| Just when you were convinced that your bike is a free alternative to driving, a bill is proposed in Oregon that would require cyclists to pay a $54 registration every two years. Wayne Kriger, the bill’s chief architect (and, natch, a non-cyclist), says bike riders should help pay for the roads they use. Just be glad he didn’t propose a Pay As You Drive fee. (HT: Greg Hum) [%comments]
Enjoy the Free Ride While It Lasts
TAGS: bicycling
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These proposals fail to recognize three important facts.
1. Most cyclists also own and drive cars and so are already paying for the roads;
2. In almost every city, streets and their maintenance are paid for through sales and/or property taxes, not vehicle registration fees or even gas taxes; and
3. Cycling creates public goods. By taking an alternative form of transportation, cyclists alleviate some traffic congestion, they reduce air pollution, and cycling is exercise which improves the health of riders (potentially reducing the burden on the health system).
All taxpayers pay roads, regardless of whether or not they use them directly.
Converting a car driver to a cyclist would actually create a reduction in road costs. I can’t say if it would be more or less than $27, but it would reduce need for more roads, and cost less road damage so I suspect it saves money. It’s even possible that paying the cyclists instead of taking money from them would result in road user revenues more closely matching expenses if it reduced heavier vehicle use.
I worked on our city’s cycling committee at city hall as a citizen member for 8 years. Here’s the certain reality. These bike registration schemes, which were proposed regularly, usually by people or groups who found cyclists to be an annoyance, never made sense to implement because the bureaucracy costs and enforcement costs (police and municipal courts) always projected to exceed the revenue – forget about the road-repairs.
This bill has no chance. For some reason Oregon pols are trying to tax anything and everything right now, just seeing if anything will stick. The sponsor is pandering to his base, nothing more, nothing less.
How much wear and tear can a bike do to infrastructure? Is it equal to $27 a year? That’s 25% of what I currently pay in yearly registration fees for my car.
I would have to agree with Meg that this sort of tax would be a definite disincentive to an activity that has health and other benefits.
As Mrs. Lovejoy would say, “Won’t somebody please think of the children?”
Do they have to pay the tax as well?
Everyone with a mountain bike should claim they only use it off-road…
This is insanity. Bikes do absolutely zero damage to roads. Heavy trucks do 8-10,000 times the damage of a passenger car yet get off easy. Hopefully this guy’s constituents vote him out next time he’s up for reelection.