4 ms·

Does the interstate system run as a profit?

• comte7092 3y ago
  Well, obviously not. I wasn’t intending to make a statement on whether or not public transit should be independently profitable, just providing context. I didn’t even touch on ridiculous regulations like “buy America” (aka all buses have to be manufactured in the US) that drive up the cost of transit in a way that private drivers would never accept.
• malcolmgreaves 3y ago
  Precisely the right question to ask! Profit vs. loss has no relevance when one is providing a public service. The relevant question is cost: capital investment / creation cost & operating cost.
  • comte7092 3y ago
    > Profit vs. loss has no relevance when one is providing a public service. I beg to differ. While profit shouldn’t be the only indicator under consideration, when you are operating a state owned enterprise under a fee for service model, profit is certainly a valid metric to consider.
  • chgs 3y ago
    Cost and benefit. You could spend £10b a year providing a 12tph high speed train from Wales AK to Prudhoe Bay, but there wouldn’t be a reasonable benefit from it.
• jujube3 3y ago
  The interstate system is almost profitable for the government. Fuel taxes raise somewhere around 30 billion to 40 billion a year, and the amount spent in interstate system maintenance every year is about that amount. If they increased the tax slightly, and stopped siphoning money off of it to fund non-road expenditures, it would be in the black.