Should "cyclists" pay road tax?

A Portland company called Webtrends has paid for ads on Trimet MAX trains, with the question "Should cyclists pay road tax?" in an effort to generate traffic to their site and clearly intending to start up the "cyclists" vs. "drivers" thing that was really burning hot last year.

I hate to dignify this with a response, but if we don't put some logic out on the internet, their results are going to show "Portlanders think cyclists should pay road tax" - and who knows where that will lead.

So, here's the actual story. First of all, the terms "cyclist" and driver" are divisive and imply a false dichotomy between people. In Portland, most people who would be termed "cyclists" in this discussion own and operate cars, with which they pay gas tax for the gas they use. You might as well say that pedestrians should pay an extra road tax for the sidewalks they use. Drivers don't use them, so why should they have to pay to subsidize the sidewalks? It's a ridiculous argument, how can you categorize pedestrians and drivers? They're the same people. Same deal here.

Secondly, the reason there is a gas tax, is because it is a limited resource that is going to run out one day. We want to limit the amount people use it, so it will be around longer. When people use it less, that's a good thing.

Thirdly, according to the Federal Highway Administration, 92% of the funds that pay for local roads come from property, income and sales taxes. Not surprisingly, none of those have anything to do with what form of transportation you use. Everyone pays those.

Fourthly, more people cycling means less traffic congestion, which means better for people driving, less gas used, less pollution.

Fifthly, cars tear up roads quickly. It's been shown over and over that the highways in America are hugely subsidized by taxes, which means that I pay for highways and roads all over the country - and that a huge amount of money and effort go in to maintaining those. Bicycles do almost no damage. So, if I mostly ride a bike, I'm paying from my income and property taxes for damage other people are doing to the roads. If I'm driving, I'm paying for the damage I'm doing. How is that not fair?

Sixthly, more people riding bicycles make conditions better in the city for everyone - calmer streets, safer streets, quieter streets, better air quality, fewer health problems, better work performance, the list goes on and on.

Ok, so in case this is sounding like a tirade against cars, that's not my intention. I simply want to make the point that it's ridiculous to say that "cyclists" - whatever that even means - should pay an extra road tax. Everyone pays the same taxes everyone else pays for the services that are provided to society. The question "should cyclists pay a road tax?" is just an invalid question on all levels. Cyclists are not a definable group, or if they are, they are very very small group, and even still, they already pay road tax.

*edit* - based on comments that have been left on news media sites (KATU, Oregonlive, etc), it is clear that this question is giving people the opportunity to blast their opinions without listening to anyone else, it is having an inflammatory effect, and I don't think the comments people have left saying "this could make it more dangerous for bikes to be on the road" are entirely un-truthful. Based on some of the comments, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the people commenting decided to buzz some people on bicycles a little closer, make life more difficult for them, scare them a little, until they decide to "pay up." Thanks, webtrends.

How do you experience your city?

Casually, relaxed, a bit of breeze in your hair?







Out to relax in the park?



Calmly soaking up the sunshine?



Cruising around with someone you love?



Gazing out at the river as you make your way home over the bridge?



Breezing gracefully down shaded lanes?

Safety Last

Last night we were just sitting around with the TV on doing some other stuff, and this episode of According to Jim came on, which I found out later was titled "Safety Last." The whole episode made me smile the whole way through, you should definitely watch it if you get the chance. The basic point of the episode is summed up by a line near the end - "The more time you spend worrying, the less time we have to live our life."

Sure, certain things in the world are dangerous. In fact, a lot of things are. But if you spend your life dwelling on everything that could possibly happen to you, what kind of life will you have? Don't be stupid, but enjoy the life you have while you're in it. When it's your time, it's your time, make the best of it.

Here's a short little clip that's relevant to this blog :) Enjoy!



*edit* - here's the whole episode

Every Corner is a Crosswalk

The Portland Department of Transportation has just put out a video illustrating the fact that, by Oregon law, every street corner is considered a crosswalk (whether marked or not), and that once a pedestrian has put a food down in the road, automobile drivers have a responsibility to stop and remain stopped until the pedestrian has cleared both their lane and the one next to it. If the person is blind and using a cane or a seeing eye dog, drivers must wait for them to get to the opposite curb.

Why I love my bike

You know, quite often I need to take a glass lunch container with me to work, my bag, a sweater/coat/jacket, sometimes a couple of other items. No problem.



Borrowing your co-worker's ice cream maker? Also no problem.



Still need to stop and get cat litter at the store on the way home from work? Yeah, got that too.



We're off to the beach for the weekend, have a good one!

New (Old) Raleigh Sport

So, as a bit of an early birthday present for me (really early, thank you my dearest love!), we just today bought this gorgeous 1952 Raleigh Superbe. It came up on Craigslist yesterday (I subscribed to a search for Raleigh), and it looked so amazing we had to go look at it. It has the original Sturmey Archer 4-speed internal rear hub in, and it still works fine. It has the original front dynamo hub as well, though he wasn't sure if it still works, as he'd never had a light attached. He had the wheels rebuilt around the original hubs with alloy rims and put some nice Schwalbe Marathon tires on it, as well as new brake pads. It has the original Brooks saddle, which is a bit worn out, but isn't uncomfortable and has a nice squeak to it :) The bike itself feels really solid, and I'm amazed at what good shape it's in, being nearly 60 years old. This one has found a very happy, loving home, and hopefully it will still be in use after another 60 years. I would love to see that. Ok, enough jabber, here are the pictures:



















Edit: I forgot to mention, we saw this ad recently in a 1950's National Geographic Magazine we have, and I remarked "too bad they don't make those anymore." Now I own one :)

growing pains

Especially since the weather has improved this spring, Portland has seen a huge upshoot in the level of bicycle traffic around town. During rush hour and on weekends you can find large flocks of people on bicycles making their way across the city.



Regardless of the weather, Portland's cycling rates are continuously going up, and this starts to make certain issues more and more apparent.

As I wrote recently, parking becomes an issue - not only that there isn't enough, but that suddenly it starts to matter how you use the parking that is available. If you have a bike rack that fits 6 bikes, but only 2 people ever use it, it doesn't matter too much how you park your bike on it. However, if you have 8 people trying to use that rack that fits 6 bikes, it's important for everyone to park their bike in a way that leaves space open for other bikes (and potentially a couple extras to sneak in on the sides).

We're starting to hear about bicycle accidents where there were no cars involved. Such an incident happened on the Hawthorne Bridge during rush hour, where a bicyclist tried to pass another cyclist who was moving for some pedestrians, and bumped her, knocked her off balance, and she fell onto the grating in the automobile traffic lane.

We're starting to see congestion, which is promoting a lot of talk about separated bicycle infrastructure (along with the City of Portland cycle path and buffered bike lane projects). It seems that a lot of die-hard cyclists enjoy the freedom of riding in automobile traffic, where they can go as fast as they are able most of the time, and can just ride straight ahead at full speed. They fear the introduction of separated bicycle infrastructure as the biggest threat to their ability to ride straight and fast, and would prefer that anyone who wants to ride a bike should ride in traffic like them.

We're starting to see more and more large cargo bikes like the Metrofiets or the Dutch and Chinese bakfietsen, and how do we accommodate those in terms of parking, in terms of infrastructure? When riding in a standard Portland painted bike lane as they exist now, they pretty much take up the whole thing.

So yeah, the increase in bicycle traffic around town is creating a new set of problems that we'll have to work through as we continue to encourage cycling as transportation here in Portland. It'll be interesting to see how the issues get worked out. A lot of it will just be people acclimatizing to more bicycle traffic and getting used to sharing closer quarters. Some of it will be resistance to the Oregon law that says that a cyclist must ride in a bike lane if there is one (with a number of exceptions for avoiding hazards and such). Some of it will be resistance to new bicycle infrastructure because it is more tangible than Oregon law. Hopefully, in general it will be a process of people becoming more aware of the views of others, and learning to co-exist in a more friendly manner.

I feel like Portland is getting close to the tipping point, coming from where promoting bicycle use is a fight and a political hazard, and going to where promoting bicycle use is the expected norm. Wait for more evidence of that in the near future (like 30 more bike parking corrals going in over the summer).

Cheers, and happy riding all!