Transit Subsidies are not cost effective
Ted Balaker of the Reason Foundation makes the following observation:
Recently the DOT examined net federal subsidies from 1990 to 2002 and found that highways and transit are worlds apart. For every thousand passenger miles, transit got $118 in subsidy. What kind of subsidy did highways get? Negative $2. In other words, highway users paid in more than they got back.
Look at total dollar amounts of subsidy and the story is the same. Urban transit drained Uncle Sam’s coffers by an average of more than $5 billion per year. Meanwhile, our highway system actually replenished those coffers by more than $7 billion per year.
He goes on to note that rail subsidizes the comparatively wealthy as opposed to the poor. This will be especially true here in Hawaii with the General Excise Tax surcharge to pay for rail. Not only this the huge amount of money required for rail usually puts a strain on the existing bus system as they compete for dollars. It would be a shame if TheBus system were destroyed because we embraced rail.