http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/ BikingToronto Forum Topic: Give cyclists $5 a day - Kuitenbrouwer en Sat, 18 May 2013 15:28:03 +0000 http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/topic.php?id=313#post-934 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:35:01 +0000 Angus 934@http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/ <p>I like the carrot and stick approach, give incentives to those who don't drive and penalize those who do.</p> <p>A carbon tax would be the simplest method, this could be used to fund massive infrastructure for public transport and cycling as well as hospitals for the respiratory damage cars do. Handing out $5 bills on one day is a attention getting way of illustrating the problem. </p> http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/topic.php?id=313#post-933 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:51:56 +0000 Duncan 933@http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/ <p>@sandlynx</p> <p>In your above post you mention that your bicycle is registered/licensed and I also understand from other posts that you're not living in Toronto or Ontario.</p> <p>Could you explain what registering/licensing you had to do for your bicycle? As Toronto considers this option, it would be great to find out the experiences of people who have done this. </p> http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/topic.php?id=313#post-929 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:03:02 +0000 sandlynx 929@http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/ <p>Gut reaction to this: "two resolutions by Councillor Michael Walker to regulate and control cyclists: one to force them to wear helmets (an idea that is laughable in the cycling-friendly countries of the world) and one to license them." -- They are pushing this because someone(s) is going to make money on this.<br /> The sooner the car culture dies, the happier I'll be! Give us (cyclists) our roads back.<br /> A side note: I wear a helmet and my bicycles are all registered/licensed and it had not made one bit of difference in how motorists react to me. </p> http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/topic.php?id=313#post-928 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 12:44:33 +0000 remistevens 928@http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/ <p>We're not just less hazardous when colliding with pedestrians, but with everyone. </p> <p>Fatalities on the streets almost always involve automobiles. If they stopped wasting money on fruitless debates over pointless laws they could hire more cops to make people actually obey the speed limit. </p> http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/topic.php?id=313#post-927 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:38:54 +0000 Duncan 927@http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/ <p>Joe, I like that idea.</p> <p>In New York they just passed a bill requiring employers to allow cyclists to bring their bikes in to offices if there is elevator access. If rather than having a law there were "perks" for employers to allow bicycles indoors (or in a secured, covered area), and to provide change areas, then we could see these programs also include education through pamphlets, postering, etc. </p> http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/topic.php?id=313#post-926 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 11:21:12 +0000 joe 926@http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/ <p>It's a good idea. Maybe have an employer program that encourages workplaces to compensate people for biking to work. </p> <p>Enough provide free parking and sometimes metropasses already... </p> http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/topic.php?id=313#post-925 Tue, 15 Sep 2009 09:25:35 +0000 Duncan 925@http://bikingtoronto.com/forum/ <p>I'd have to adjust my commute, but I like this idea!</p> <p><ol type="1"><li><img src="http://www.nationalpost.com/_assets/blog_icons/kuitenbrouwer.jpg"></p> <p><strong>Give cyclists $5 a day</strong></p> <p>The television sets of reporters in the City Hall Press Gallery yesterday were all tuned to a grim spectacle going on in Committee Room 1: councillor upon councillor going mano a mano with Yvonne Bambrick of the Toronto Cyclists Union. They called cyclists every name in the book while debating two resolutions by Councillor Michael Walker to regulate and control cyclists: one to force them to wear helmets (an idea that is laughable in the cycling-friendly countries of the world) and one to license them.</p> <p>The tone of the proceeding mystified me. Why do councillors want to attack cyclists? Cyclists don't pollute, and they save our health care system millions by remaining fit and healthy. They take up perhaps a tenth the space of a motorist, meaning the more cyclists there are, the less gridlock on our streets. The motorists who remain have more space and more parking. Bikes don't wear out roads or bridges or make potholes bigger. When cyclists run into pedestrians, they don't pose a fraction of the threat of an automobile hitting someone.</p> <p> I have a better idea for a city program. I think the city should hire people to stand on College Street or Harbord Street, or Dundas Street East -- routes crowded with thousands of cycling commuters -- and, as the cyclists wait at a red light, hand each of them a $5 bill. </p> <p><a href="http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/09/15/give-cyclists-5-a-day.aspx">Link</a></li></ol></p> <p>While I don't quite believe that these two items are an attack on cyclists and cycling in Toronto, I still have yet to see the benefit of either mandatory helmets or bicycle licenses. We can certainly go about educating drivers and cyclists without wasting money on a licensing scheme. And maybe the councillors have stock in styrofoam companies? </p>