4 ms·
"Yes, Amtrak is subsidized. So are all competing forms of transportation. Highways cover only 51 percent of their costs from all user fees, including the gas ta
by anderber 8y ago
"Yes, Amtrak is subsidized. So are all competing forms of transportation. Highways cover only 51 percent of their costs from all user fees, including the gas tax. The rest is paid by subsidies of one form or another, especially from local property taxes. Airlines receive massive subsidies in the form of airports and the air traffic control system. The day after 9/11, the airlines ran to Capitol Hill and were immediately given billions of dollars in additional taxpayer money, no questions asked."
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/dont-railroad-amtrak/ http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/dont-railroa...
- rdl 8y agoAirports are largely self-funded by user fees (or via federal funds which come from other user fees and fuel taxes), and airlines (except for bailouts in 2008-2009) are almost entirely commercially funded. http://airportsforthefuture.org/did-you-know/ http://airportsforthefuture.org/did-you-know/ Air is the true competitor to the long-haul train in the US. It is cheaper and faster. There are separate arguments for/against transit and regional trains, but long-haul passenger rail, which is what is discussed in TFA, is essentially a novelty.
- fulafel 8y agoThere's the small problem that air travel is environmentally unsustainable, with no fix in sight. It should be heavily taxed to account for the env. externalities.
- rdl 8y agoTaxes to account for environmental externalities (in the case of air travel, noise, CO2, altitude-related pollutants are probably the main things) make sense for everything. Air travel beats road and rail in some cases on this, doesn't in others. Taxes and thus pricing in all the costs would let consumers decide.