Funding roads (taxes, user fees etc)

[ijmorlan]

And round and round we go. As others explained many times, it's hardly a "free ride" for motorists. Cars, and all the things that they come (insurance, fuel, etc.) with are expensive.

I really shake my head sometimes and wonder what kind of world a few of you grew up in that you think there should be no cars.

I’m talking about the stuff provided for free by all of us through our governments. When you can include road-use fee (to cover construction, maintenance, expansion, and congestion charging) in the expenses, then you get to say that it’s not a free ride. Until then, one of the most expensive components of a car-based transportation network most certainly is a free ride, and in fact what you mention about expense makes another of my points, which is that it is a free ride only for those wealthy enough to afford a vehicle and its attendant costs.

As for the second paragraph you might want to re-think. I’m looking at what I wrote and I’m not seeing how anybody could possibly think that I think there should be no cars. It’s just an utterly bizarre inference to draw from anything I wrote there. All I’m saying is that luxury goods should be provided on a user-pay basis. Uncongested roads in densely populated areas are indisputably a luxury good.