Public transportation infrastructure cost way more then fares can compensate - it used for drivers and fuel mostly

I was going to guess that it was usually the other way around, that cities often take a loss on public transpo...but, if the entity itself is private (as in does not come out of the public/general fund) and turns a profit, your reasoning might hold.

Still, I am guessing that in most metropolitan areas, public transport is a part of the city budget, and therefore if it were ever to actually turn a profit, those funds would be directed elsewhere, especially in tough taxing or economic times.

I'm sure Mayor Cook or even Mr. Drake will no doubt have an answer to this. :)

Here's the METRO's budget page, if anyone is in the mood to figure out how closely tied to the District's budget it is: http://www.wmata.com/about/parp_documents.cfm?fromMenu=AboutMetro.5

As if your miles driven are not being subsidized.

In Manchester, England, the light-rail "Metrolink" service has a farebox recovery ratio of 1.43 (i.e. it's profitable).

In all of the UK (except London) the bus network is not run by local government - it was de-regulated in the 1980s and 1990s. Private companies run the buses and are free to set fares. In most parts of the country fares are noticeably more expensive than in London which is still regulated. This is despite London being more expensive for most other goods and services.

The upshot (from a Peak Oil point of view) is that all UK bus networks are profitable at the farebox level. There are no direct subsidies, except on some rural services and services deemed socially necessary. Local government pays only for bus shelters and signs. Central government provides free off-peak bus passes to people aged over 60. (This was introduced just before the general election in 2005; it was done for political rather than economic reasons). This £1bn/year scheme could be classed as a subsidy - it provides a significant source of revenue for the private bus operators.

In order to collect the blender's credit don't you have to owe income taxes to the Federal government? The credit is an offset to taxes owed as I understand it.

I don't think municipalities pay Federal income taxes or file Federal income tax forms. So how will the credit be collected when they aren't paying income tax to begin with? I may be wrong.

Perhaps if a for profit special entity was set up separately that did the blending with the city buying its fuel from them, it would work. There needs to be a taxable profit somewhere that can be offset with the blenders credit to make it work IMO.

That sounds great, because Iowa is right next to California, and you couldn't possibly lose 2/3 your mileage due to ethanol's insane energy density, and $ 2.49 ethanol couldn't ever come out to be more expensive than gasoline per joule of energy..

Ethanols great everyone, It will save America from evil brown people that think they have a right to their own resources and from big mean oil companies who are out to enslave every American child.

don't think you guys at the oil drum are up to date on things check out these new industry numbers, the efficiency's are amazing...

Amazing Ethanol Mill Efficiency's, according to industry experts

If ya need to I'll go over the numbers..

take a 1 reindeer hoof 18,000 btu's
take 4 lbs pixy dust 32,000 btu's
get a nose hair from Cher 7,800 btu's

now the average US corn harvest is approximately 755 bushels per square foot, and you can get a yield of 6 barrels per bushel of high quality super ethanol. (energy density is 4 times that of weapons grade uranium)

So you add all your inputs 18,000 + 32,000 + 7,800 and do a Energy returned on energy invested calculation

I'm going to estimate since rounding is real real hard,

anyway that's around 9000:1 EROI input, the USDA studies are flawed and The International oil companies are maliciously manipulating prices with their less than 12% share of world production combined.

Also Debbie, perhaps you might not want start those orders until the new sugar-cane ethanol plantation comes online at the north pole, their planning on making great technological strides and bringing cost down. Also the fine citizens of Huntington Beach can rid the world of some of those pesky emaciated African/Middle Eastern/Indian/Pacific Island/Eastern European kids by burning the little food they have in their own gas tanks. God I love America, the land of idea's..