Paying your way

I often see the argument that bicyclists use the streets for free, while motorists pay for them. The Department of Transportation of Madison, WI just published a report with a few pertinent facts.

Perception that “bicyclists don’t pay their way”

• Most bicycling takes place on local streets and roads that are primarily paid for through property taxes and other general local taxes. [ed note: i.e. not gasoline taxes]
• Bicycling inflicts virtually no damage on roads and streets compared with automobiles and trucks.
• A 200-pound bicyclist with a 50-pound bike will impose approximately 1/65,000th the roadway damage of a 4,000 pound car.
  * Information from “Who Pays for Roads?” Published by U.S. PIRG Education Fund (2015)
• Motor vehicle use imposes costs on the environment and public health in the form of air pollution, noise, injuries and damage from crashes, and a host of other rarely quantified costs. These costs are borne by all of society. [Ed note: One of those non-quantified costs could be the public health cost of chronic conditions exacerbated by a lack of exercise.]
• A 2009 analysis by the Victoria Transport Policy Institute estimated that the external cost of a mile of bicycling was less than a penny, while the cost imposed by a mile of walking was 0.2 cents—compared with external costs of driving of more than 29 cents per mile.
  * Entire bulleted list from https://madison.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=F&ID=8153596&GUID=D5225649-E313-4285-B94F-85E1D72066D3

I’ve also seen the justification that, since many bicyclists also drive cars, we are already paying our way by paying gas taxes when we drive. I guess one could argue that every mile we ride is “stealing” because we aren’t paying gas tax for those miles. One could argue that, but one would be wrong. See the list above.

What I haven’t seen in print before is an examination of toll roads. The state to the south of here has many highways on which vehicle tolls are collected. Here there has been fierce opposition to the notion of toll roads. I have not seen fierce opposition to the bike trails that require a toll, either in the form of a day use fee or an annual permit. Around here, some of those are trails used heavily for commuting, not just recreation. Are those not toll roads? Are toll roads okay for bikes but not for cars and trucks?

Speaking of paying your way…

Where does your money go? Do you pay annual dues to AAA? Do you think of it as a form of insurance for emergency road service? It may be that, but it also pays for advocacy on behalf of cars and drivers. If you ride a bike, you may want to match that/offset that with a membership to the League of American Bicyclists. If you have a state organization, like the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, toss a little more their way. Do you ride with a local club but don’t bother to pay dues because you don’t think you ride with them enough? Pay your dues. You may have a local or regional advocacy organization, or one that advocates for the kind of riding you do. If you want to advocate for bicycling, spend at least as much money there as you spend for cars.

You can also help pay your way via Adopt-a-Highway programs, in which you clean up roadside trash tossed there by other vehicle users. When spring arrives, we’ll be announcing our next cleanup near Brigham Park. Other bike groups also have programs (including the folks behind the Horribly Hilly Hundreds and the Death Ride). You can probably find (or start) one near you.

McCoy Tyner 1938-2020

I can’t end this post without a shoutout to one of the greats – pianist MyCoy Tyner, who played in the seminal early 1960s quartet of John Coltrane (during the time he recorded “A Love Supreme” and “My Favorite Things”), fronted his own bands, and worked with many of the other greats of the last 60 years. When looking for one of his solo works from the early 70s, I came across this instead:

Tyner died on March 6, 2020.

Tim

Rereading the posts about David and Curtis, I realized there was someone else to acknowledge. I met Tim shortly before meeting Curtis and David. Tim was a journalist, writing for the underground newspaper Kaleidoscope. When editor Mark Knops went to jail for contempt when he refused to disclose sources for a story on the New Year’s Gang (which bombed the Army Math Research Center on the UW campus), the paper morphed into Takeover. Tim wrote for that paper until there was a split in the staff and he was part of the group which started the King Street Trolley, which later became freeforall.

(Among Takeover’s exploits was a front page when Paul Soglin was first elected mayor. The headline read: “Red Mayor Elected: Thousands Flee Lake City”. V.I. Lenin was pictured wearing a “Soglinovitch” button. They also published a special double issue. Viewed from one side it was a parody of the Wisconsin State Journal [the AM Republican newspaper]. From the other side it was a parody of the Capital Times [the PM Democratic newspaper].)

But that’s not why I’m writing about Tim here. Tim never owned a car. To the best of my knowledge, he didn’t ever drive one. Tim’s bike was not a toy or a hobby. It was his primary means of transportation. He served on various city committees and commissions helping to represent the interests of bicyclists.

If you look up “curmudgeon” you might find a picture of Tim. He referred to cars as “deathmobiles”. He was once the editor of the Wisconsin Bicycle Federation newsletter but they moved him out to bring in a more moderate voice. Tim was the person who raised issues others were afraid to raise and spoke in terms others were afraid to use. I don’t think he worried about alienating others very often.

When he edited the Bike Fed newsletter, he once pulled up next to me at a stoplight on a snowy evening. My son was on the trailerbike behind me and my daughter in the trailer behind that. Tim asked my son if he was cold. (He wasn’t.) He then asked if he could take a picture of us to use in an article he wanted to write on bike commuting. The caption would read, “What’s your excuse?” (PS Both of my kids still ride for transportation  – my son got his driver’s license just before he turned 24. My daughter doesn’t have one, but is only 21.)

Tim died June 26, 2017.