It was a dark and stormy night when snipped-for-privacy@aol.com wrote:
>> There is no place in the world where public passenger transportation
>> does not require a subsidy; in most cases, outright operation by a
>> governmental entity.
>> Also, rail transit systems are tremendously expensive to build in
>> established cities.
> All true. But exactly the same is true of automobile-centered
> transportation. User fees (gas tax and tolls) pay for only a small
> fraction of the cost of construction, maintenance, and operation of
> highways, roads, streets. And for the total cost, you need to add on
> top of that the cost to users for purchase, maintenance, and operation
> of the vehicles.
You know, I keep hearing this about road use taxes not fully paying for road construction and upkeep, but then I hear equally emphatic folks saying that so much of the revenue is used to support "mass transit" that it *could* pay for the roads if it didn't have that burden. No one, on either side, seems to be citing sources for this received wisdom. Do you have any? Preferably without agenda, though I know that will be hard to find. Everbody has an agenda.
I'm curious where the truth lies (pun fully intended ;-))
Bill Ranck Blacksburg, Va.