Quote:
Originally Posted by accord1999
Even for the Greater Vancouver area, which has a successful transit system by North American standards, revenues from transit operations can't cover 40% of operating expenses, depreciation and interest.
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And you imagine that driving
isn't subsidized? Actually, in percentage terms the subsidy is about the same:
In dollar terms, of course, in North America we spend billions more on roads than transit. And that's not even counting externalities, which are the most pernicious cost of driving -- the fact that it's polluting our cities, encouraging sprawl, driving up health care costs, acidifying oceans, raising sea levels, destroying our planet.
Besides, what's the alternative to transit? Building more roads? Expanding our highways to twenty lanes? As we've learned from experience, that doesn't reduce congestion: only public transit reduces congestion, because it increases capacity without promoting further sprawl.