this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2024
156 points (94.8% liked)

Fuck Cars

9379 readers
1549 users here now

A place to discuss problems of car centric infrastructure or how it hurts us all. Let's explore the bad world of Cars!

Rules

1. Be CivilYou may not agree on ideas, but please do not be needlessly rude or insulting to other people in this community.

2. No hate speechDon't discriminate or disparage people on the basis of sex, gender, race, ethnicity, nationality, religion, or sexuality.

3. Don't harass peopleDon't follow people you disagree with into multiple threads or into PMs to insult, disparage, or otherwise attack them. And certainly don't doxx any non-public figures.

4. Stay on topicThis community is about cars, their externalities in society, car-dependency, and solutions to these.

5. No repostsDo not repost content that has already been posted in this community.

Moderator discretion will be used to judge reports with regard to the above rules.

Posting Guidelines

In the absence of a flair system on lemmy yet, let’s try to make it easier to scan through posts by type in here by using tags:

Recommended communities:

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

My current pet peeve is people complaining about the 'cost' of protected bike lanes because "people on bikes don't pay their way".

Beyond even the data showing just how much private car ownership is already subsidized, can we just take a moment and acknowledge: We wouldn't need protected lanes at all if cars were not killing and injuring so many people.

It's like the owner of an animal bemoaning the cost of an enclosure for their animal, which keeps killing and maiming members of the public as they pass by.

It's not the victim's fault the enclosure is needed, and it's not the fault of someone riding a bike they need protection in a public space.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 5 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (3 children)

Well couldn't you just say the car taxes and such pay their way on the car road and the bikers "pay" for the bike lanes (which needs much less maintenance)? Just a rhetorical question, I'm guessing the people who make this argument never think this far.

People in many communities around the world use bicycles for most of their daily errands.

Haha, you don't have to tell me, I live in Copenhagen and do that myself :)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I would love to get to Copenhagen. I spent a month in Berlin last summer and the sheer volume of cyclists stunned me. Compared to the last time I was there the rate of cycling was through the roof.

So many people were moving things on bikes and it was great. The city has also strongly discouraged downtown driving along Unter den Linden so even during work days it has lots of empty street at times. It has made the city much nicer to walk around in.

I've been trying to move to Europe for a couple of years now. Once I work out family issues I'll be there like a shot. It's a much more humanist place to be and I am ready for that kind of life.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You'll likely see even more bikes in Copenhagen haha! :D

Moving to Denmark is not easy though, especially if you're not in the EU. But it is possible.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago

I have seen some footage and the numbers on bike use in Copenhagen. You're kicking it out of the park.

I applied to Københavns Universitet, but didn't get the interview. So far my best luck has been Germany and Finland for faculty appointments. I'll get over there soon.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I wonder what tax could be limited to just bikers? Like all bike sales in the city? A tag system? Bike tolls? Personally property taxes of places connected by the lanes make the most sense to me. If its from a public transport stop maybe include that in that transport cost structure?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I don't think any specific tax is needed. Road maintenance is just an expense that should be paid through regular taxes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Regular as in income,salesS/VAT, property?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago
[–] [email protected] 8 points 6 months ago

There's no specific taxes on cyclists to help pay for the lanes I think is the reasoning. But it's silly regardless, by cycling you help improve streets in other ways - reducing need for maintenance, reducing traffic, freeing up parking etc. Cyclists and pedestrians are good for cars, too. It's just driving a car makes most people irrationally angry for some reason so all the benefits are lost on them.