Need to talk to your conservative legislator, newspaper editor or radio talk show host? Start by handing them this!!
William S. Lind
Director, The American Conservative Center for
Public Transportation
The opposition of some conservatives to public transportation and passenger rail stems from three misconceptions. They are:
1. The current automobile dominance is a free-market outcome;
2. Trains and transit are subsidized while highways pay for themselves; and
3. Where public transportation is necessary, buses are always better than trains.
In fact, the dominance of automobiles is a product of almost a century of government at all levels subsidizing highways while taxing privately-owned electric railways (streetcars and interurbans) and the railroad companies that ran passenger trains. As early as 1921, government was pouring $1.4 billion into highways. By 1960, that number was $11.5 billion, part of which went to build the Interstate Highways that doomed the privately-operated, unsubsidized passenger train. Public transit received no subsidy until 1964. Conservatives know what happens when you subsidize one competitor while taxing another. The result is not a free market outcome.
Libertarian transit critics say the gas tax pays for highways, while transit is subsidized. In fact, the latest (2008) Federal Highway Administration numbers show that all highway user fees, including the gas tax, pay for only 51.72% of highway costs.1 Amtrak covers 67% of its operating expenses from ticket sales and other revenues.2 [This year, Amtrak says it has improved that ratio to 85%, according to the tag line at the bottom of its latest press releases]. On a nation-wide average, rail transit covers 53% of its costs from the farebox, but urban bus systems cover only 28%.3
Buses and rail transit serve different people and different purposes. Buses primarily serve the transit dependent, people who do not drive or have no car. In contrast, rail transit has consistently shown success at drawing riders from choice, people who could drive but choose to take the train, subway, or light rail instead. Unlike bus service, rail transit has a strongly positive effect on development and property values. While the up-front capital cost of rail transit is higher, the operating cost per passenger-mile is much lower (approximately 50¢ for rail versus 90¢ for bus).4
1Federal Highway Administration: Highway Statistics. Forms HF-10 and HF-210.
2Amtrak: National Fact Sheet: Fiscal Year 2010.
3U.S. Department of Transportation: Federal Transit Administration. National Transit Database, 2009 Transit Profiles: Appendix A: 2009 Aggregate Profile – Top 50.
4U.S. Department of Transportation: Federal Transit Administration. National Transit Database, 2009 Transit Profiles: Appendix A: Aggregate Profile – Top 50.
