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[quote user="schlimm"] [quote user="Sam1"]The notion persists in the minds of many people that the government unfairly subsidizes highway and airways users, largely because pump and ticket prices don't reflect the full cost of building and maintaining these facilities. [/quote]  I ran into this outdated quote, but I suspect it is still largely true: " When the Reagan Administration claimed that each rail passenger required a $35 subsidy, Amtrak President Graham Claytor countered that air passengers were subsidized at $42 each, including $9 for the air traffic control system." -Source: US News and World Report, April 29, 1985[/quote] In FY08 the average federal subsidy for Amtrak was $48.50 per passenger or 22.61 cents per passenger mile.  The average federal subsidy for the nation's commercial airlines was $3.92 per passenger or .45 cents per passenger mile, whilst the average subsidy for a motorist was $38.86 or .0026 cents per motor vehicle mile traveled. Each mode, including Amtrak, may receive a state and local subsidy, i.e. city owned passenger stations, airports, local roadways, etc.  It would be nearly impossible to determine the extent of these subsidies.  No matter how one slices and dices the numbers, at the end of the day, rail passengers require a greater subsidy per unit of travel at every level than is true for airline passengers and motorists.
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