Public transit is already pretty affordable in relative terms, isn’t it?
The problem is most often the infrastructure quality making it a less attractive option.
One way would be to actually charge road users what it costs to use the roads instead of giving them away for free (inb4 gas tax mentioned - it doesn’t even come close to covering the costs).
A reasonable scheme would tax vehicles to the fourth power of their weight, as this is a good enough proxy for how much road wear that particular vehicle incurs.
This would immediately make yank tank-style vehicles unviable, and the trucking industry would basically need to transition to rail right away, but it would be a far fairer system than what’s in place today.
The money generated could be used to fund high-quality public transit infrastructure, improving the overall system for everyone involved.
Public transit is already pretty affordable in relative terms, isn’t it?
The problem is most often the infrastructure quality making it a less attractive option.
One way would be to actually charge road users what it costs to use the roads instead of giving them away for free (inb4 gas tax mentioned - it doesn’t even come close to covering the costs).
A reasonable scheme would tax vehicles to the fourth power of their weight, as this is a good enough proxy for how much road wear that particular vehicle incurs.
This would immediately make yank tank-style vehicles unviable, and the trucking industry would basically need to transition to rail right away, but it would be a far fairer system than what’s in place today.
The money generated could be used to fund high-quality public transit infrastructure, improving the overall system for everyone involved.