Portland is a PR machine for light rail & streetcar
Here are Some Facts About Portland Oregon
From Mark Delucchi, ACCESS NUMBER 16 • SPRING 2000, page 12:
External costs and subsidies for different passenger- transport modes (cents per vehicle mile, except last row is cents per passenger mile)
[Numbers in brackets are my best estimates]
|
COST ITEM |
GASOLINE AUTO |
ELECTRIC AUTO |
TRANSIT BUS |
LIGHT RAIL |
HEAVY RAIL |
|
Air pollution |
0.8 to 13 [2.0] |
1.5 |
5.4 to 123 [20.0] |
5* |
5* |
|
Oil use, water pollution |
0.3 to 1.5 [0.8] |
0 . 4 |
1.5 to 8.7 [4.0] |
r |
r |
|
Noise |
0.01 to 2.0 [0.2] |
0.1 5 |
0.5 to 10.0 [2.0] |
r |
r |
|
Congestion |
4.0 |
4 . 0 |
8.0 |
not estimated |
not estimated |
|
Accidents |
2.5 |
2 . 6 |
3 .5 |
2 * |
2* |
|
Marginal highway and service costs |
0 . 1 |
0 . 1 |
1 . 5 |
0 |
0 |
|
Unpriced parking |
0 to 8 [0] |
0 to 8 [0] |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
In efficient highway user taxes and fees, meant to cover highway costs |
- 2 . 7 |
0 |
0 (exempt from fuel taxes) |
0 |
0 |
|
Government subsidy: Operating costs minus fares Operating + rolling-stock costs minus fare Total operating + capital costs minus fare * * |
0 0 0 |
0 0 0 |
33 9 [ 39 8 ] 4 6 5 |
685 1 , 13 7 2 , 8 0 0 |
372 797 1 , 177 |
|
Extra private costs relative to gas auto |
0 |
0 to 16 [8] |
see subsidy |
see subsidy |
see subsidy |
|
Total cents per vehicle-mile |
5 to 28.4 [6.9] |
8.8 to 24.8 [16.8] |
359 to 620 [437] |
694 to 2,809 |
381 to 1,186 |
|
Passengers per vehicle |
assume 1.0 |
assume 1.0 |
10.9 (avg.) |
25.7 (avg.) |
22.3 (avg.) |
|
Total cents per passenger- m i l e --------> |
5 to 28.4 [6.9] |
8.8 to 24.8 [16.8] |
33 to 57 [40] |
27 to 109 |
17 to 53 |
* Data are not available for these numbers, which are estimated based on my studied judgment.
* * Note that, because the official statistics do not report passenger fare payments by individual transit mode, it is not possible to calculate the actual government subsidy for each mode. I have assumed that ratio of fare payments to operating expenses is the same for all modes.
Click here for the full article
Also See:
Transit is Hightly Subsidised, NOT highways
U.S. Department of Energy: Federal Financial Interventions and Subsidies in Energy Markets 200
External costs and subsidies