A cyclist on the road is one less car on the road. I’d be willing that a significant amount of bikers also own cars and pay the associated taxes (and use the car significant less than others).
The impact of a cyclist is a [i]net gain[/i] on society due to less wear and tear on the streets, less pollution, less congestion (which means less traffic on existing roads and less pressure build additional roads), and even less stress on existing public transportation infrastructure.
How ludicrous; charging cyclists for being better citizens and saving cities money.
Do bicyclists contribute their fare share to the transportation network? An Oregon lawmaker thinks not, and has proposed a law requiring cyclists to pay a $54 registration fee every two years. A Portland bike blog interviewed the lawmaker in question, who explained the proposal this way: “[B]ikes have used the roads in this state forever and have never contributed a penny. The only people that pay into the system are those people who buy motor vehicle licenses and registration fees.” Considering the enormous benefits of investments in bicycle infrastructure, can even a tax-hating bicyclist concede his point, at a registration cost of just over 7 cents a day?
