(Matthew Russotto)
That's because most of the costs of driving are subsidized, and therefore "hidden" from you.
If you look at a place like downtown Chicago, where parking costs are not subsidized, you see that parking your car while you're at work costs $40. How much do you have to pay to park the bus when you ride it to work?
You don't realize it yet, but your employer is taking the costs of your "free" parking out of your salary, just like the costs buttociated with all your other employment benefits. As a result, you have no idea how much it actually costs for your employer to make that parking space available for your use while you're at work. You can take a guess, however, by taking the average price per acre of land in a commercial area like yours, multiplying it by the area of your parking lot, and adding in a factor for the opportunity cost of that land being unusable for other commercial purposes (like leased office space). Not so "free" after all, is it?
Now imagine, however, if your employer were to sell that land to a parking lot operator like they do at airports. What do you suppose the new owner of your parking lot would charge you to rent a space in it for 9 hours per day? Still think taking the bus to work is more expensive than driving your car?
-- Sloth Kills!
