BIKE: "States Mull Taxing Drivers By Mile"

[Mike Dahmus]

agelfand wrote:

>Dick wrote: Just made his "choice when he chose to live so far from work.
> 
>What isn't "fair" that those of us who choose to live close to work, or
>choose to bicycle or walk, still have to pay for the roads and their
>upkeep."
> 
>First of all, everyone benefits from the roads (whether they drive on them
>or not) in the form of good and services, cost control, public
>maintainence/emergency services, and the like. I'm getting tired of the
>indiscriminate suburbia bashing--The sprawl already exists, some people are
>investing loads of time and effort to reverse the damage done by unwise
>development, and the "well, they get what they deserve" whine does not
>solve existing problems. It just stokes the fire. Let's be practical and
>focus on solutions for the world that is.
>  
>
Amy, sorry, but this is fundamentally untrue. Something north of 90% of 
the cost of maintaining our road infrastructure is attributable not to 
trucks or buses or emergency services, but rather, to the suburban 
single-occupant motor vehicle. If you don't believe me, take a look at 
the amount of lane-miles per capita required to support the population 
of Round Rock vs. central Austin vs. any European town you choose.

To hand-wave that away as "everyone benefits" is to ignore the fact that 
the urbanites are hit twice - first in the form of much higher property 
taxes per acre (true cost of delivering most city services is linked to 
area of service, not number of people), and second in the form of less 
delivery of services (central Austin is a huge dramatic donor of 
property, sales, and gas taxes to the suburbs -- meaning that although 
we pay in X, we get back X/5 or X/10, since gas taxes can't be spent 
anywhere other than state highways, for which we also donate property 
and sales taxes).

Coincidentally, I've been writing on this very issue lately:

http://mdahmus.thebaba.com/blog/archives/cat_funding_of_transportation.html

>Yes, I live on the edge of Round Rock--to stay close to my workplace, to
>which I drive (carpool) and bike. Maybe Dick and other likeminded people
>could invest some effort in helping us suburban bike activists chip away at
>the wall of city leadership obstinence instead of jeering at us from the
>sidelines. I'm not really sniping at you, Dick, personally; I am truly
>frustrted. We need support, not derision. The divisiveness of the cycling
>community is counter-productive. 
>  
>
Actually, both are necessary. I've done more to push for suburban bike 
facilities than anybody around here, but to ignore the fact that 
suburban development is subsidized by the central city (instead of the 
opposite - which passes for conventional wisdom otherwise) is to risk 
making things even _worse_ as we continue to subsidize suburbanites 
through more and more and more road spending.

In other words, suburbanites already (100% incorrectly) think they're 
overtaxed and underserved. We need to reverse this conventional wisdom 
before things get even worse.

(hence my support of toll roads over free roads).

- MD