External costs of automobile travel revisited
2026-09-10 23:42:36.061675+02 by
Dan Lyke
4 comments
One of the points of Scott
Bernstein's talk last night was that Petalumans currently pay on the order of $323M
annually to drive. This paper suggests (inline with previous looks at the topic) that "77%
of the cost of automobility is currently externalized".
Back of the envelope, waving over trips into and out of Petaluma and who pays for parking,
that's, what, $1.4B annually?
Imagine what we could do with *that* surplus if we could redirect those automobile trips to
Active Transportation and public transit.
Transportation
Research Part A: Policy and Practice Volume 214, December 2026, 105235 The global
cost of automobility Nadja Schweiggart, Stefan Gössling, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen,
Felix Creutzig
[ related topics:
Interactive Drama Movies Automobiles Skating Public Transportation
]
comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):
#Comment Re: made: 2026-09-11 22:57:33.077719+02 by:
Dan Lyke
Matt Mautner suggests that this paper massively undervalues land.
https://maxmautner.com/2026/09/10/paying-for-driving.html
#Comment Re: made: 2026-09-11 23:53:21.237617+02 by:
spc476
I'll push back on this a bit. Years ago, my friends and I decided to visit the Miami Zoo via public transportation (mostly from Boca Raton, Florida, about 60 miles as the crow flies. It was three hours one way to get to the zoo via public transportation. This may say more about the poor implementation of public transportation in South Florida, but not everybody gets to live in New York or Boston. I feel that the surplus you talk about would be sucked up by time wasted waiting for public transport in most places.
#Comment Re: made: 2026-09-12 01:19:47.939204+02 by:
Dan Lyke
If you took some of the money we spend on cars and put it into public transportation, on the other hand, you
could get both decent headways, less overall cost, and tremendous health benefits.
Sure, you don't get all of the flexibility of automobiles, but we're spending way more than we can afford to.
Also, where we build is a choice, and if we start to actually price in the cost of mobility, people will probably
make different choices. Choices which give us lifestyle and health and climate benefits.
#Comment Re: made: 2026-09-12 15:47:29.861893+02 by:
Definitely Not a Bot
But then add back the efficiency of someone else driving you so you can doomscroll flutterby.
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