What if car subsidy had the tight budget restrictions that buses have?

When the Worcester Regional Research Bureau dropped a report last week advocating for the Worcester Regional Transit Authority to move to a fare-free system, the idea seemed to take hold in the community.

https://www.worcestermag.com/news/20190529/can-fare-free-bus-system-work-in-worcester

How do you replace the revenue. Who will pay for fare-free buses? These questions are asked because the frame is wrong. We should be asking who is paying for all the car subsidies? Well, one of the hidden costs is the loss of the biosphere.

Amtrak subsidy lower than most people think

90.5 WESA: "“Amtrak requires less subsidy than any other national rail system,” Dukakis says. “Amtrak makes more of its money from the fare box than any other national rail passenger system in the world. ... About 85 percent of its expenses are paid for by passengers and system revenue. That's pretty remarkable, and I don't think most people understand this.”

Amtrak’s current subsidies pale in comparison to the nation’s highway system, Dukakis points out. Highways in America get over $40 billion dollars in federal funding every year; air transportation gets about $16 billion. Amtrak’s funding is down to a few hundred million dollars."

As car count approaches 2 billion, no sign of fossil-fuel subsidies abating.

Earth Day 2013: transport as a solution in the face of climate change | TheCityFix: "Macias added that the transportation sector is the fastest growing sector of greenhouse gas emitters on a worldwide scale, pointing out that we are nearing 2 billion cars on our planet. “There is a need to integrate fleet policy on a global scale, including fuel economy standards, second-hand car trade, increasing public transport, and responsible urban development,” he said.

One of the biggest impacts the transportation sector can have in combating climate change is in cutting fossil-fuel subsidies, which would put economic pressure on cities to switch to more fuel-efficient modes of transport and encourage non-motorized transport, as well as pressure individual citizens to invest in more fuel-efficient vehicles, public transport and non-motorized transport. According to the World Resource Institute, in 2010 fossil-fuel subsidies were $409 billion, and without any subsidy reform, they are set to increase to a staggering $660 billion in 2020. And although renewable energy subsidies are growing, they still have a long way to go. In 2010 they were at $66 billion, up from $39 million in 2007."

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Sprawl subsidy in Maine

Is the state giving money to ‘well-off’ suburbs at expense of urban areas? — State — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine: "“We have this weird situation where relatively less well-off populations in service-center communities and in truly rural places are having their tax dollars transferred to relatively well-off suburban places,” Richert said."

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Banks are draining public #transit with intentional debt while oil get billions in subsidy from taxpayers

PRESS ADVISORY: Statehouse Steps Occupied | Occupy Boston: "On April 4th, Occupy the MBTA, a working group of Occupy Boston, launched Camp Charlie, a ten day occupation of the State House steps to protest fare-hikes and service cutbacks on the MBTA. Having survived the depths of the recession, the 99% now faces additional taxes in the form of escalating T fares and the loss of essential transport routes. This is a further transfer of public wealth to the banks. These are the same institutions that were bailed out by the American taxpayer after being rendered insolvent by their own, criminal recklessness. The only debt in need of servicing is their debt to us. In a country that lavishes four billion dollars in subsidies on the oil companies, the relentless assault on public transport could not make less sense – ethically, environmentally, or otherwise. Camp Charlie will be a place for public debate, conversation, and outreach – a living testament to the refusal of the people to be further abused by a clutch of corporate interests, multinational banking cartels and consolidated oil interests."

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No money for transit -- but parking is heavily subsidized

...Under a more sensible policy, a parking space that is currently free could cost at least $100 a month — and maybe much more — in many American cities and suburbs. At the bottom end of that estimate, if a commuter drives to work 20 days a month, current parking policy offers a subsidy of $5 a day — which is more than the gas and wear-and-tear costs of many round-trip commutes. In essence, the parking subsidy outweighs many of the other costs of driving, including the gasoline tax...
NewYorkTimes

How are fossil-fuels subsidized - let us count the ways

The simple solution is to eliminate all forms of government subsidy on all forms of energy and let them fight it out with American ingenuity. For oil, the cost of securing the sea lanes will drive gasoline to 50 dollars a gallon, but hey, the days of free US Navy support would be over. Trying to remove mercury from the rivers and streams would cripple coal, but hey, poison is poison. A free energy market where all forms of pollution (carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide, radioactivity, mercury,etc) are not allowed to be released into the public domain is as clear as you can get. If you pollute, you're shut down. By eliminating government subsidies, tax breaks, and military support and demanding your children don't eat, drink and breathe poison, it would open up the American spirit of invention and allow our country to develop the energy technologies for a sustained economic and ecologic future. Short of that, this bill will promote more Gulf geysers, coalmine collapses, refinery explosions, oil tanker groundings, Chernobyls, Three Mile Islands, and Love Canals. This would be Energy Rehab for a cheap-energy addicted planet... Earl E. Commenting on the recently failed energy bill at the NYTimes