Responding to a Bob Hepburn editorial in the Toronto Star that called road tolls “nuts,” Hamilton-area blogger Nicholas Kevlahan has pulled together some numbers on the cost of maintaining infrastructure for car drivers:
Although motorists feel they pay too much in fees and taxes (and we do pay a lot), a very careful Federal Department of Transport study shows that federal and provincial net road fuel tax revenues and provincial fees cover only 50% to 78% of the total cost of the nation’s roads.
via Ford Wrong About Toll Roads – Raise the Hammer.
In other words, we subsidize roads and highways through general revenues.
For comparison, roughly 70% of the operating costs of the TTC fall directly on the shoulders of its users.
Tags: infrastructure, roads, transit, ttc