http://www.its.ucdavis.edu/people/faculty/delucchi/index.php

Delucchi concludes that the subsidy to motorists is roughly 20-70 cents per gallon of gas, working on the basis that the gas tax is a reasonably direct proxy for road user fees.

http://mdahmus.monkeysystems.com/blog/archives/000441.html

Note, too, that the Interstate Highway System, as presently constituted comprises an enormous subsidy to real estate developers, car manufacturers, and oil companies.

In general, with subsidized transit, the population sorts into the rich in the urban center, the poor out to the edge of the transit system (within walking distance of stations) then the middle income beyond. See Edward Glaeser's paper on why the poor live in cities. The rich can afford the cost of living in the city center and pay for the convenience of walking to work. The poor utilize the transit system sacrificing time for cost savings. The middle class who wish to own a home end up in suburbia and value their time either for economic gain, efficiency or with family to the extent that the cost of fuel and parking overwhelm any subsidized savings from mass transit.

Presumably, that's skewed by bus ridership, which is the only form of public transit outside a handful of densely populated areas.

According to the report I cited above, for rail riders the stats look like this:

Rail riders are only 42% White, 50.2% have household incomes under $50,000, and 57% have vehicle availability for their trips.

Interestingly, only 38% of bus riders have access to alternative vehicles.

It is also important to remember that bus ridership is huge in many areas with decent rail systems. In DC, for instance, 470 million trips were taken on buses or bus/rail transfers last year as opposed to just 209 million rail-only trips.

In Chicago, for FY 2005 there were 186 million rail bordings as opposed to 303 million bus bordings.

Interestingly,

What urban areas have you lived in? I grew up in Houston and live near downtown Austin and you'd be crazy to rely on public transportation. Neither city has the public transportation infrastructure, Houston is too spread out, neither city has expensive parking (almost always comes with housing), and there are more job opportunities outside downtown than inside of it (both places).

The majority of riders are people of color. The median household income is $39,000--$5000 lower than that of the population as a whole. More than half public transportation riders have household incomes less than $50,000. Only 45.4% have access to a car when deciding to make a transit trip.

Presumably, that's skewed by bus ridership, which is the only form of public transit outside a handful of densely populated areas.

In the 13 years that I served on our town board, every dime spent on steets was paid for with motor fuel tax money.

Then you live in a very special place indeed. The national numbers clearly state otherwise, and my experience everywhere I've lived (3 states) as well as everywhere I've cared enough about to research, has been the opposite. Perhaps you could share more details?

The overall subsidy for drivers is orders of magnitude higher than the overall subsidy for transit. And, no, the fact that buses "use the road" doesn't mean that road spending by non-fuel-tax means is thus just and fair - a transit network using roads would rarely need more than 2 lanes, and would look radically different in other ways as well.

On the other hand if you don't live in an urban area, the only place mass transit appears is on your TAX bill![lol]

The vast majority of those who take subways and public buses to work make that choice, not out of altruism, but because it makes the most sense to them given their situation. Some simply can’t afford the cost of buying and maintaining a car. Most, though, are simply urban dwellers who live their lives within a very small geographic area where parking is very expensive and driving is very slow and inefficient. For most Americans, conversely, it simply makes no sense to rely on public transit.

James, What is your data source for these assumptions?

If you look at the recent study by the American Public Transportation Assn. of the demographics of transit riders [A Profile of Public Transportation Passenger Demographics and Travel Characteristics
Reported in On-Board Surveys] you see basic data that contradicts many of your assumptions.

The majority of riders are people of color. The median household income is $39,000--$5000 lower than that of the population as a whole. More than half public transportation riders have household incomes less than $50,000. Only 45.4% have access to a car when deciding to make a transit trip.