> Somehow the prices are still high enough that it's cheaper to buy a cheap used car and drive it instead. Cars benefit from enormous subsidies that are typica

> Somehow the prices are still high enough that it's cheaper to buy a cheap used car and drive it instead. Cars benefit from enormous subsidies that are typically even greater than for public transit. This obviously true for the monetary value of building all the roads and highways a city has, but it's even more true in terms of land usage. Cars in US cities tend to be allotted far, far more land than space reserved for walking, biking, or public transit. Since land use is mostly zero-sum, this is an extraordinary amount of investment that cars receive as a mode. And of course, it's not just the roads. Mandatory parking minimums in zoning codes in most cities require businesses to allocate huge amounts of space for free car parking. This is a large de facto subsidy that also inhibits every other mode.