Mismatch

Ryan Avent on the gap in federal transportation funding: For those keeping track at home, that’s $1.4 billion in annual federal spending on transit versus $42 billion in annual federal spending on highways." Now of course this gets a little chicken-and-eggy -- given how many more people drive than take mass transit, it makes sense for more money to be spent on highways. On the other hand, more people would ride mass transit if there were more mass transit systems or if existing systems ran more frequently, kept longer hours, were cheaper, or were cleaner or more comfortable -- all things that could be easily achieved with more money. Shifting that financial balance somewhat is going to have to be part of a sensible climate change strategy.