"Proposes experiments in deregulating and privatizing the country's transportation systems to rid them of inefficiencies and significantly improve their performance in moving goods and people around the United States; the book covers roads, airports and airport traffic control, mass transit, intercity buses and railway networks"--Provided by publisher.

U.S. Transportation System--Federal Government's Role and Current Policy Issues

In Last Exit Clifford Winston reminds us that transportation services and infrastructure in the United States were originally introduced by private firms. The case for subsequent public ownership and management of the system was weak, in his view, and here he assesses the case for privatization and deregulation to greatly improve Americans' satisfaction with their transportation systems.

"On January 29, 2009, the RAND Corporation hosted a panel discussion with three former U.S. Secretaries of Transportation [William T. Coleman, Jr., James H. Burnley IV, and Rodney Slater]. This wide-ranging discussion, held the week after President Barack Obama's inauguration and during the congressional debate over the stimulus package (eventually passed as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009), allowed the former secretaries to share their insights into transportation policymaking"--Preface

An efficient transportation system reduces the cost of distance by moving people and goods from their origins to their destinations as cheaply, quickly, and safely as possible. By enabling individuals and firms to be more productive, transportation provides the foundation for the development and growth of industries and an entire economy. Clifford Winston, Jia Yan, and Associates argue that competition and innovation are the key drivers of an efficient transportation system. The authors provide new evidence that transportation deregulation and privatization that spur additional competition among carriers and infrastructure providers, as well as new innovations that create autonomous transportation services, have the potential to rid the US transportation system of its major inefficiencies and revitalize the nation.