As mentioned in the article, local transit authorities are facing a conundrum - less cars on the road equals less money raised in gas taxes, which help fund transit operations.
Edit: Link fixed. Blame autoformatting.
The link does not open for me, but the article sounds interesting. The general sentiment is that everybody has no alternative but to pay the high gas price because they have to use their cars. But I have a feeling that there is much more elasticity in the demand than is widely imagined. This rapid price run-up to over $4 per gallon, coupled with all the dramatic promotion of the problem by the news media is liable to cause a surprisingly large reduction in consumption. It will indeed pinch the tax revenue stream.
But the whole point of mass transit is to get people out of their cars, so if that goal is realized, they need another way to fund transit besides a tax on gas for cars.
The same shorting of gas tax revenue arises from the pursuit of fuel efficiency because taxes are billed by the gallon of fuel, and better fuel efficiency means fewer gallons are purchased. Yet the cost of funding roads is not lowered by fuel efficiency of vehicles. The problem has not gone unnoticed by state governments, and it has spawned proposals to tax by the mile driven rather than by the gallon burned.
Transit has a fair box, but it does not charge enough to cover the cost. If it did, it would unfair to fund roads without the same kind of direct user fee. Traditionally, the only way to charge and collect such a fee was by a toll road, but times are changing. Get ready for a fair box in your car.
I have noticed it, just by watching the METRA trains go by my house. Over the last several months, the trains have gotten longer, and appear to have more riders. Express trains that were normally 9 or 10 cars are now 11 to 14 cars long. Normal “every stop” commuter trains are 6 to 8 cars up from the normal 5 or 6. I don’t know how much METRA ridership is up, especially on the BNSF “West Line”, but it would appear that more people are taking the train.
I have noticed it, just by watching the METRA trains go by my house. Over the last several months, the trains have gotten longer, and appear to have more riders. Express trains that were normally 9 or 10 cars are now 11 to 14 cars long. Normal “every stop” commuter trains are 6 to 8 cars up from the normal 5 or 6. I don’t know how much METRA ridership is up, especially on the BNSF “West Line”, but it would appear that more people are taking the train.
And from another source:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080611/us_nm/usa_gasoline_trains_dc;_ylt=AkFFpTEjmbyllLX.Ktw1cusDW7oF