I used to think that public transportation was a gaping money-suck. Unless you live somewhere densely populated like
Hong Kong busses and trains are funded largely by government subsidies. I used to scoff in disgust at the huge
infrastructure costs inherent in my local public transit.
I then complained to someone in the at the office of municipal transportation saying that they should run the operations more efficiently. For God's sake, some of the drivers were making more than $50000 Cdn and there was some ridiculous, un-beautiful, expensive sculptures decorating the stations.
Anyway, the municipal authority then showed me a chart of the out-of-pocket tax expenses of car-driving compared to taking public transit and I was surprised to see that the government is spending more on expenses for cars than for public transit. I then saw his calculations, and, yes: The government is subsidizing car use more than public transit
It just goes to show that being environmentally conscious isn't always more expensive. Our local transit system is still inefficient but it is less costly than the investment in new roads, lights and law enforcement required to drive cars.