7rider

I voted for Arnold in the recall election although I'm a registered Democrat (Gray seemed so weak - especially with his proposal just before he left office to provide driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, and Arnold seemed like he would stir up things), but after his veto of AB 748, no more support for Arnie:

Governor vetoes bike bills!

Arnie, if you leave office soon, there still may be time to make True Lies 2.

scarry

Yup, he sucks. The Hummer man. He is not a friend of cyclists, the enviroment, workers, consumers.

Helmet Head

"It is clear from his message that the veto was based on the issue of state .vs. local control, and not on support for tolling cyclists and pedestrians."

I think you're overreacting. It's the right call. We've got too many decisions moving up the political food chain -- to Sacramento and Washington D.C. Keep it local. That's what this veto is about, not tolling cyclist on bridges.

HiYoSilver

Amen helmet head. If not careful, the moving from Local Control ->State Control -> Federal Control will add a final --> International Control.

A better question might be what are they doing with the toll money. I thought the bridge was paid for long long ago.

7rider

Bridge maintenance costs a lot. Ah, I did overreact after reading Arnie's reasons. I guess we have to appeal to the local organization that would decide on a toll. I'd still like to see a True Lies 2 - with a grown up Eliza Dushku working as an undercover agent in a gentlemen's club - hey, one can dream.

HiYoSilver

Dream on. No dreams you're dead.

I thought a study of the tools showed the majority of funds were not being used for the bridge.

Another of the wonderful reasons why I moved away from the bay area.

Keith99

Wasn't just this week, last week if not, that people were complaining that one of the New York bridges was closed for cycleists and peds most of the night? Speculation on that one was that part of the reason was that they didn't pay tolls!

Making laws like the one vetoed limit options. Now the tolls for bikes option may never be used, but it would sure suck if there was some great project for bikes that didn't get done for lack of funds (worst case lack of a trivial amount of funds that would get a huge amount of matching funds) when a bike toll could raise those funds.

scarry

Bridge maintenance does cost a lot. Maybe we should charge according to impact each user has on the bridge's upkeep.

Let's say hypothetically...$1 per thousand pounds. 5,000 lbs vehicle is $5, the current toll.

So a 150lbs rider plus his bike, call it 200lbs. or 1/5 of $1 or $0.20. Not worth the overhead for the collection. This is the reason this toll has been shot down repeatedly.

pseudobrit

Do state or federal taxes pay for upkeep?

Keith99

At least when we are talking about a bridge over salt water a big part of upkeep has nothing to do with the wear by man, but rather the wear by nature and for that part it would be fair to treat everyone more equally.

One other toll might be off hours tolls. If the bridge would otherwise be closed from let us say 9:00 pm to 6:00 am having a toll during those hours or even part of those hours to keep it open could be a good thing for cyclists.

Daily Commute

One dollar seems like a small price to pay for the right to use a very convenient bridge.

Little Darwin

I am not sure if any tax money is used, but I do know that in California, the tolls are used for bridge maintenance, and also to subsidize mass transit.

When I lived in the bay area it did bother me that part of the payment I made to cross the bridge was to subsidize mass transit that I could have taken to work... but would have been incredibly painful.

I would have had to take a bus to BART for a buck or two (about 3 miles), take BART to the farthest point for $9 + and taken another bus (and perhaps a transfer) for the 18 miles between the bart station and work. Or I could just drive the 18 miles to work in about 1/4 the time and less cost (even with being robbed at the toll booth)

smurfy

Let the cagers pay the toll. The state should be paying CYCLISTS for saving gas and the enviroment. They should be pulling out all the stops - doing all they can to encourage bicycle and alternative transport, not single-occupancy car driving.

Yes, a dollar's not much but it's the idea of even charging cyclists that sucks.

Daily Commute

It sucks to pay out money, but it certainly legitimizes cyclists as bridge users. It also means cyclists have a clear right to demand appropriate and safe facilities.

And don't cars have to pay a lot more?

UmneyDurak

Well I dislike our Governator for different reasons, for the BS he pulled with school/university system funding. Anyway did anyone here actually finished reading the article? What troubles me more is that he also vetoed AB 523, the state Bicycle Transportation Account (BTA). Now the funding will be decreased by over two milion.

trayer350

I think Arnold deserves a break. California is near bankruptcy after years of mismanagement. Arnold is just trying to spend less. If he could, I am sure he would spend billions on bike lanes and every other sports activity you can think of.

Dchiefransom

The tolls on the Bay bridges pay for all the work they do on them. The tolls have been increased to pay for other projects, also.

Placid Casual

Ha ha ha ha ha. That's me laughing at you for voting for him in the first place.

Hey, but never fear, dude. I heard that the little yellow fuzzy guy from the Homestar Runner cartoons is going to run next year. Yeah, he's really going to clean up Sacramento and take the government back from all those special interests and political insiders. And he's a celebrity, so why would he lie?

Bike nut

[QUOTE=7rider]I voted for Arnold in the recall election although I'm a registered Democrat (Gray seemed so weak - especially with his proposal just before he left office to provide driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, and Arnold seemed like he would stir up things), but after his veto of AB 748, no more support for Arnie:

I wonder what happened to Arnold's idea of getting accountants to go through Sacramento and find all the waste. I guess it was just easier to blame teachers and the unions. I have been a Republican all my life but after Bush and Arnold I doubt I ever vote for a Republican again. The unfortunate thing is that the Democratic Party is so full of wacko's I can't vote for the either. Oh well, guess I will exercise my right to not vote as my new party.

lilHinault

I forcast the dems will die out like the whigs did, the repubs will become what the dems were, and a new Right/Populist party will arise. And get my vote and the votes of the majority.

lilHinault

Oh yeah and if Arnold is smart he'll align himself with this new party.

Daily Commute

Can we pull this thread back to cycling? Criticize or support his policies regarding cyclists, but too much general pro- or anti-Arnold talk will get the thread closed or moved to P&R.