09/29/2009 - The myth: The federal government heavily subsidizes mass transit, while driving pays for itself through the gas tax.

The reality: For the gas tax to pay for highways (not even local roads), it would have to be on the order of a dollar per gallon. The tax is just 18.4 cents a gallon. That's a federal subsidy of about 80 cents per gallon of gas used on the highway.

Indeed, a new analysis by Subsidyscope, a joint project of Pew Charitable Trusts and the Sunlight Foundation, found that last year highways got $30 billion in subsidies while transit got just $9 billion.

Read the full article Myth Busters: Transit Subsidies on the San Francisco Chronicle's The Thin Green Line blog.