Comments

1
I'm still not sure about where the funding comes from - that "Bike Myths Debunked" article you link to is still illogical. You claim that since most bikers also use cars, it's okay to use car taxes to pay for bike projects. But they have nothing to do with each other; just because the groups overlap doesn't mean it's ethical to tax all of one and not the other. I drive but don't bike, so why do my gas taxes go towards bike taxes? More importantly, why are bicyclists exempt from taxation? For my car, I have to pay for a safety inspection, a license, license plates, a driver's test, and taxes on my fuel. Bike projects cost money - so why don't bicyclists have to pay any of it? Start paying your own way and I imagine you'll find a lot more respect out there.
2
Your sign reads backwards. And what is wrong with charging a license fee on bikes to help pay for all this construction. Not a big fee, say 10 or 15 bucks a year. It would make the construction more palatable to non-bike riders. Just sayin
3
I love the image of these self-righteous prigs "demanding" things. Is Michelle's position paid? What a racket.
4
OK, let's hypothesize. Suppose they enacted a bike registration fee. (we'll ignore for now the complete impracticality of doing that)

The inevitable result? Fewer people cycling (more because of the hassle than the money in most cases). Which means more traffic, and more congestion. Which means more road repairs, infrastructure needs, etc. Which means that even allowing for saving a bit of money from not having to build bike infrastructure, your gas taxes will have to go up.

Which is more important to you - making "them" pay, or keeping your own costs down?

I could get behind raising fines on cyclists without lights at night. But a bike registration fee is just another knee-jerk anti-anyone-not-like-me response from people who haven't thought through the consequences. I'm not willing to pay money to subsidize your intolerance of others.
5
@Stu - You're saying that any kind of bike license wouldn't work because people would just give up riding rather than get one. Give them some respect! Obviously people are willing to get driver's licenses for cars, but you're saying bike riders are too flaky or too whiney to do the same thing. That's not true, and I'm sure it's not how they want to be perceived. They want us to take their "demands" for transportation project seriously. If they're not serious enough to help pay for their own projects, why should anyone take them seriously?
6
@Reymont: Most of these projects also benefit pedestrians, as well, where's the tax on those fuckers?

Conversely, $4 million of ODOT's money comes from the general fund and $46 million from lottery funds. How much of that came from people who don't drive? Should they be indignant about that? Or should I be pissed when my car taxes go to repair some god forsaken stretch of highway south of Coos Bay that I'm never going to visit again?

FWIW, the funds spent on all "special projects" which includes "...programs for salmon, watersheds, scenic byways, pedestrians and bicycles, winter recreation parking and more" is about 8% of ODOT's budget (http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/COMM/docs/0709b…).
7
@Pro-bike tax people: You seem to be the same group of people that argues against higher business taxes or making trucks pay for the damages for the roads and same people that complain when I point out that something isn't that much money and people can afford it. Your entire argument for a bicycle tax is hypocritical with your arguments about other taxes.

However, assuming cars paid their fair share in the first place, (they don't*,) one can still make the argument that we should subsidize bicycles to be consistent with other existing subsidies: For instance, we give tax rebates to people that buy hybrids. After considering those rebates and the high gas mileage of the car, the average Prius owner will actually pay nothing towards road maintenance for the entire life of the car. If 1 ton Priuses can drive on the road for free, why should a 200 lb bicycle have to pay? Since a bicycle does no more damage to a paved road than the weather, if a bicycle rides on the road (or doesn't,) it doesn't change how often it will need to be repaved anyways, unlike the 1 ton Prius.

*Cars don't pay their fair share anyways:
1) Move to a gravel street in the City of Portland and then ask the city to pave it. They will tell you that they can do that, but each property owner on the street needs to come up with $10-$20k to pay for it. Not each car owner, not "it will be paid for out of the gas taxes," but the property owners are the ones that build the roads in the first place. The gas taxes pay for maintenance, (although they don't collect enough money so their is a growing maintenance backlog,) but not for initial construction, that is paid for by property owners, regardless of it they walk, ride the bus, ride a bicycle, stay home and get everything delivered to them, or drive. The walkers and the bicyclists would be quite happy if they just put a wide sidewalk in, and that would be quite a bit cheaper. The bus riders only need a few street paved in the city, the rest of the time they'd use the same sidewalk as everyone else. The people that get things delivered only need a 1 lane street, (I have one of those: It is called an ally.) But even with the width of the streets they put in just for the cars, 1/3rd-1/2 of the cost of the construction is for parking spaces for cars parked along the edge of the street: Cars that by definition are not moving and therefore, not paying gas taxes anyways. If they spent as much installing bicycle parking as they spend on car parking during initial construction, the bicycle parking spaces would have individual gazebos over them.

2) Look at your water bill: On it is a charge for dealing with the storm sewers, which are what deals with the water when it rains. As you might have noticed, it rains a lot in Portland, so that charge is fairly high. You can disconnect your downspouts and get a discount, but there is still a minimum charge because quite a bit of the water falls on the street, and the storm sewer bills for the street aren't paid for by the gas tax, but by water users. If you total it up, the average person pays more per year to deal with the rain that falls on the streets, than in gas taxes to drive on those same streets. If more people rode bicycles, we wouldn't need such wide streets, and that charge would go down.

(There is more, but my fingers are tired.)

Anyways, the amount of money that bicyclists want the city to spend on them is actually less than what they pay to subsidize drivers. If you want to talk about fair, the fair thing to do is pay for it. If you just want to punish bicyclists, then admit it.
8
TI DLIUB? I don't get it.
9
@tk - New info! Thanks for the Oregon lottery figures - didn't know that, and it's a good point.

@Matthew D - Pointing out that other things in life are unfair is no way to defend this particular unfair thing. What a waste of wordage.
10
@Reymont: Let me make it simple for you. Lets say we went out to lunch and you didn't bring any money and made me pick up the tab. That would be unfair. But lets say we went out to lunch again, and you picked up the tab the second time. While that isn't fair if you just look at it in terms of that day, if you look at the big picture that second "unfair" thing cancels out the first unfair bit, making it all fair in the end, (assuming the lunches are of similar value and etc.)

Now, instead of "lunch", substitute "public right of ways."
11
Dear Government,

Effective immediately, please only tax me for only those things that directly benefit me, and please refrain from taxing me for those things that I do not support, or that do NOT directly benefit me.

Thank you.

Kindest regards,

A Concerned Internet Commenter
12
'I love the image of these self-righteous prigs "demanding" things.'

Really, who do they think they are? Advocates or something?

Wait, what's with the quotes around the word "demanding"? That word doesn't even appear in the article.

"Is Michelle's position paid?"

I think so. I certainly hope so, anyway. She does great work.
13
If Portland is able to get 25% of commuters on bicycles, the savings to its residents/businesses would far exceed the paltry $100,000,000 it would cost to build the first phase of the plan. Every parking space downtown costs about $25,000 to build. Every car driven costs a couple thousand a year to own and maintain. Whenever more people choose to commute by bike, those costs are eliminated.

Personally, I'm outraged that the city and state keep dumping more $ down the endless moneypit of rebuilding freeways and interchanges -- if car traffic was cut by just 5 or 10%, most congestion problems would just dry up.

Portland has led the rest of the country in demonstrating that in creating new bicycle commuters, "if we build it, they will come." Portland can now set the bar a few steps higher and, once again, do the "impossible."

Ted Buehler
14
If we get 25% of Portlanders biking (reducing driving rate by 20%), we'll save billions of dollars by drastically reducing how much the I-5 bridge has to be widened.

So think of this as a giant buy-1, get-100 free coupon.
15
If we get 25% of Portlanders biking (reducing driving rate by 20%), we'll save billions of dollars by drastically reducing how much the I-5 bridge has to be widened.

So think of this as a giant buy-1, get-100 free coupon.
16
I think it's funny - there's this myth that cyclists don't pay anything towards city improvements like bike lanes and such. One commenter said - "I drive a car and don't bike - why do I have to pay for this plan and cyclists don't?" - I would pose a question to this commenter in return:

If I bike and don't drive why do I have to pay the costs placed on me by millions of drivers like yourself? Why do I have to breathe your exhaust fumes if I'm not putting any out myself? Why do I have to put 30% of my federal taxes towards war in Iraq to make sure you have enough gasoline when I'm not using any?

Many people seem to think that they live in a vacuum. They drive their cars and pay for them, so why shouldn't cyclists have to? But if you think outside of your own pocketbook for a second you'll realize that the *whole world* has to pay for your sacred privilege to drive a gas-guzzling hunk of metal. Your measly license-plate fees don't nearly cover the cost of war, environmental destruction, flooding due to the over-paving of land, noise pollution, air pollution, etc. that your car causes.

People who conscientiously bike instead of drive so that they don't contribute to the above, frankly - you owe them. So stop crying.
17
Its not like its that much money. Lets be real here. 166$ for everyone living in the city of Portland. So you don't think you'll use it. If 15% more people bike, and 2/3 of them were getting out of their cars to do it, that's 10% less cars on the road. That means that congestion will go down by like 70%. Which will enable you to get to where you want to go much faster during rush hour (or if you're avoiding the rush, leave work earlier).
Don't you want to go faster? BUILD IT
18
Licensing costs more to administer than it brings in and it discourages active transportation rather than encouraging it. Enforcement of bike licensing is impossible. We already can not enforce laws requiring people in cars to have valid licenses or insurance (see today's sentencing of the 18 yr old who killed his former teacher). That needs to change first.
I don't have kids but I pay school taxes because I want an educated population. I don't own a motor vehicle but I pay my property taxes because I want to ensure goods can be delivered nearby.
Moving around (life liberty and the pursuit of happiness) are rights. Cars and driving are privileges.
Build this plan and continue to lead.
19
Tax bicyclists to get more people biking and walking so we can reduce pollution, cost of maintaining our existing streets, and the need to build new roads and bridges? That makes zero sense. If that is are approach perhaps we should also tax people who pick up litter to pay for garbage cans and street cleaning.

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