Quote:
Originally Posted by Dengler Avenue
A comment in the Ottawa subforum (possibly under Sandy Hill Tunnel) said that long-distance haul (if not general trucking) is also subsidized. Is that true???
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Long distance haul by truck?
The modes bicker over who is subsidized more or who has more regulation that impedes their competitiveness (e.g., there's an argument that roads and highways being paid by the public gives trucking companies an advantage... the trucking companies would argue they're taxed and regulated appropriately to compensate).
The reality is the freight system has largely been rationalized around what makes economic sense for each type of cargo. Some goods are best shipped by truck, some by rail, some by air, some by marine, and some by pipeline. And many by a combination, depending on where they come from and where they're going. There are margins that can be debated, but they're small in the grand scheme of things.
That's a very simple view of things, I admit. But overall, it's a result of government divesting itself of pieces of the transport sector over the past decades.