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 Rails Won’t Save America
by Randal O’Toole
 Randal O’TooleisaseniorfellowwiththeCatoInstituteandauthorof 
The Best-Laid Plans: How GovernmentPlanning Harms Your Quality of Life, Your Pocketbook, and Your Future
.
No. 107
Rising gas prices and concerns about green-house gases have stimulated calls to build morerailtransitlinesinurbanareas,increasesubsidiesto Amtrak, and construct a large-scale intercity high-speed rail system. These megaprojects willcost hundreds of billions of dollars, but they won’t save energy or significantly reduce green-housegasemissions. Although media reports suggest that many people are taking public transit instead of dri- ving, actual numbers show that recent increasesin transit ridership account for only 3 percent of the decline in urban driving. Also, contrary topopular belief, rail transit does not save energy.Many light-rail operations use more energy perpassengermilethantheaveragesportutilityvehi-cle,andalmostnoneuseslessthanafuel-efficientcarsuchasaToyotaPrius.Peoplewhorespondtohigh fuel prices by taking transit are not savingenergy; they are merely imposing their energy costsonsomeoneelse.Rail transportation is also much more heavily subsidizedthanotherformsoftravel.Wherehigh-waysubsidiesaveragelessthanapennyperpassen-ger mile, and subsidies to flying are even lower, Amtrakcoststaxpayers22centsperpassengermileandurbantransitcosts61centsperpassengermile.Evenifrailtransportdidsaveenergy,spendingmore money on rail will get few people out of theircars.Peoplewhowanttosaveenergyshouldplan to buy more fuel-efficient cars and encour-age cities to invest in traffic signal coordination,which can save far more energy at a tiny fractionofthecostofbuildingnewrailtransportlines.
October 7, 2008
Executive Summary
Cato Institute•1000 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.•Washington, D.C. 20001•(202) 842-0200
 
Myth 1: Rail transportation is inexpen-siveReality: Rail transport is several timesmore expensive, per passenger mile, thandriving or flying.
Intercity rail transportation and urbantransit are often billed as affordable alterna-tivestotheautomobileorairlines.Infact,gov-ernment-funded rail transportation is farmore expensive than more popular forms of travel. To make them at all competitive withflyinganddriving,taxpayersmustheavilysub-sidizeintercityrailandurbantransit. Americansspent$1.03trillionbuying,oper-ating, repairing, and insuring automobiles in2006.
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In exchange, they traveled 4.55 trillionpassenger miles by car and light truck.
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Thatworks out to about 22.5 cents per passengermile.Roadsalsoreceived$25.1billioninsubsi-dies, mostly from local governments, whichaddsahalfpennyperpassengermiletothecostof driving.
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Including subsidies, domestic air-lineservicecostabout13.1centsperpassengermilein2006.
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By comparison, Amtrak spent more than$3billioncarryingpeopleabout5.4billionpas-senger miles in 2006. This works out to 56centsperpassengermile,morethanfourtimesthe cost of flying. Also in 2006, America’surbantransitagenciesspentabout$42 billionon49.5billionpassengermiles,foracostof85cents per passenger mile, or more than threetimesthecostofdriving.(SeeFigure1.)
Myth 2: We’ve subsidized highways andairports for years; now it is time to subsi-dize alternatives.Reality: Since at least 1975, subsidies toAmtrak and transit have been many times greater, per passenger mile, thansubsidies to highways and air travel.
In 2006, Americans paid $93.6 billion intolls, gas taxes, and other highway user fees.Of this amount, $19.3 billion was diverted tomasstransitandothernonhighwayactivities. At the same time, various governments—mainly local—spent $44.5 billion in property,sales, or other taxes on highways, roads, andstreets.Thenetsubsidytohighwayswas$25.1billion, or about half a penny per passengermile.
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 Asmostairportcostsarepaidforoutof airport landing fees, subsidies to air travelwere even smaller: about 0.1 cent per passen-germile.
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Transit carries only 1.5 percent of urbantravel and Amtrak carries only 0.2 percent of intercity travel, yet transit and intercity railrequire huge subsidies. In 2006, subsidies to Amtrak totaled just over $1 billion, or about22centsperpassengermile.
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Thisismorethan40timesthesubsidiestodriving.Subsidiestopublic transit totaled about 61 cents per pas-senger mile, or 120 times the subsidies toautosandhighways.
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(SeeFigure2.)Thisimbalanceintransportationsubsidiesishardlynew.Accordingtoavailabledata,sub-sidies per passenger mile to Amtrak and pub-lic transit have been many times greater thansubsidiestodrivingsinceatleast1975.
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Like any infrastructure, rail lines, oncebuilt, require continued and expensive main-tenance and frequent rehabilitation. Suchcosts threaten to bankrupt many of thenation’stransitsystems.TheChicagoTransit Authority is “on the verge of collapse” andneeds $9 billion to rehabilitate its rail ser- vice.
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The Washington Metrorail needs $12billion for rehabilitation but does not evenhave the $1.5 billion it needs for “bare-bonesurgentpriorities.”
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Bostonisspendingafullthird of its transit budget on interest on thedebtitincurredtorehabilitateitsrailsystem,whileinterestchargesforNewYork’ssubway system are expected to reach $2 billion peryear by 2010.
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 America’s taxpayers shouldnot be asked to support even more high-costtransportation projects.
Myth 3: High gas prices are leading mil-lions to turn to public transportation.Reality: High prices may reduce driving,but hardly any of that reduction is takenup by public transport.
The U.S. Department of Transportationrecently announced that Americans drove 4percentlessinMarchof2008thantheydidinthe same month of 2007—the biggest drop indriving since World War II.
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Meanwhile, the
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Perpassengermile,subsidiestoAmtrakare40timesgreater,andsubsidiestourbantransitare120timesgreater,thansubsidiestodriving.
 
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 
Figure 1Cost of Transport per Passenger Mile, 2006 (cents)
Sources:
National Transportation Statistics 2008
(Washington: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2008), tables 1-37,3-07, and 3-16;
2006 National Transit Database
(Washington: Federal Transit Administration, 2007), “Capital Use”and “Operating Expenses” spreadsheets;
National Economic Accounts
(Washington: Bureau of Economic Analysis,2008), table 2.5.5;
2006 Annual Report 
(Washington:Amtrak, 2007).
 
Figure 2Transportation Subsidies per Passenger Mile, 2006 (cents)
Sources:
National Transportation Statistics 2008
(Washington: Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 2008), tables 1-37, 3-27a,and3-29a;
 HighwayStatistics2006 
(Washington:FederalHighwayAdministration,2008),tableHF10;
2006Annual  Report 
(Washington: Amtrak, 2007);
2006 National Transit Database
(Washington: Federal Transit Administration,2007), “Capital Use,” “Operating Expense,” and “Fares” spreadsheets.
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