A public BUS does a lot more damage than a car. Consider how heavy that thing is. Consider the gas it burns and consider how often hardly anyone rides it yet it still drives around burning a ton and being very heavy. Talk about bus routes wearing out roadways.
The buses in my city (Topeka) are so subsidized and under utilized, it would almost be cheaper to subsidize a taxi service.
2013 ridership: 1,202,646
2013 revenue: $8,774,222 (only 1,591,321 was fares...rest is subsidized in various ways).
So the cost per rider trip was: $7.30...of that, the taxpayer paid $5.97.
Adding the additional cost of road damage is a good idea...and in all reality it brings the numbers closer to it making more sense for gubmint just to shell out free taxi rides...and re-hire the 88 employees to do road repair!
Our bus service has also suddenly gotten into the business of handing out passes to school kids who live too close to get free school bus service. I suspect this makes them exempt from paying state fuel taxes...and they are actually paying less than their fair share for road damage.