Flutterby™! : Bike sales tax to support infrastructure

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Bike sales tax to support infrastructure

2013-03-03 17:13:51.374543+00 by Dan Lyke 4 comments

Shadow passed along Email from Wash. rep. drawing ire from NW bike community.

Representative Orcutt sounds like a fuckwit of the highest order, but I can't say that I think it's a bad idea: as we start to unwind all of the subsidies that are causing externalities in transportation, catching some bucks to help fund bicycle infrastructure seems like a good thing.

Especially if that money gets earmarked towards either infrastructure proven to support cyclists (ie: don't waste it on paint for "sharrows", be really careful about spending it on MUPs) or research on what sorts of facilities best support cyclists.

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comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment Re: made: 2013-03-03 19:00:43.342784+00 by: dexev

But doesn't the data show that bicyclists already pay more than their share of road costs through existing income and sales taxes? tNot sure if you've posted that research, or if I saw it at bikeportland.org.

Also, do you have any other studies than the Canadian one about what infrastructure actually works for cyclists? I saw the slides from that study, and thought it was limited by the way they collected their data.

#Comment Re: made: 2013-03-04 16:59:16.344941+00 by: Dan Lyke

Yes, but I think we should be working towards removing those externalities.

I think I've linked to a second study on MUP safety, I'll have to dig through the archives. I think one of the problems with even that Toronto study is that the data was hard to come by and even there the methodology is potentially fraught with errors. A big issue is that we really don't structure our infrastructure changes in a way where the results can be measured.

Though my hate for MUPs is as much experiential as it is based on science.

#Comment Re: made: 2013-03-05 03:03:43.059465+00 by: dexev

Follow up from Rep. Orcutt:

http://bikeportland.org/2013/0...ogizes-for-email-confusion-83716

#Comment Re: made: 2013-03-05 17:21:42.167986+00 by: Dan Lyke

He sounds like a fuckwit who's got someone to write his backpedaling letters for him...