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Article: You ride, I'll pay: social benefits and transit subsidies.
- Article from:
- Brookings Review
- Article date:
- June 22, 1992
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1992 Brookings Institution. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The public subsidies underwriting the nation's mass transit bus and rail systems are enormous. In 1989 federal, state, and local governments contributed $7.1 billion to transit operating costs. Capital subsidies brought the total to more than $10 billion. For every dollar transit riders paid in fares, taxpayers paid two dollars in subsidy.
Not unexpectedly, during a decade of huge federal deficits, tax revolts in the states, and increased interest in privatization and public efficiency, the transit subsidies have been widely attacked. In 1985 President Reagan advised a group of Miami, Florida, county officials that they could have saved money by buying a limousine ...