The federal government does a lot of things poorly, including trying to run businesses such as an electric utility, a postal system, and a railroad.

The federal government spends $13 billion a year on subsidies for local rail and bus transit systems. This spending should be zeroed out in the next federal transportation bill.

The apparent death of California high-speed rail has led to a spate of stories asking, “What went wrong?”

The federal government nationalized security screening at the nation’s more than 400 commercial airports in 2001 when it created the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Political battles would not impact important activities if they were separated from the federal government.

Nationwide transit ridership has declined steadily since 2014, with some of the largest urban areas, including Atlanta, Miami, and Los Angeles, losing more than 20 percent of their transit riders in the last few years.

The reality is that Europe’s trains are enjoyed by tourists, but they don’t work that much better for Europeans than the U.S. system works for Americans.

The federal government imposes a gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon. Lobby groups are pressing for an increase and President Trump has suggested that he may support one.

The Reason Foundation’s Bob Poole has published a new book, Rethinking America’s Highways: A 21st Century Vision for Better Infrastructure.

In 1985, Reason Foundation co-founder and then-president Robert Poole heard about a variable road pricing experiment in Hong Kong. In 1986, he learned that France and other European countries were offering private concessions to build toll roads. In 1987, he interviewed officials of Amtech, which had just invented electronic transponders that could be used for road tolling.