Rail Passenger Subsidize Airports Too!

Warwick, RI—As I prepare to go to the this afternoon’s groundbreaking at Warwick Intermodal Station (for Providence’s T. F. Green Airport), this thought occurred to me: there are cross-subsidies from rail passengers to airports, based on rail passengers who pay airport user taxes to rent cars at airports. These subsidies are growing as rail passengers gain easier access to more airports. I recently attended a family event near Newburgh, NY, which is on the west side of the Hudson opposite Beacon (on Metro-North’s Hudson Line). How to get there? Take Amtrak to the Newark airport station and rent a car. Of course, I paid the airport-assessed rental car fees and taxes just like everyone else.