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Barry Rascovar is absolutely correct about the need for more transportation revenue ("Only hope could be Uncle Sam handout," July 23). But he's wrong when he describes the transportation trust fund as "highway user revenues."

In reality, drivers pay only a tiny share of the cost of creating and maintaining the roads they drive on. From an economic point of view, most of the money going into the trust fund is just part of the sales tax. When paid on gasoline or a car, it is called by a different name and gets diverted out of the state's general fund.

In testimony before Congress last year — before Metro fares skyrocketed — I calculated that riders covered 32 percent of the Washington Metro's expenses. Road users paid only 20 percent of the state's highway budget, and most of that was bridge and tunnel tolls.

A recent poll of voters in the Washington, D.C., area found a 62-30 majority for prioritizing transit over roads.

The public, I believe, is willing to provide new revenues if we heed their desires and move forward with an exciting transit vision that includes the Purple Line, the Red Line and the state's 25-year plan for MARC.

Ben Ross, Bethesda

The letter writer is president of Action Committee for Transit.