We’ve been subsidizing driving for years
March 28, 2014
This does not count carbon taxes (ought to be 25 cents per gallon) or pollution taxes (in the range of $1 to $1.50 per gallon, based on location) or noise taxes or crash risk to others (in theory insurance captures this, but insurance may not pay out if a smashed pedestrian or cyclist was “at fault” — but without the speed and bulk of the car, harm would have been smaller) or congestion costs. This is just the cost to build and maintain the roads. The images links to the spreadsheet containing all data and links to documents from which it was obtained; these are all government sources, either EIA, FHWA, or Federal Reserve.
No, bicycles do not tear up roads, nor do they pollute or make noise. Their crash risk to others is many times lower, and because they take up so much less space their congestion costs are correspondingly lower.