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Trucking is also highly subsidized via highway money, with gas/usage taxes covering less than half of roads..= Take that away or make trucks pay for wear and te
by zip1234 4y ago
Trucking is also highly subsidized via highway money, with gas/usage taxes covering less than half of roads..= Take that away or make trucks pay for wear and tear and maybe we would see more investment in rail. Long haul trucking almost shouldn't exist given how much cheaper and more efficient rail is.
- dredmorbius 4y agoI recently ran across a mention that this was a deliberate decision made in the 1950s to help further break the power of railroad monopolies. The decision had merits at the time. Side-effects may be overwhelming those now, though I'll note that with only five US majors, centralisation within rail remains a concern.
- sofixa 4y agoA better way to do that would have been something akin to the "Rail Packages" of the EU, most notably the open access part. Infrastructure should be separate from operations, and access should be given to anyone at equal priority and fees. Monopolies are effectively broken, and that works for rail as well any other type of infrastructure monopoly - ISPs, power, etc.
- dredmorbius 4y agoI wish I could remember the source, as I believe it had more context. May have been Tim Wu's The Master Switch, though that doesn't quite seem right.