In the US and in NY we non-drivers subsidize automobile usage. The costs of building and maintaing road infrastructure are huge as are the costs of pollution an

In the US and in NY we non-drivers subsidize automobile usage. The costs of building and maintaing road infrastructure are huge as are the costs of pollution and traffic. It's a form of transfer and a large one at that. As a New Yorker I don't have a car and as a Manhattanite I liked the proposed congestion charge that was nixed by Albany. As an aside, you may recall the revenue from the congestion charge was going to pay for improved transit in NYC. I'm not suggesting a race to the bottom in terms of justifying one transfer with another but the elephant in the room is private automobiles and their subsidies. Nor am I suggesting pay-for-use for everything. However free buses are a rounding error in that light and we need to seriously approach road pricing, congestion charges as part of a unified transportation system.