[taxcontrol]

I have no problem with light rail - as long as it can show an ROI.

[B-Chan]

Do you demand a similar ROI from motor freight and passenger coach operators or from airlines? Remember, railroads own and maintain their own infrastructure (roadbeds, rails, switches, signals, crossings, bridges, tunnels, traffic control systems, etc.) as well as the rolling stock they use. On the other hand, the infrastructure costs of motor and air transport are covered by the taxpayer, enabling private operators that use them to make money. Which of these two industries is truly government-supported?

(And I didn’t even mention the huge amounts of taxpayer cash that has gone directly to car companies and the airline industry over the years in the form of bailouts. Would American Airlines be reporting a profit today if Uncle Sam hadn’t coughed up all that cash two years ago?)

Providing capital for transportation infrastructure is a proper role for government: from ports to canals to railroads to freeways to airports, the use of public funds for infrastructure investment is an American tradition. Railways currently pay for their own infrastructure and still make money every quarter. If motor carriers and airlines had to own and maintain their own Interstates, airports, signs, and signals, none of them would make a dime.

I support public funding of integrated transportation infrastructure, including a robust system of national high-speed passenger and freight rail.