In February, the Victoria Transport Policy Institute (VTPI) published a report which argues that urban households in the United States could save money overall if taxes were raised to pay for better public transport.

The report, Raise My Taxes, Please!: Evaluating Household Savings From High Quality Public Transit Service, written by VTPI Executive Director Todd Litman, argues that conventional cost-benefit analysis concludes that automobile transport is a cheaper option only because it fails to take into account the costs of owning and maintaining a vehicle, and parking fees. In an analysis of the money spent by urban households and the U.S. government on vehicles, parking, roads and transit, Litman concludes that the average annual cost of high-quality public transport systems is US$ 329 per capita, but with the added benefit of annual average savings of US$ 1,040 per capita – making it significantly preferable to taxpayers than the current automobile-dependent transport system currently dominant in most U.S. cities.

The analysis summarizes but does not try to build into its calculations other potential benefits conferred by high-quality public transport, such as reductions in road congestion, lower spending on new roads and parking facilities, improved mobility for non-drivers, reductions in travel-related accidents, improved fitness and health, energy savings and potential boosts to economic development and rational urban design. It also suggests that a number of trends, such as an aging U.S. population, rising fuel prices and growing congestion, may increase the value of a good public transport system in the future.

The full report can be downloaded from the VTPI’s website: http://www.vtpi.org/raisetaxes.pdf