Quote:
Originally Posted by JDMDreams
^ but it is taxed at the pump + insurance. I recall Translink gets a cut. Why do I as a driver have to pay for something I get no benefit from. Public transit and bike lanes. While bikers pay nothing to hog the roads and not follow stop signs. We should get getting dedicated car lanes not bike lanes since we're the majority that's paying for everything.
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Cars are MASSIVELY subsidized - as a car owner you don't pay anything close to the damage you do to the world. There's a number of studies that show that for every dollar you pay to run your car it costs the rest of us anywhere from $3-9 whereas things like walking and biking (and sometimes transit) have positive impacts (healthier cities, lower pollution, less resource intensive etc) (Source:
https://thediscourse.ca/scarborough/full-cost-commute and
https://www.rideshark.com/2017/03/13...ofyourcommute/)
As for paying for public transit and bike lanes you benefit in two ways: 1) Generalized benefit of cleaner environment and healthier citizens (lower health care costs, less accidents) 2) Less cars on the road so you can get around faster.
Because land was abundant in the early 1900's it was an easy con for automakers (and oil companies) to get govt to subsidize roads and parking. Nearly a third of all land is used for cars in the form of roads and parking, in the early days this was no big deal but in today's world (with a housing crisis caused by a lack of land) this is completely insane. Fun Fact: It was automakers who lobbied to make jaywalking illegal - jaywalking didn't even exist before cars. The downstream impact of making jaywalking a crime (combined with discriminatory policing) is that more minorities are in jail. Fun!
There is ZERO chance you'll ever be able to pay the actual costs of what operating a car costs the rest of us but at the very least we should try to recapture some of that and a parking permit is a trivial charge.