Car subsidy larger than public transit subsidy
In 1993 the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD) and the
province of British Columbia released a report entitled
"Transport 2021". One of the working papers for this
report was titled "The Cost of Transporting People in the
British Columbia Lower Mainland". The report can be obtained
(at a cost of $5.50 Cdn each) from
GVRD Communications and Education
4330 Kingsway
Burnaby, B.C., Canada
V5H 4G8
Here is an excerpt of the report's conclusions.
Automobile transport was subsidised by $2.7 billion
Private, motorised vehicles (including motorcycles) were
subsidised by about $2.7 billion in the Lower Mainland in 1991.
As the full costs of auto transport are about $11.7 billion, the
subsidy for cars is about 23%. ...
| Total subsidy |
$ millions |
| Road construction |
416 |
| Road maintenance |
144 |
| Road land value |
601 |
| Protection services |
45 |
| Air, noise, and water pollution |
515 |
| Urban sprawl |
282 |
| Parking (commercial and government) |
157 |
| Commercial delays |
97 |
| Unaccounted accident costs |
397 |
| Total |
2654 |
...if the costs of private motorised vehicles were fully
internalised by the user, the saving in municipal taxes would be
$331 per Lower Mainland resident per year. Similarly, the saving
in provincial taxes would be $110 per resident per year and the
saving in the general costs to society would be $867 per resident
per year. In fact, all of these payers would likely save even
more, because if users paid the full costs of their personal
vehicle use and were aware of these costs, their use would most
certainly decline. ...
Public transit is subsidised by $360 million
Public, motorised transport (all modes of transport provided
by BC Transit) was subsidised by $360 million in 1991. This
represents a subsidy of 37% given that total transit costs were
$976 million.
A dissenting opinion
In February of 1993 the Ministry of Transportation and
Highways published a document titled "Reviews of Transport
2021 Costs of Transporting People in the Lower Mainland",
which estimates a much higher overall cost for "light
vehicle" transport.
The Ministry report agrees with the Transport 2021 report that
the total "road user + agency" cost is $10.7 billion.
However, the "more realistic environmental costs" in
the Ministry report differ:
In billions of 1991 dollars:
| Cost Category |
Transport 2021 |
Ministry |
| Local Air Pollution |
0.4 |
0.8 |
| Global Warming |
2.9 |
| Noise |
0.06 |
0.7 |
| Barrier Effects |
ignored |
0.5 |
| Light Vehicle Total Cost |
11.2 |
15.6 |
| User Pay |
9.0 |
9.0 |
| User/Total Cost |
0.80 |
0.58 |
In short: the Ministry of Transportation and Highways
of the province of British Columbia says that automobile
transportation in the Lower Mainland is actually subsidised by $6.6
billion per year; 42% of all automobile costs are
subsidised.
The report (and many other related reports) is available free
from the
Ministry of Transportation and Highways
Planning Services Branch
3B, 940 Blanshard Street
Victoria, B.C., Canada
V8W 3E6
Tel: (250) 387-5252
Fax: (250) 356-5156
James Strickland
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