Re: 鈥淧ublic transit should be free, Victoria council says,鈥� April 26.
I agree with recent letter-writers that governments shouldn鈥檛 subsidize people鈥檚 transportation choices. However, we need to start with the mode that receives by far the biggest subsidy: private automobiles.
According to studies by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute and others, fuel taxes paid by motorists cover only about 15 to 20 per cent of the external costs of driving 鈥� those costs not paid directly by the driver, including the cost of building, maintaining and policing roads, 鈥渇ree鈥� parking and environmental impacts. Across B.C., this subsidy is in the range of $5 billion to $10 billion annually, many times higher than the subsidy received by transit, let alone the very modest amounts of money we currently spend on infrastructure for pedestrians or cyclists.
Rob Maxwell
Victoria
