Caltrans pilot shows road-charge technology feasible but rural and tribal outreach remains challenging

Caltrans briefed the Road Charge Technical Advisory Committee on April 18 about two recent efforts: the Senate Bill 339-authorized road charge revenue collection pilot that concluded in January and a Public-Private Road Charge Project that focused on outreach to rural and tribal communities and examined tolling agency cross-over as a commercial account manager.

Caltrans road charge program manager Lauren Perhota said the SB 339 pilot exceeded recruitment goals and delivered a large, diverse sample: "We had 802 participants," Perhota said, and added the pilot produced high completion and low attrition (17 closure requests) after participants finished reporting in January and paid final bills in February. Caltrans staff said the agency will analyze survey and closeout data and prepare the statutorily required report to the Legislature.

The pilot and the public-private project tested a range of operational questions. The public-private project specifically explored GPS-based differentiation between public and private roads (for example, frontage roads, private residential communities or tribal roads) and tested a tolling-agency integration scenario with the Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA). Caltrans found GPS mapping and differentiation to be "pretty reliable" when authoritative state maps (Caltrans-maintained shape files) were available, but staff cautioned that map accuracy and ongoing updates are essential and that data processing and storage costs can be significant.

Important participant and technical details: Caltrans reported early vehicle-type counts from the pilot: 479 gasoline, 90 hybrid, 65 electric, 63 plug-in hybrid, 15 diesel and 10 hydrogen vehicles. The public-private project used higher recruitment incentives (up to $250 for that project and SB 339 authorized up to $400 in subsequent pilots) and targeted rural organizations, tribal leadership groups and locally trusted partners to boost participation.

Rural and tribal outreach: The public-private project deliberately focused on rural and tribal perspectives. Perhota said rural participants often begin skeptical but that lived experience in pilots tended to increase acceptance; she reported that roughly 75% of participants in the rural-focused pilot later said the approach worked for them. Tribal leaders, however, raised sovereignty and economic concerns. Caltrans staff reported tribes that operate tribally owned gas stations were concerned that a switch away from a gas tax would affect a revenue stream tribes currently use for tribal services because tribally sold gasoline is not subject to the state gas tax. Tribes also flagged culturally sensitive-location privacy and sovereignty concerns; several committee members and public commenters urged continued tribal-focused outreach and written comment review.

Privacy and program design trade-offs: Privacy was a recurring theme in the meeting. Electronic Frontier Foundation representative Lee Tian told the committee he joined to "represent the interests of privacy, and security and consumers," and asked the committee to place location privacy explicitly among design principles for any mileage-based mechanism. Caltrans and other panelists emphasized program design choices matter: reporting options can range from an odometer-photo or annual odometer read (low-data options) to GPS-based reporting that delivers more precise billing but incurs higher data and administrative costs. One approach staff discussed was a standardized deduction for a predictable amount of non-chargeable mileage (for example, an out-of-state or private-road allowance) as an alternative to continuous location reporting.

Toll agency crossover: The project tested handing mileage data to a tolling agency for account management. TCA and other toll agencies were able to ingest pilot mileage data and simulate billing in existing account structures; staff described the experiment as successful and noted toll agencies could be a viable commercial account manager in a future statewide system, subject to policy decisions about accounting and avoiding double-charging where toll revenues already fund maintenance.

Next steps and reporting: Caltrans said it will complete data analysis, incorporate lessons learned, and submit the SB 339 pilot report to the Legislature. The public-private project report and appendices are available on the Caltrans website; committee members asked staff to continue tribal outreach and to ensure that privacy, map accuracy, and administrative cost trade-offs are presented clearly to policymakers.

Ending: Committee members and public commenters urged further tribal and rural outreach and called for clarity on privacy protections and administrative costs before any legislative move to a mileage-based revenue mechanism.