Councilman Rirchardson's trip was arranged by the "Southern California Association of Governments," the regional government body that issues reports and adopts plans meant to steer policies on (among other things) housing development, land use density and roadway and transportation use. Councilman Richardson represents the Long Beach area [along with Councilwoman Jeannine Pearce] on SCAG's 86-member policy-setting Regional Council where he has risen to the position of 1st Vice President.

In a statement to North Long Beach News [included as an update below], Councilman Richardson says no Long Beach dollars are sponsoring the SCAG study. [LBREPORT.com comment: SCAG, like all government entities, doesn't produce goods that people choose to buy; it obtains its operating funds by imposing taxes, fees or charges on people or entities some levels, whether statewide, regionally or locally.]

Councilman Richardson's visit occurs as the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority governing board (with LB Mayor Robert Garcia voting "yes") is now developing a "feasibility study" on imposing "congestion pricing" that would use tolls or other charges to deter drivers from using certain designated freeway sections during high use periods. Proponents argue that this would reduce congestion (and if accompanied by land use density changes may over time lead to greater local acceptance of government transit.)

4:50 p.m. UPDATE: Within minutes of this story going online, digitsally savvy Councilman Richardson shot back from Australia that congestion pricing is NOT the subject of the SCAG trip. He says the gas tax is and SCAG is studying alternatives to the gas tax, not studying congestion pricing [which is something Metro is doing.] Councilman Richardson notes that New Zealand doesn't have a gas tax or vehicle license tax and drivers purchase permits based on how many kilometers they need. Councilman Richardson texted further informaion in a statement we publish below. [end UPDATE]

Imposing additional charges on drivers in the decades-long freeway-developed L.A. region would obviously impact LB residents, but "road user charges" or "congestion pricing" haven't been agendized for taxpayer/public discussion by LB's policy-setting City Council.

On January 23, SCAG spokesperson Margaret de Larios provided the statement below to LBREPORT.com on Councilman Richardson's travel to New Zealanbd and Australia [bracketed materials by us for clarity.]

[Scroll down for further.]

[SCAG spokesperson email text] The adopted RTP/SCS [SCAG's "Regional Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities ] in 2012 and 2016, as well as the current draft 2020 RTP/SCS "Connect SoCal," calls for a more sustainable funding future with emphasis on transitioning our fuel tax-based system to a more direct, user fee-based approach.

Such a change requires additional investigation by local leaders as well as legislative action by state and federal leaders over the next decade.

A critical aspect of SCAG’s transportation finance work program includes engaging elected and appointed officials in sharing best practices. Accordingly, SCAG is collaborating with the Ministry of Transport -- in New Zealand and Australia -- to participate in a study tour focused on sharing information about the use of RUCs [road user charges] to fund system development and operational performance, issues associated with RUC design and implementation, practical lessons learned, and opportunities associated with the evolution of technology and public policy.

The primary objective of the study is for the SCAG delegation to observe and discuss with officials from New Zealand and Australia, their respective nations' experience with RUCs and extract from that experience, practical lessons for the SCAG region.

The study tour is scheduled for January 17-25, 2020. Anticipated members of the SCAG delegation include five Regional Council members [Richardson is among them], three SCAG staff representatives including SCAG’s Executive Director Kome Ajise, and a representative from LA Metro.

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UPDATE: On Jan. 24 in the 7 p.m. hour Pacific time, Councilman Richardson texted the following summary of his New Zealand/Australia trip to North Long Beach News:

I serve on a regional board called Southern California Association of Governments. It’s legally responsible for a number of regional planning efforts, including the Regional Transportation Plan and Sustainable Communities strategy. We study different regions to find potential solutions to our issues in Southern California.

The Connect So Cal Plan is a document that helps plan out regional transportation and economic needs over the next decade. You can learn more about it here.

No city $$ is sponsoring this study.

I’m here conducting the study with the mayors and Councilmembers from across the So Cal region, including Ontario, Big Bear, Duarte, Rancho Cucamonga and El Centro and SCAG staff. We met with government leaders and stakeholders to better understand the strengths and weaknesses of this system.

The system in New Zealand is very different than CA. I’m learning a lot. They manage their road maintenance without a Gas tax or vehicle license fee. The average commuter pays less and heavy vehicle pay exactly what they use.

Oregon has shifted to this model and Cal Trans has already done a pilot. We need to learn about it.

We'll do a full report out at our regional council meeting in two weeks once we compile what we have learned. And I’ll share more on my perspectives as well.

A change like this would take years in Southern California, but as we Regional planning agency, we have to study and learn in order to plan for the future.

The wildfire issue here is pretty real here as well, just like Southern California. Flags are flying half mast in honor of the 3 Us firefighters who lost their lives here two days ago.

I’m happy to share more on this experience in the days and weeks to come.

Thanks!

[End UPDATE]

As LBREPORT.com reported for our readers at the time, on February 28, 2019, Mayor Garcia voted "yes" as a member of Metro's governing board to pursue a "feasibility study" leading to a future vote that could impose "congestion pricing" (tolls/charges) on drivers using designated congested freeway sections to deter prime-time use. Metro management has produced a plan titled "Re-Imagining of LA County: Mobility, Equity and the Environment" that it says will reduce traffic, improve transit and reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases. However to date, L.A. County voters haven't been asked and haven't voted to date to approve charging drivers who rely using on certain freeway routes that for many were part of their decisions on where to live.

To date, there's been no public discussion to date by LB's policy-setting City Council [or candidates seeking to replace incumbents] on of "road user charges" or "congestion pricing" currently being explored by Councilman Richardson.

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In LB, driver-impacting measures have included "road diets" that city management says promote safety ("vision zero") but Broadway corridor businesses and residents, including 2nd dist. Council candidate Robert Fox, charge have increased collisions. Bollard-obstructive bicycle lanes, "trafic calming" roundabouts and other "complete streets" measures have received mixed reviews in various parts of the city.

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