rekmeyata

That's a guy who doesn't own a car so paying $1 a pound would be great except for those who own cars we would have to pay roughly $3,500 per year per vehicle in the household! And what about semi trucks, do you think they can afford to pay roughly $80,000 a year per truck? And if he's so ignorant to think they can pay that, then wait till he has to buy something and the cost of that item goes up 10 times what it is today to pay for the shipping!

robncircus

On the car forum I belong to the major gripe with cyclists isn't that we're on the road, it's that we don't have to "register" to be there. My comment was rather vague but if there was a registration process and that money went into improved roads, then I don't see the issue. We all pay taxes for a lot of things (although those in many other parts of the world laugh at our impression of high taxes) but that doesn't mean if the fund was dedicated to cycling it would be all that bad. Remember too, taxes are voluntary to a certain extent

banerjek

While I have no objections to paying registration per se, I see no reason to do so if the real point is to encourage idiots to believe things that aren't true. On the other hand, I strongly favor rental lockers for bikes.

One thing that is all but absent from the debate is that if you love driving and hate bikes, one of the best things you can do is get more people on bikes to free up the roads. A car doing the same commute as me takes literally 10 times more space. Just think how much faster things would go if they used only quadruple the space and there were fewer of them.

Aside the tax issues brought up in the article, those drivers who feel they are subsidizing cyclists should ask who's paying for all that parking and who is consuming which proportion of healthcare resources.

banerjek

Nor do farmers who cause huge tailbacks driving their rigs powered by tax exempt diesel.

I wouldn't resist registering, but pandering to people who simply hate bikes is a waste of time. There is a certain type of person who feels a need to tell every cyclist what his or her responsibilities are (while conveniently ignoring speed limits and other laws that don't suit them personally).

rekmeyata

I don't why but your all still missing the point. Every taxpayer that owns property (even if you rent the property owner pays the taxes and lets you pay it in your rent) pays for bicycle services, communities allocate a small percentage just for that purpose, along with federal grants that are again paid for by everyone who works and pays income tax. So cyclists are already paying a fee for road services provide for them.

But I'm not completely against a one time life time registration fee of lets say $20 or so, if that registration also goes to prevent bicycle theft, otherwise forget it.

ls01

because we already have these rights. Rights are not something you purchase from the govt. You have rights because you exist. I dont need to give any impresion about anything. We pay more than enough in taxes and fee's, I am tired of being bent over.

Also the 5th amendment covers this in your right to travel. Freedom....

ls01

Hell yeah!

rekmeyata

We have freedom to travel, your right as long as we travel by foot. But when you drive a car or a horse and buggy or a bicycle and you ride on a public road, then your right only exist if you pay taxes...unless your a vagrant. that 5th means we have the freedom to travel without a police force watching where we're going and or restricting our movement.

trustnoone

Nicely put. +infinity

FlashBazbo

You guys need to read more. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the reason this topic is relevant . . .

The "Cap and Trade" legislation now stalled in D.C. includes a provision taxing bicyclists and electric vehicle owners with a use tax. (Could there BE a more counter-productive provision in legislation allegedly designed to save energy????) The argument is that, since they don't buy fuel, they don't pay their fair share of road taxes.

Nancy and Harry should be bringing this to a vote sometime before the end of the year.

ls01

incorrrect. driving a car is a privledge, not a right. thats why you can do it as long as you pay taxes. the right to ride a bicycle was granted by congress in the late 1890's as a rite. not a privledge. as a right it cannot be impinged upon.

ls01

not to turn this into p/r, but jeebus! a use tax? wtf did our forfathers even frigging bother for? Our govt is so frigging corrupt it is beyond comprehension.

oilman_15106

Yep, the tax will be kept for bike lane building, etc. only, there is no chance it will go into the black hole of your state general fund never to be seen again? What are you smoking?

Read your state motor vehicle code. Your bike already has the same rights as any other vehicle. The respect part comes from 99.9 % of drivers that are unaware of this fact.

tortugaflats

just another reason for our nanny state government to reach into our pockets. this would mean bike police, bike inspection stations, etc. bigger govt. just what we need.

rollin

That's why robncircus talks about giving other road users the impression that we have "rights". Most drivers don't currently seem to get that fact.

Chris_F

If they start registering bicycles then they'll start putting road taxes on food.

beebe

- The registration process itself costs money. Paying for the government to establish and run a system for bicycle registration and tax collection would cost so much money that it would either be a financial black hole, or tax bicyclists well beyond a fair and necessary amount.

- When bicyclists choose to ride their bikes instead of drive, they are already paying more money into roads by the taxes that come out of the general fund than what drivers do, if you compare by the amount of upkeep required for bike vs car.

- Fees assessed for bicycle registration that didn't end up being used for running the registration system itself would end up getting sucked into the general fund and not used for roads.

- Forcing bicyclists to pay for and deal with the hassle of registration simply to sate drivers who cannot understand the above three points is a bad idea, to put it politely.

trustnoone

Most likely why every attempt to bring in registration fails. Registration would be virtually unenforceable and were it enforceable would achieve nothing. This must leave it as a dead issue on many state and provincial tables.

There is no way all state/provincial governments would come to similar agreements and I can't see one or even some governments adopting serious registration while others don't.

SBRDude

There really is no real good reason to register bikes. Just a waste of time and money for everyone involved. Motorists will respect cyclists when they decide to do it. The trick is how to make them decide to do it, and there is no silver bullet for that one.

2manybikes

If someone is stupid enough to tell me that bikes don't pay road tax and should not be on the road, I start to explain all the reasons a bicyclist should get a refund for every single mile ridden on a road. There are lots of reasons, no wear to the pavement, less pollution, less added cost to health care organizations because I am healthier, no mass consumption of oil and gas, etc. My chance of hurting others is less, so I should get a reduction on my insurance, and I lower the overall cost to insurance companies, ultimately lowering the rates for a driver. If I need to go on, I suggest that the refund for cyclist on the road should initially come from an increase on car taxes, oil and gas taxes, and car insurance increases. If they still don't feel stupid I start to talk about a toll road for cars to pay for bikes lanes on the roads. As a last resort, I ask for a direct donation from the driver to go directly to me for making his driving costs less and his own neighborhood safer. If they hesitate on giving me a donation, I ask them to justify why I don't deserve it.

This works for me.

CHAS

Ok, Mom, I will next time.

colombo357

LOL, exactly. E.g. his bikes.

colombo357

Nobody's ever tried to tell that to me, but if they did, I would explain how I recently got out of jail and am itching to get back in.

Idiots don't follow logic.

2manybikes

I like it!

Daytrip

I agree with this in principle, but as a practical matter, can you imagine how obnoxious some roadies would be if they actually had to pay a fee to ride on the road? If you think cyclist/car encounters are bad now, try giving the [few] *******s among us an additional reason to get into motorists' faces at every opportunity and make the rest of us look bad.