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As someone who doesn't own a car, and rides a bike for everything, I get this argument on why I shouldn't be on the roads quite often. I just want to leave this

As someone who doesn't own a car, and rides a bike for everything, I get this argument on why I shouldn't be on the roads quite often. I just want to leave this article, here: https://momentummag.com/free-rider-myth/ https://momentummag.com/free-rider-myth/ for those who believe that a gas tax is used to pay for roadways, and since cyclists do not pay a gas tax, they have no business riding the roads. As the article points out, driving on roads is heavily subsidized. WE ALL pay for the privilege of driving a car on public roads.

tomsthumb 9y ago
Let's also not forget that road wear's relationship with weight is greater than linear, which is to say that doubling the weight will more than double the wear. Your average cyclist is going to be 10x smaller than a normal 4 door car.
- ufo 9y ago
  IIRC, it goes with the 4th power of the axle weight, which is much more than just nonlinear
Johnny555 9y ago
The thing that gets me (as a cyclist) is that I commute almost entirely on local roads that are largely paid with my property taxes. Yet the people that seem to complain most about bikes on the road are commuting from 2 counties away and very little of their tax money goes to paying the roads that I'm commuting on. And they act as if that me riding in that tiny 3 foot wide painted strip on the road is caused them to have an hour long commute in stop and go traffic from 30+ miles away.
- rconti 9y ago
  roars by cyclist after 2 seconds' wait, races up to traffic ahead, slams on brakes, gets passed by cyclist at the stop sign 30 seconds later
- justinator 9y ago
  I'm going to take a guess (and if I'm wrong, I apologize), that you also own a car, which would have a tax on the gas it consumes. Thus, you may in fact be contributing to the gas tax, while also riding a bike and having people think you're a freeloader (while also getting to work, paying Federal taxes that contribute to the loans that subsidize the actual construction of the road ways ,etc). I don't own a car, but as the article I linked points out, more than 50% of commuters would need to ride a bike for their commute, before car drivers subsidize the cost of roads for cyclists. It would be then that I would be interested in talks about cyclists contributing extra to the costs of infrastructure through some sort of... tax - that infrastructure would also look amazingly different. One can dream :)
  - Johnny555 9y ago
    Well, yes and no - my family owns a car, but my wife drives it most days. We got rid of our second car when we moved within easy bike commuting distance of my job.
YSFEJ4SWJUVU6 9y ago
That may be the situation in the U.S. – definitely not comparable in most of the EU. Also worth bearing in mind that not all the money that goes to road infra for motor vehicles can be attributed to the costs of enabling the use of passenger cars, as at least part of that is needed for other aspects of a functioning society (transport, etc.)

tomsthumb 9y ago

Let's also not forget that road wear's relationship with weight is greater than linear, which is to say that doubling the weight will more than double the wear. Your average cyclist is going to be 10x smaller than a normal 4 door car.

ufo 9y ago
IIRC, it goes with the 4th power of the axle weight, which is much more than just nonlinear

Johnny555 9y ago

The thing that gets me (as a cyclist) is that I commute almost entirely on local roads that are largely paid with my property taxes. Yet the people that seem to complain most about bikes on the road are commuting from 2 counties away and very little of their tax money goes to paying the roads that I'm commuting on. And they act as if that me riding in that tiny 3 foot wide painted strip on the road is caused them to have an hour long commute in stop and go traffic from 30+ miles away.

rconti 9y ago
roars by cyclist after 2 seconds' wait, races up to traffic ahead, slams on brakes, gets passed by cyclist at the stop sign 30 seconds later
justinator 9y ago
I'm going to take a guess (and if I'm wrong, I apologize), that you also own a car, which would have a tax on the gas it consumes. Thus, you may in fact be contributing to the gas tax, while also riding a bike and having people think you're a freeloader (while also getting to work, paying Federal taxes that contribute to the loans that subsidize the actual construction of the road ways ,etc). I don't own a car, but as the article I linked points out, more than 50% of commuters would need to ride a bike for their commute, before car drivers subsidize the cost of roads for cyclists. It would be then that I would be interested in talks about cyclists contributing extra to the costs of infrastructure through some sort of... tax - that infrastructure would also look amazingly different. One can dream :)
- Johnny555 9y ago
  Well, yes and no - my family owns a car, but my wife drives it most days. We got rid of our second car when we moved within easy bike commuting distance of my job.

YSFEJ4SWJUVU6 9y ago

That may be the situation in the U.S. – definitely not comparable in most of the EU. Also worth bearing in mind that not all the money that goes to road infra for motor vehicles can be attributed to the costs of enabling the use of passenger cars, as at least part of that is needed for other aspects of a functioning society (transport, etc.)