peter The only reason automobiles and buses were even able to compete with streetcars in the first place was due to the public financing for the building and improvment of roads.
...
the fact remains that neither automobile companies nor automobile drivers have ever had to pay
They did not pay for improved roads.....
The did not pay for extending of...
They did not pay for traffic signal installation,....
They also do not pay for their....
......
Now, even after nearly a century of subsidization, drivers pay just over half of the price for all of the required maintenance and elective building of new roads.
JK: This is simply not true. Please get your facts correct before polluting this blog with propaganda. I asked both a PDOT economist and a City of Portland finance department head who pays for roads in Portland and was told that drivers paid ALL BUT PERHAPS STREET LIGHTING. You will note that we had street lighting before cars.

peter karlock: The only way that the auto companies dismantled Portland’s mass transit was by providing a product that people liked better. It is called freedom, a concept often forgotten in that planners paradise, Portland.

what is freedom? being able to own an automobile and drive wherever you like, and not having to pay the full costs? That is fine for you, and it works well for me too.
JK: Again, your premise of car owners not paying their own way is simply not true. See above. Just as a side note: you generally DO NOT get the truth from environmental advocacy groups about cars or smart growth, especially in fund-raising letters..

peter freedom for others is not having to own a car, not having to drive, and also not having to pay the full costs.
JK:A note on fairness: About 5% of our population commutes on mass transit. Everyone pays 80% of their transport bill. About 90% of our population owns a car. Which is the real outrage:

100% of the people subsidizing something so popular that 90% (approx) use it; or
100% of the people subsidizing something for only 5% of the population.

Gimme a break
JK