Good for Spokesman-Review columnist Gary Crooks! In his “Smart Bombs” column this week, he responds to a comment posted on the S-R website asking why Spokane Transit can’t pay their own way because people who drive their own cars do. He points out that driving is actually subsidized. Do drivers pay for the streets they take to work? To a certain degree through their taxes, yes. But the people who ride public transit also pay for them. And what about parking? Before you buy a car, do you save up enough money to pay for your own parking lot? Of course not.
He also talks about the economic hit caused by vehicle crashes, as well as the impact to quality of life. The most interesting thing that he says to me though? How his teenage children find it wasteful to take a Sunday drive. I wonder if a Sunday bus ride is acceptable…