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Re:Iowa City made its buses free. traffic cleared, and so di... by jeromegv on Sunday November 23, 2025 @09:33PM (#46029750)
If roads provide value to people, they should pay for some of it. Right?
Re:Iowa City made its buses free. traffic cleared, and so di... by josephcsible on Sunday November 23, 2025 @09:34PM (#46029762)
Right. That's why we have to pay vehicle registration fees and gas taxes.
Re:Iowa City made its buses free. traffic cleared, and so di... by indecisive_user on Sunday November 23, 2025 @10:08PM (#46029936)
Registration is like $100 a year for "unlimited" access to roads. Quite a bit cheaper than a yearly unlimited transit pass.

And electric cars don't pay a gas tax.

Re:Iowa City made its buses free. traffic cleared, and so di... by josephcsible on Sunday November 23, 2025 @10:37PM (#46030104)
> Registration is like $100 a year for "unlimited" access to roads. Quite a bit cheaper than a yearly unlimited transit pass.

But that's still "some of it".

> And electric cars don't pay a gas tax.

Electric cars' registration fees are much higher to make up for that, e.g., in New Jersey, you owe an extra $260 per year for an EV (which automatically goes up by $10 every year) vs. a gas car.

Re:Iowa City made its buses free. traffic cleared, and so di... by terminalshort on Sunday November 23, 2025 @10:54PM (#46030196)
Since you pay for the vehicle and the fuel, no it's not even close.
Re:Iowa City made its buses free. traffic cleared, and so di... by idiotsecant on Sunday November 23, 2025 @10:35PM (#46030095)
EVs pay a gas tax in the form of enormously more expensive registration in almost all states. I pay way more for my EV registration than I would have paid in gas tax.
Re:Iowa City made its buses free. traffic cleared, and so di... by amanaplanacanal on Sunday November 23, 2025 @10:52PM (#46030187)
Gas taxes don't come close to paying for roads. Roads are massively subsidized out of general taxes.
Re:Iowa City made its buses free. traffic cleared, and so di... by josephcsible on Sunday November 23, 2025 @11:38PM (#46030434)
Fares don't come close to paying for public transit. Public transit is massively subsidized out of general taxes.

And besides, the comment upthread said "some", not "all".

Re:Iowa City made its buses free. traffic cleared, and so di... by ljlolel on Monday November 24, 2025 @12:02AM (#46030556)
The cars have way way more negative externalities
Re:Iowa City made its buses free. traffic cleared, and so di... by nyc_data_geek on Sunday November 23, 2025 @09:43PM (#46029802)
Congratulations, you have invented taxes