As we become a more muti-modal country many drivers are claiming the roads they use are intended for motor vehicles only – bicycles and scooters are considered usurpers. There has been a belief that roads are meant for vehicles because drivers pay gas tax. But everyone is paying for roads, car owners, or not. In this 2015 article the author suggests, “It’s also high time to enact a per-mile fee that can be adjusted for the types of transportation costs we’d like to capture—emissions, congestion, construction, maintenance, transit equity…”
Debunking the Myth That Only Drivers Pay for Roads
ERIC JAFFE
Landing on the moon was still a wild dream the last time gas taxes paid nearly the full cost of our roads.
“”When you tally all these hidden costs together, alongside the assists that already occur for road construction and maintenance, the average household pays between $1,105 and $1,848 a year in what the report calls “uncompensated damage costs to support motor vehicle use in the United States.” Again: whether they drive a lot or hardly at all.””
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