Tax 'em. Let them pay the freight.
Trek sux. Specialized.
All you need to know...
A bicycle tax?
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3040634/7-cities-that-are-starting-to-go-car-free?partner=rss
Well, that’s a switch. One quarter of the highway trust fund is for mass transportation, building bike lanes included. Only 5.9 percent of low-income commuters take mass transit.
Here in California they tax manufacturing in the form of a Cap and Trade scheme and then they give one quarter of that money to mass transit.
They are building a high speed rail line that stops only in a few cities. Those cities will have trains and busses on their proprietary roads. Along those routes, one half mile on either side, they are building high density housing they call mixed use housing. They will have retail on the bottom floor and either be limited or have no parking. Tenants are expected to walk or bike that half mile to the mass transportation.
From the above link, Madrid has banned most traffic from certain city streets as part of a plan to completely pedestrianize central Madrid in the next five years.
In Paris, in the city center, people that don’t live in local neighborhoods won’t be able to drive in on weekends. By 2020, the mayor plans to double the number of bike lanes in the city, ban diesel cars, and limit certain high-traffic streets to electric cars and other ultra-low-emission vehicles.
Hamburg, A new “green network,” which will be completed in the next 15 to 20 years, will connect parks across the city, making it possible to bike or walk anywhere. The network will cover 40% of the city’s space.
Helsinki, In a new plan, the city lays out a design that will transform car-dependent suburbs into dense, walkable communities linked to the city center by fast-moving public transit. The city is also building new mobility-on-demand services to streamline life without a car. A new app in testing now lets citizens instantly call up a shared bike, car, or taxi, or find the nearest bus or train. In a decade, the city hopes to make it completely unnecessary to own a car.
Milan, If commuters leave their vehicles at home, they’ll get free public transit vouchers.
Copenhagen, over half the population bikes to work.
What's the rationale, that the dayglo-spandex bfreaks that ride them have to be policed like motorists?
The article sounded like the proposed bike tax is targeting any bike. Either the biker enthusiasts they quoted or the article author (or both) could be purposely misleading.
The country overcommitted to the highway mania in the 1950's and 60's, which contributed significantly to the deterioration of the cities. We seem to have learned that lesson, and are doing a better job of respecting existing neighborhoods. This, by the way, includes mitigation and offset funding. If you want to take part of an urban neighborhood park to build a new off ramp from the interstate (to run more cut-through commuter traffic through formerly quiet residential streets), you had darn well better be prepared to offer something in return.
The opposite problem exists in newer cities and many suburbs that were build for the automobile from the ground up. As these communities have matured, many have reached the point at which they begin to realize that complete dependence on automobiles was a mistake. (This is often driven by increasing density and congestion.) It is good for children, teenagers, and the elderly to be able to get around easily. It is good for lower income people without cars to be able to get to jobs without heroic commutes. It is even good to get out occasionally and get some exercise, without having to hop in your car and drive to some designated yuppie dogtrot. But can you actually get anywhere worth going, without dodging cars?
Retrofitting and repurposing infrastructure gets expensive, and I suspect that's where most of the controversies arise. I'm not dogmatic about bike paths. In some places they work well, but many are only very lightly used. I am dogmatic, however, about sidewalks and wide shoulders, and frequent (pedestrian scale) crossings of arterial roads, so that highways do not become impassable barriers to the people who actually live in the neighborhood. Complete streets is a good idea.
Last but not least, I'll venture the guess that most of the time, sensible people find sensible solutions without it becoming much of an issue. My biggest pet peeve in the DC area is the lack of connecting side streets in so many places. Sprawling subdivisions were built around meandering, hilly tree-lined streets with few access points. That half-mile roundabout that you scarcely notice in your car is an obstacle to pedestrians and cyclists. I've grown to appreciate a regular street grid -- you know: city blocks, where all the streets actually connect -- which makes it easy to move a block or two over and avoid the heavily trafficked streets. It also drives me nuts when there's no way to get from A to B without getting out onto the arterial road -- which all too often has no sidewalk, and the shoulders were long ago turned into another traffic lane. Such roads become barriers. Heck, in Northern Virginia, it seems like half the parking lots don't connect. There are low cost solutions to many of these issues. Maybe road planners should be required to bunk down in a neighborhood for a month without a car before they can spend money building more amenities for automobiles at the expense of non-motorized traffic.
Just another entitlement group wanting others to pay for infrastructure only they use.
Pay up if you want the bike stuff, or take the bus.
I was a Trek fan, but when I found Trek is a liberal, I sold my Trek. I bought a made in the US Diamondback. I wont ever buy a Trek again.
As a cyclist, I say that if they're going to implememt this then a tax is perfectly acceptable.
Right. It makes sense to build streets that accommodate everyone but ALL users should pay.
Pray America is waking
Wait I’m confused. I thought all the granola munchers were in favor of higher taxes and sticking it to the man. Now they have their chance to pay their “fair share” and they whine? Seems Leftists are hypocrites. Who’da thunk it.
Drivers pay taxes to maintain roads so why should cyclists get a free ride? Cycling is great, but how many ride during a Wisconsin winter?
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