Alex Marshall, the transportation columnist for Governing Magazine asks, “What?s up with groups that argue for less government but see publicly built highways as an expression of the free market?” He takes particular aim at the Reason Foundation and its work questioning the cost of mass transit. In so doing, he sets up a false choice between government support (of roads or rails) and no government support.
Robert Poole explained Reason’s approach: “transportation infrastructure would work better if it were market-driven. Where it’s possible, that infrastructure should be run in a business-like manner with users paying full cost [which rarely happens with rail].”
Marshall admits that Reason has some good ideas, such as congestion pricing, but holds the Foundation’s work suspect because of their bias against trains.
A bias against trains is perfectly reasonable given that governments may build roads, but they build and operate mass transit systems. Trains limit our ability to get things done, as I discovered when I rode the rails to work last month. Given the real choice between more government roads and more government rails, the way to less government interference is clear.
