Q: I was surprised that feedback to you was all that bicyclists should pay more for using our roads.
Transportation accounts for 40 percent of California’s greenhouse gas emissions. Bicyclists, choosing climate-friendly transportation, are already suffering the hot mess of our future world caused, to a significant degree, by car drivers. Instead of further taxing bicyclists, we should reward them.
Doug McKenzie, Berkeley
A: You make valid points. Once I mentioned that all the feedback to that point supported bicyclists paying more, bicycle supporters started to respond.
Q: The issue is whether bicyclists pay their fair share. While they pay less in absolute terms, they do far less damage to roads. They pay more than their fair share.
Richard Swent, Palo Alto
A: Jeff-an-MTC-spokesman said that, per a national travel survey, 83 percent of cyclists own cars, a percentage point higher than the number of non-cyclists who own cars, which is consistent with his experience. He bicycles 4,000 miles every year and owns two cars, soon three.
Q: I think the desire to make bicyclists share road costs is crazy. I drive a car and ride a bike. My bicycling has far less impact on roads. If bicyclists had to pay their share of road wear, not to mention smog production, they would pay nothing.
Rick Swayne, Los Gatos
A: And…
Q: You say bicyclists should pay licenses and insurance. As a bicyclist, I say: bring it on. That means bicyclists should be treated the same as cars, right? Every road should have a bike lane! And bike parking on every block! It’d only be fair.
Xinh Huynh, San Jose
A: And…
Q: Everybody I know who bikes to work also has a car available, so we also pay taxes for roads. We choose to bike some days instead of drive because it is better for our health and for the environment. Before the pandemic, there was an annual “Bike to Work” day. I think we should have a “DON’T Bike To Work” day, where everybody drives their cars. The extra cars on the road that day would lead to HUGE backups. Maybe then people would realize that supporting safe bicycling benefits everyone.
Also, bike lanes and bike paths cost $5,000-$50,000 per mile, a lot less than the $77M per mile for urban freeways.
We cyclists save car drivers TONS of money. Stop complaining about the paltry amount of money spent on a few gallons of green paint to make roads safer for bicyclists. Enjoy the benefits you get every time someone cycles instead of driving.
Jim Bodwin, Cupertino
A: That’s the last one for today. The odds are that I’ll hear more on this.
Look for Gary Richards at Facebook.com/mr.roadshow or contact him at [email protected].
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