Bus Good, Train Bad

John Meyer, John Kain e seus alunos nos ensinaram essa lição há quase meio século atrás. Entretanto, no Reino Unido, dominado pelo lobby dos ambientalistas, o ódio irracional ao automóvel e as rodovias tornou parte da população refém dos trens e dos monopólios que os controlam. British rail fares are already among the most expensive in the world. Just over half of passengers think trains offer value for money; according to one recent survey, around 15% of them would consider abandoning trains or moving house to avoid these steeper fares.
Yet the government can mount a reasonable case in defence of the increases. It is not clear why the public should be heavily subsidising a mode of transport that accounts for a tiny minority of all travel: 8% of the total distance travelled in Britain during 2009, compared with 85% by cars and vans. The relatively few who use railways often are disproportionately well-off: three-fifths of the traffic is concentrated in the wealthy commuting counties of the south-east.
In any case, the steady increase in the cost of rail travel over the past 30 years (trains are now around 50% more expensive in real terms than in 1980) has not stopped passenger numbers growing to their highest level since the end of the second world war. Many rail firms enjoy a virtually captive market: trains are very good at moving commuters into and out of large cities; congestion on the roads means that many people have no real alternative. Passengers might grumble about the new fares, but most will pay up nonetheless.