[Vision2020] Ped/Bike transportation options

[Brent Bradberry]

I am a bicyclist of long-standing (now that I've written it, 
"long-standing" seems like a peculiar adjective re: cyclists) and would 
have no objection to a modest tax in support of bike trails. In my 
"youth" I commuted by bicycle daily between Moscow and Pullman 
(pre-Chipman trail) but now almost 100% of my cycling is recreational. 
However, if cyclists are to be taxed separately for their trails, 
shouldn't they also be exempted from taxes for building and maintaining 
highways? (Assuming of course that they use bike trails exclusively). In 
other words, when do taxes become user fees?

Brent Bradberry

Dan Carscallen wrote:

>Jeff says:
>"It does seem appropriate that as bicycle use increases (as a substitute
>for the high cost of driving and commuting) that there is some mechanism
>for taxing bike riders for their share of developing a trail network -
>similar to the tax on gasoline is used to build and maintain highways,
>roads and streets."
>
>I couldn't agree more.  I pay $10 each for off-road stickers that help
>pay for ORV trails for dirt bikes and ATVs.  A lot of those are
>shared-use trails (throwing mountain bikes and horses into the mix), but
>the cost burden of the upkeep is on the shoulders of those who have to
>buy the off-road stickers -- the dirt bikes and ATVs.
>
>I would gladly toss in $5-10 annually for each bike we ride on the
>Latah/Chipman/Paradise Path trails to help maintain them, as well as
>building new connectors.  If it can be done for ORV's, it should be able
>to work for bikes.
>
>DC
>
>
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-- 
Brent Bradberry, Ph. D.
Professor of Mathematics, emeritus
Lewis-Clark State College
Commander, U. S. Navy (retired)

1258 Wallen Road
Moscow, Idaho 83843-7445
(208) 882-2830