids buying means 24 cents in gas taxes the state won't get. And as more motorists conserve fuel, Oregon's unrealized gas taxes are likely to reach the tens of millions of dollars a year.

Given the central role of gas tax money in funding highway improvements, that trend worries Oregon officials. And it has prompted them to launch a nationally watched experiment with a tax based on miles driven instead of gasoline consumed.

Starting Thursday, 20 volunteers began driving cars equipped with technology that tracks their miles driven and uses short-range radios to send the data to the Oregon Department of Transportation computer system.

The month-long testing period in Salem will be followed by a yearlong test with 280 Portland participants using the technology to actually pay this new "vehicle milage tax" in place of the state gas tax when they fill up at participating gas stations.

Initially, the yearlong test was to have been done in Eugene, but officials were unable to...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!