Here's a much more thorough look at SpaceX economics: https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/7lp52o/a_thorough_examination_of_the_economics_of_falcon// https:

Here's a much more thorough look at SpaceX economics: https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/7lp52o/a_thorough_examination_of_the_economics_of_falcon// https://www.reddit.com/r/spacex/comments/7lp52o/a_thorough_e... tl;dr - Recoup on development costs is slow right now, but the post-development economics of rocket reuse are a big game change. Space shuttle comparison is flawed because both the nature of the system and the need for teardown were significantly impacted by being manned. Comparing tunnels to planes is weird too - the target is an order of magnitude greater passenger throughput at a majorly reduced energy cost. The speed comparison is superficial.