Replacing Low-Income Transit Subsidies With Cars

Following a popular editorial, Why Not Just Buy Them Cars, Wendell Cox develops a 'Frequently Asked Questions' and projects the costs of actually implementing the program.

Cox writes: "There are at least two related reasons to consider providing automobiles to low-income transit riders. The most important is introduced above -- that automobility improves employmentopportunities and the prospects for entry into the economicmainstream for low-income households. But first, there is the issueof transit's exorbitant costs."

"Todd Litman (Victoria Transport Policy Institute) produces calculations to show that letting low-income people drive would require billions in new highway investment. The implication is that low-income citizens should be denied opportunity to keep traffic congestion from getting worse. I strongly disagree with this view. If more traffic congestion is the price of greater opportunity, then so be it. Moreover, as indicated above,comparatively little additional highway investment would be needed."

Thanks to Chris Steins