An argument from www.thestranger.com that you might have missed.
Editorial page editor James Vesely, a resident of Mercer Island,
argued in the Seattle Times on Sunday, December 7, that the
City of Seattle ought to tax cyclists for the privilege of using
streets they already pay for.
“A $25 annual fee for owning a bike is a natural outgrowth of the
enormous amounts of trails, lanes, and accommodations the region has
made to cyclists,” Vesely wrote. “It would also make cyclists true
members of the world of transportation, rather than free riders on the tax rolls.”
That’s pretty rich coming from a guy whose editorial page has made a
decadeslong crusade of fighting against estate taxes on the very
wealthy—and whose own industry is exempt from Washington State’s
sales tax (which, incidentally, people who buy bikes and cycling gear
have to pay).
Vesely continues: “Special licenses are not new. We license dogs,
our cars, our boats, our motorcycles, our pleasures in hunting and
fishing, as well as many other outdoor activities. Cyclists, known for
their community spirit and exalted senses of self, should welcome this
opportunity to help government support their activities.”
That’s the kind of sentence that can only be written by someone
who’s disingenuous or ill informed or both. Driving—unlike owning
a dog or a fishing rod—is one of the most heavily subsidized
activities humans do. Every year, the U.S. government spends more
than $100 billion to subsidize driving above and beyond what
drivers spend on gas taxes, cars, sales tax, and license plates. Those
expenses come out of all of our pockets—including those of
us who never get behind the wheel of a car. As a cyclist, I’m
subsidizing Vesely, not the other way around.
And that’s not even counting the externalities like pollution, the
increased cost of health care due to auto accidents, sub-market-rate
parking provided by cities, and military spending to protect our access
to cheap oil. Not to mention the fact that one cyclist on the
Burke-Gilman Trail is one fewer car on the road. That’s something
auto-bound dinosaurs like Vesely ought to appreciate but don’t. We
cyclists don’t need another “opportunity to help government support”
things like striping bike lanes and building cycling
paths—we’re already paying for all those things and then
some.
But Vesely turns this logic inside out, arguing that the presence of
a few bike lanes indicates “a remarkable generosity on the part of
Puget Sound taxpayers”—by which, of course, he means drivers.
“Whenever new transportation projects are studied, bike lanes are as
automatic as white striping.”
Road projects in Seattle do often include new bike lanes. You
know why? In 2006, voters here decided to pay for a property-tax
increase that includes the requirement that, wherever possible, road
projects include new bike and pedestrian facilities. Every single
resident of Seattle pays this tax, either directly (property owners) or
indirectly (renters). You don’t get an exemption if you don’t own a
car. And striping bike lanes, I shouldn’t have to add, is a hell of a
lot cheaper than filling potholes and building sidewalks. By Vesely’s
logic, pedestrians should have to pay a special tax to use the
sidewalks—after all, why should we let walkers cadge that
part of the public right-of-way for “free”?
Fundamentally, Vesely’s view—that a few bike lanes and
sharrows constitute “enormous accommodations” for
cyclists—assumes that drivers own the roads, and cyclists are
lucky if they deign to “accommodate” us. Fortunately, the Seattle City
Council—that group that Vesely says doesn’t have the “guts” to
make cyclists pay an extra tax—understands that the more cyclists
there are on the road, the better the roads work for everyone, not just
those of us on two wheels. 
Great article. Clearly and logically dissects and exposes the rotten, self-serving attitudes of the out-of-touch car fetishists (make that fetishits). Licencing fees? Cyclists should get tax credits, if anything.
You’re kidding me. THIS is the letters to the editor? ECB, your stupidity and your ego know no bounds.
Bikers indeed do subsidize drivers, but drivers through the means of commuting to work, commercial truckers, waste removal vehicles, & buses add far more value to society than the population of bikers ever will. Last I checked nobody riding a bike delivered my mail, removed my trash, moved thousands of people to their place of work, or transfered my food to the grocery store.
So the fact is Bikers do help society, but only in minor increments of withholding polution from the air when you commute.
Lastly, your arguments are accurate, but all they really show is that car drivers should pay more in taxes – not that a specialty activity shouldn’t be taxed at all.
@2
Wow, you really don’t realize that it’s your post which suggests “your stupidity and your ego know no bounds.”
i’m not saying i agree wholly with Vesely, but this anti-driver rhetoric is just as narrow minded as the arguments of those like Vesely. if cyclists want the same road rights as cars they should be open minded to those they share the road with. comprimise could be reached if both sides weren’t so intolerant.
@4 A converted Slog post by an editor is not a Letter TO the Editor. It is, and remains, an uninformed editorial that doesn’t have enough substance to make it into an article.
Why is it such a problem to have bikes be licensed? Bike riders act like its a sin. How are police supposed to manage the bad drivers unless they can pull their plate? A small $25.00 fee would allow riders to have a say in things and allow the police to punish those that can’t follow the rules of the road.
JF,
Bikes do take thousands of Seattlites to work and back every day.
Most car drivers should be walking, riding a bike, or taking public transportation, instead of polluting and endangering (cars badly driven kill a lot of folks young) – at least driving smaller cars that use less gas and put out less crap into the air.
bleh, The Seattle Times – what can you expect? Their entire editorial department is filled with monkeys chained to typewriters.
Thank you for such a well written article about an important issue.
@Gilbert “A small $25.00 fee would allow riders to have a say in things and allow the police to punish those that can’t follow the rules of the road.”
Gilbert, I agree with you that there are badly-behaved bikers, just as there are badly-behaved cars, but what is being discussed here is registering *bikes*, not registering bike riders. Vesely’s editorial is so badly written that one might conclude that he is advocating registry of either bikes, or riders, or both. But his follow-up editorial makes clear that he only wants to register bikes, not riders.
Nobody I’m aware of registers bike riders, and that isn’t going to happen any time soon. Lots of kids ride bikes, for one thing. So what is on the table is a registration program for bikes. This is an idea that has been tried many places, and, AFAIK, has always failed to accomplish anything useful.
The bike registration idea is an attempt to “crack down” on cyclists, limit them, and in general make them less of an inconvenience to motorists. Most people want to live in the most convenient world possible, which means driving everywhere. But what happens when everybody starts driving is people get fat, everything gets paved over, pollution increases in our air and water, and everyone gets isolated in their cages. No thanks.
Really? There are still people in America who are self-righteous about their cars? And angry at those who ride bikes ON PRINCIPLE? Sure, I know some bike riders a nuisance, but that’s true of drivers as well. Who would even contemplate, in this day and age, doing anything to discourage an alternative to driving? I love the West and I plan to move back to the West as soon as I can, but Christ, you’d think “Thou shalt not infringe on the ability to drive cars” was the 11th Commandment of the western United States, right before, “Thou Shalt Not Have Nor Enforce Reasonable Zoning Laws, Lest Our Towns and Cities Look Begin to Look Like Something Other Than a Mix of World War II Era Shacks, Giant Billboards and Soviet Housing Projects, Which Are Beautiful in the Sight of God.”
I’ll say one thing about this fish wrap….it makes me laugh sometimes when I have nothing better to do than visit absurd web sites.
Bikes? Tax ’em. Gov taxes everything else….what is so special about bikes and the elitists who straddle them?
I am a driver that has had plenty of frustrating experiences being stuck behind a bicyclist pedaling their ass off to make it up a hill, or wondering if I almost lost my side-mirror as someone rode between my car and the parked cars next to me at a stop light. So I don’t consider myself a fanatic bicyclist.
But I sure as hell do respect those that have the will power (not to mention lung power) to cycle themselves to work instead of driving like I do. This editorial is a well-reasoned argument. If anything, we should be giving bicyclists tax breaks to encourage more people to get out of their cars.
I understand drivers that get tired of being verbally attacked because they drive- I’ve been there, and nothing makes me defensive like being reamed. But seriously, I recognize the damage I do to the environment and to other people’s commute time by climbing in my car to go somewhere. Why not recognize and reward the extra effort bicyclists are putting out by pedaling themselves places?
RESPECT THE CAR!!!
After all it IS only a 1/2 ton collection of metal rolling down the street. So what if a few thousand pedestrians, bicycles, kids, motorcycles, etc. get in the way. Squish ’em if they get in the way.
Wait a second! Tax kids! That’s the answer.
I’m all for bikers; In my 20’s I used to race. Bike riding’s low-impact to roads, happy contributions to trees, lack of needed jiffylubes, lowering of health insurance costs, reduced parking lot needs – all great.
That said; I kinda like the idea of more attention on biking. While taxing bikes is stupid (Sales tax already covers it, chief), and tax-crediting is equally stupid (gas tax, tabs, registration, required insurance, and the price of petro all can disappear from your monthly budget when you bike), I can see some way to satiate the car-mongers and also create friendlier relations between the pedal-powered and pedal-stompers. There’s this sort of “let’s make it an us vs them thing” mentality that Erica unfortunately reinforces here. Do we NEED another dispute / thing to fight over? Let’s find middle ground instead.
If you have to tax anything, then tax bike-related spandex that is worn outside of races. Yuck.
Also, police should ticket bikers who a) don’t wear helmets b) ride in-lane 10mph below posted speeds c) ride with cigarettes in mouth d) ride and talk on their cell e) ride with iPod in-ear f) run red lights g) ride in-lane when there’s a bike lane h) ride tandem bikes (they just piss me off, ok?) i) use lighting systems too dim to be useful j) ride in-lane in snow k) don’t use hand signals to announce their intent (to swerve left from the bike lane, for example) and l) don’t yield to peds.
Lane splitting I like: it should be legalized for all two-wheel vehicles.
Likewise, car drivers who open doors without checking (that door comes with a mirror, yo) should get hefty fines. As should 1) drivers who splash ped and bikes 2) drivers too arrogant to use a turn signal 3) Drivers that don’t slow or yield at BGT crossings 4) cars that actually hit/tap/swipe bikes should be impounded 5) drivers that toss cig butts out the window: that’s so 1970’s. Woodsy’s coming for you.
And, for fuck’s sake, triple ticket fines for those bikers that ride around with the helmet hanging off the handbars. That’s like Instant Road Rage, regardless of what vehicle I’m using.
A special $25 license tax/fee would probably cost more to administer and enforce than $25/licensee.
We the people would end up paying money that would almost entirely be used to hassle people, not to provide anything of value.
Might as well tax people to pay workers who are in thrall to tyrannical managers who force them to come piss on your home and property. No, wait, there’s an actual market for that service from piss fetishists.
Any law that by nature primarily produces hassle and suffering should be abolished. And the proponents should move to their own special little country where they could ruin themselves and each other.
if it were a carbon tax being discussed the times would be railing against the big government anti freedom agenda sponsored by the radical enviros. but since it’s a tax on bikes, it gets the nod.
by the way… when conlin was pitching that mentioned property tax levy before the vote he distributed maps that identified ne65th as a bike route slated for improvements – well we still don’t even have a stripe let alone those stupid ass useless little bike icons painted on the road!!!
I would never pay this bike tax, even if they wrote it into law.
I also never licensed my dog of 12 years.
try and catch me fat copper.
Wow, that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard…I am a cyclist and I pay taxes just like those on the road. We are trying to encourage more people to bike to stop all the traffic and pollution and that idea is just another wrench in that plan. I agree that bicyclists should be GIVEN tax credits instead of paying more… As for special bike trails etc. That’s no different from creating a new walking path – they are there for entertainment. I am going to start taxing you every time you swerve into the bike lane… or everytime a car parks in the bike lane… COME ON. My feelings are that this is absolutely absurd.
Side note to cyclists: don’t disparage people who don’t ride bikes. I would love to ride a bike, but my physical therapist has recommended against it and I have this weird compulsion to not be in excruciating pain. I’ve actually been criticized by cyclists for taking the bus rather than riding a bike for my 4 mile trip to work.
Don’t a lot of people own both a car and a bike?
Should an 8 year old buy a license to ride around a cul-de-sac when mom and dad also own 2 cars?
What about the Mexican dudes who work in kitchens? Is this a new excuse for the cops to hassle them? Or me, since I’m not local, or anyone, just because they need to check whether you have this “license”
Both cars and bicycles have their uses. I’ve tried using both on the snow and ice this week. They both suck.
Regardless of that, yes trucks are good for hauling things like wholesale foodstuffs and bulky ass shit. I should know: I drive a box truck for work.
And buses and trains are awesome at moving lots of people and keeping the roads clear for those commercial vehicles (and if any of your holiday packages are late, blame car commuters, please. Trust me on this one).
And bikes are terrific for commuting independently, having fun, getting out, staying healthy, and avoiding the risk of a DUI (I know the last one’s not exactly smart, but it’s pretty effective).
And yes, we all -every single goddamned one of us who pays rent or a mortgage in Seattle- pay the taxes for those roads that accommodate cars, motorcycles, public transit, and bicycles.
And most bike owners own cars, so they’re already paying “special license fees”.
And many of us do in fact own property and pay the taxes on that. Even those of us with no children who pay for the public education of the offspring of breeding car commuters. And that’s fine because it’s an investment in the future of the American people and the Human Race.
My point is this: without any sort of welfare system or sense of community across these minor lines of distinction, the citizens of this or any government are in deep shit. We all do our part. Our wonderful, sometimes frustrating system of government guarantees that to at least a small degree. Bitch all you want about not reaping the benefits of the tax dollars that you pay. If it makes you feel better, that’s great. Just don’t be blind to the fact that you actually are benefiting, though you may not realize it at first glance.
But all in all this (most likely) conservative dude who is probably for less government involvement in our private lives (except in matters of bicycle licensing, and most likely abortion rights and equal marriage rights) from Mercer Island is probably just sick of people from Seattle joyriding their bikes in his neighborhood. Too bad. It’s a fun place to ride.
So by reasoning, if a cyclist rides on the streets AND the sidewalks, can we tax them twice? I love it when cyclists give me a dirty look as they pass me- or even better, run into me- on the sidewalk!
I just want a $25 tax on annoying bike fags. You know the ones, the stupid asswipes you see out on the Burke-Gilman on weekends blasting along in groups as if they were in a Tour de France peloton and endangering slower cyclists, joggers, people walking their dogs and everyone else using the trail (Hey fuckheads, it’s a general use trail, show some respect to the other users. Anyone riding on a general use trail or city streets with aerobars (This should be a fucking capital offense, you should be able to gun these people down like rabid dogs.) The stupid fucking cyclists you see blasting through stop signs (“Waaahhh, it’s hard to slow down and then start up again, I shouldn’t have to obey traffic laws”, and it was so much fun to see that stupid bitch getting ticketed on the Burke Gilman by the UW the day before Thanksgiving. It made my dick hard, really it did.). The stupid fucking cyclists you see riding without helmets, reflectors, lights or any safety gear at all; all of whom will hopefully die if they’re in an accident so we can harvest their organs because otherwise they’ll just end up with traumatic brain injuries and costing taxpayers millions in hospital and institutionalization fees. And of course anyone riding a fixie, who should have to pay not only a $25 tax but should also be forced to have “I’m a pretentious fuck of a poseur but unfortunately I don’t make enough money to drive a Porsche so I have to ride this shitty bike instead.” tattooed on their asses. Oh, and let’s tax all of the incredibly self-righteous cyclists out there too, you know, the ones who are just so fucking smug about how they rode their bike to work this morning and are therefore morally superior because they got an aerobic workout and saved the planet. Yeah, tax the living fucking Jesus out those asswipes.
Then after we’ve taxed all of these people perhaps our feckless county executive, L. Ron Sims, will use the money to fix the Burke Gilman trail, especially the five or so miles between Matthews Beach and Tracey Owen Station which is five miles of spoke popping, rim breaking goodness, and get rid of all of the bollard covers at the intersections (I’ve been riding the Burke Gilman for 20 years now and I’ve never seen bollards installed at any of those intersections, so just get rid of the goddamned things already. Of course knowing L. Ron Sims he’ll just piss the money away on something fucking stupid like passenger ferry service to Vashon Island.
Gilbert (@7),
Cyclists are already penalized for disobeying traffic laws. I received a $65 citation for running a stop sign on my bicycle and have learned my lesson.
“When ridden on any roadway a bicycle rider has all of the rights and responsibilities of any vehicle (RCW 46.61.755). Unless bicycles are specifically excepted, all traffic laws and rules apply to bicycles. Bicyclists who violate traffic laws are subject to a citation.” http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation…
Your proposed $25 to have “a say in things” is unclear. Do licensed transportation owners have a say in things?
And to JF @3. Your determination of “value” is skewed. You are comparing cyclists to large scale commercial industry. Compare car and bicycle commuters.
Why are those opposed to the view in this article so rude? Suck it up, people, there’s two sides to every argument!
Hey Vesely- Are YOU taking that unpaid week off demanded of Seattle Times staff? Why don’t you just shut the hell up and retire already you hypocrite! It is old fatassed whiners like yourself who are the real burden on this society, being the primary cause of medical cost inflation. Get out of your goddamn gas-guzzler and pay your fair share of taxes for a subway, before Mercer Island gets bulldozed to build Paul Allen’s Alcatraz Theme Park…
Boy- Seattle sure breeds idiots like Willard breeds rats. All your ‘Seattle process’ nanny-state regulations conveniently ignore the only important truth: no paper law overrides the laws of physics. Idiots who feel safer riding among 3-ton SUVs because of helmets or painted white lines are Darwin’s chosen losers. The crash-test dummies defiantly blocking lanes at 20mph are just as retarded as the cell-phone sucking yuppies who blindly cut them off. And yes, all those fat geeks blabbing while waddling 3-4-5 abreast, arrogantly blocking sidewalks and bike paths everywhere deserve the 50000 Volt taser cattle prod too.
What the selfishly self-righteous egocentrics of Seattle lack is empathy and situational awareness. These people seem to have been bred like mole rats, with no innate ability to look around, perceive changes in their surroundings, or even use peripheral vision. This goes for their behavior whether driving, riding or walking in public spaces: no residual survival awareness whatsoever. If there were still predators, da masses would quickly become an endangered species.
Neither do the clueless bovines
seem to perceive the extent to which they are being herded into an increasingly fenced-in police state already. By the logic of some of the jokers on this page, the cops are entitled to park in your neighborhood and cite you for jaywalking every time you cross a residential street to get your dog away from the neighbors’ cat…
Enforcing the letter of the law is neither just nor practical i.e., an observant cyclist who goes through a stop sign where there is 360 degree visibility and no traffic is in no way equivalent to the SUV cell phoney blowing through a downtown red light at 40mph.
The cost of administrating this tax would far outweigh the benefits. In addition, if a simple sales tax it will simply drive purchasers outside of Seattle, thus severely injuring in-city bike shops. Truly, this is a mind-bogglingly stupid idea trumped up by someone whose real agenda is that he doesn’t like cyclists based on the bad behavior of some. It also overlooks the fact that most cyclists who commute by bike also own cars and pay taxes. Creating roads that accomodate multiple uses benefits all.
@Erik Nillson
Actually, in many states bike licensing is common. In my county you are required to have a license if you want to ride on public roads. The fee is only $10, but I’d have to do some research to find out exactly where it goes…
Not that I support this Vesely fellow, but I would gladly pay $25 a year if all new roadwork required a bikelane. There are still many places that a car can travel that a bike can’t (safely anyhow).
Gee, someone should have told me that if I own and ride a bike it means that I don’t have to pay taxes and fees for my two cars. What a deal!
Here is a related article. cyclists need to share ideas to stop the hatred of cyclists.
http://bikeportland.org/2008/12/10/what-…
Shut up Erica. The guy is dead on on this one. Quit your whining.
Good article. I ride almost everywhere, but drive my car if it is necessary because of distance/time or if the cargo won’t fit on my rack. The whole “cyclists are freeloaders” argument is so tired and absurdly flawed. But the cyclist/motorist squabble is just fucktarded anyway. Like I need more internal conflict…
Terminology quibble: “Bikers” are hairy, unpredictable, tattooed guys on motorcycles.
The good folks whose overdeveloped thighs emanate enough moral superiority to dwarf even that of public-transportation aficionados are “bicyclists.” If that’s not good enough for them, they should satisfy themselves with a neologism like “bikists.”
But until reliable witnesses verify the existence of Spandex-clad 5-speeders who, on a slow night, can smoke a gram of crystal meth, fuck a whore and kick the shit out of a gangbanger, the term “biker” should be reserved strictly for the motorcycle set.
Truly, at this point, a tax is not a wise move. Even if one were to be put into place later (and I am not for that), it should come later. To do so now is to push an idea that will only hinder the benefits of bicycling. Hell, let’s turn the tax thing inside-out-inside-out…bicyclists should receive a tax credit for not driving cars and requiring as much support.
Bike commuting, to the general public, is only recently strong in the interest and media attention. Sure it has been around for decades, pushed forward by those great pioneers, but only in the last three years has it become a “thing”.
Let’s not kill the increase in cyclists. Please.
http://www.ecometro.com/portland/search.…
ummm JF… just to correct you… they do have mail “people (to be political correct)” deliver mail on bikes as well as cops and such. Also if we all rode bikes…. wouldn’t that in way reduce the need for mass transportation, I mean most people that I know who take busses do it because A. They can’t afford to drive or B. They can’t drive… so wouldnt biking potentialy elimante the need for mass transportation and the polution caused by it?
Yo Brandon,years ago I gave up the V-twin after some jackass in an F250 ran a red light while driving on Valium and T-boned my ass, launching me endo into some stripmall shrubberies. Imagine the look on his face seconds later after I rolled out, stood up(in a state of shock), checked the roadburn on my leathers, and saw from the foot-deep indentation on the bikeframe’s wreckage how close he came to shearing my leg off. The colors on his face after the Marciano left hook I laid him out with? Priceless. ALmost worth the time served on the SC chain gang for that little incident. Lesson learned-Meth plus mass beats valium plus dumbass in a fight,every time. If you’re going to run over a biker you better aim good and finish the job. Sorry but dude deserved it big time.
Down to a UFC worthy 250 on thigh-powered machines now, with much better anger-management skills too. Drivers are even worse though: less valium, but worse substitutes; cellphones,DVD players, iPods and GPS gadgets etc keep people’s heads stuck firmly up their asses now.
If Seattle can’t build a monorail after 96 votes, at least build a subway already and get these dangerous morons off the road before they all collide at once in one big bang blackhole nuclear holocaust…
Bicycles should be required to purchase license plates – it’s a simple user fee that shows the vehicle has passed inspection, is safe for the road with adequate brakes, lights, and reflectors. It should also be a separate requirement that the user has passed a basic driving test – unless you already have a driver’s license. Registered users of the road are supposed to be responsible for their actions and interact in a predictable and appropriate manner. Any argument against is simply irresponsible, naive, and self serving.
Bicyclists should stop bitching about how they’re discriminated against, and get on board with the rest of the vehicle owners in this country.
I disagree with you Diegoriveras, simply because a bke isnot a motorized vehicle! It is much easier to control a two wheeled 30 pound piece of aluminum powed by foot than it is tocontrola giant SUV. there is no reason to require a bycyclist to be licensed. It’sreally rather pointless in fact.
You didn’t mention that Vesely’s neighborhood, Mercer Island, benefits from one of the most expensive stretches of highway ever built. Did Mercer Island residents pay directly for their tunnel?
I think Jessem missed the point. As I drive down the road in my “tocontrola”(?) giant SUV, or my mini micro electric mobilio, I would very much like to “see” each and every 30 lb piece of aluminum with it’s 100+ lb rider. I’d like to see them before they enter the traffic, during, and after they leave – further more, I’d like to see them before they pop out from under my wheel. It’s really not about me, more about those of you on the road, having the proper equipment to at least protect yourselves against the brutes.
So in your opinon…. It should fall on me to watch for your vehicle and make sure that vehicle doesn’t hit me? I think as a driver you should accept a little responsibilty and actually pay attention to your effect on those around you… It’s a peice of pavement that EVERYONE who pays taxes (myself included even though I don’t drive a car)has to pay for. So Maybe it’s time that you realize that the road and all those using don’t actually revolve around you?
The one way to resolve this is to tax everyone based on the costs their form of transportation imposes on society. Sure, some things are unquantifiable, some merely estimate-able, but on the whole this would be fair.
I’m more than happy to pay for my share of road repair caused by my <30lb bike if your average car owner is willing to pay for the wear and tear caused by their 2000+lb car/truck.
The argument that bikes don’t do as much good as cars because cars are used for deliveries, mail, ambulances, etc. is specious. Bikes have a slow adoption rate, but they are used for deliveries, for cops, for emergency response is certain applications (music festivals and street fairs, in parks).
The presumed primacy of the car makes for an infrastructure OVERWHELMINGLY devoted to cars. This, in turn, makes cars the most efficient form of transport. It’s a circle. And it’s bad for public health, the environment, per-unit transportation costs, etc.
Im all for taxing bikes. Probably should tax cars with the same method. I think a $1 per pound seems fair, in relation to road wear. Cars and bikes alike
I like Joes idea!
What about a carbon tax? That would help pay for the roads.
We have to realize that cars and their drivers do not rule the universe.
I am surprised that so many of these comments are anti-bike.
Makes me sad. So many problems and people want to complain
about cyclists and the editorial writer (who I agree with).
Oops. I mean the writer in the stranger.
My bad.