Editor:
Mr. Davis’s suggestion that highway lane improvements for cyclists be funded by levying a licensing fee on cyclists (“License bikes to fund upgrades,” Letters, Sept. 8) rests on the mistaken assumption that cyclists do not already “chip in,” as Mr. Davis puts it, for road improvements. Cyclists not only contribute to road construction like other taxpayers, we actually subsidize road infrastructure for car drivers. I am a commuting cyclist who uses a bike for close to 50 per cent of my weekly trips on the Coast. Every time I cycle, I use far less publicly funded pavement than a car, but I don’t pay less taxes because I use less pavement. My taxes instead contribute to building and maintaining the full road system, whether I use it or not.
The idea that cyclists don’t contribute to the cost of building safe, bike-friendly road infrastructure is therefore wrong. For serious cyclists, the argument could probably be made that we receive far less service – in the form of cycling-specific infrastructure – than we pay for through taxes, because our provincial and municipal transportation funding is so overwhelmingly targeted at vehicle use. But this is a pointlessly divisive approach to the issue. The reality is that improved cycling facilities (such as a minimum 1.5-metre separated shoulder on Highway 101) benefit everyone. Cyclists are safer, drivers can pass without fear of causing an accident, traffic flows more smoothly, and we can all get around the way we want to in this beautiful community we live in. Let’s work together to build a safer road system that works for everyone, not begrudge each other space on the road.
Tim Howard, president, Transportation Choices – Sunshine Coast
