All forms of transportation , cars included , is subsidized . The difference is , there is way more funding going into our roads and highways than there is going into public transportation in the United States . Exactly , that doesn ' t mean we should fund public transit more it means we should tax cars more . If cars and public transit run into a battle of who gets the most funds , we risk subsidising transportation so much that sprawl is so big that all services become crazy expensive to serve everyone . The higher taxes on cars will even create a demand for public transit making it competitive against cars and that will increase the chances of investments in public transit to be able to create a return .