Another good idea from Commuter Outrage:As more people switch to bicycles in lieu of high gas prices, bicycle theft rates will only continue to rise. Bicyclists need protection from this threat, and this protection requires resources that are expensive. Bicyclists should contribute funding toward the services they use, and registration of bicycles will make it easier to track and return stolen bicycles. A $1 per year registration fees is much less expensive than having to buy a new bicycle, which could easily cost more in one shot than 100 years of registration fees.
Regardless of how we view the situation in Detroit, bicycle theft is a common problem in other cities as well – particularly New York. New York wants to encourage bicycle use, but they have a difficult time providing necessary services to bicyclists.
Bicyclists need serious safety regulations that are enforced. They need better parking, and they need to register bicycles so that we can take steps to protect them from crime. All of these services cost money, and it is only fair to ask bicyclists to pay for them.
22 comments:
This is a great idea. I've had my bike stolen twice and never recovered it. I wish they made LoJack for it, too (LOL).
I doubt this will sway anyone in the "bike community"; they demand the right to ride unopposed by traffic regs or any restrictions whatever, since bike riding is 'good for you' and 'good for the environment.'
Jeez, what a schmuck I've been all these years. Stopping at the red, riding with traffic, watching for pedestrians...
www.forgotten-ny.com
Just occured to me why they are suddendly pushing young people on bikes.
With less car usage, you will get less pollution, and CAN SHOEHORN EVEN MORE PEOPLE INTO NYC!!!!!
Although bicycle registration by itself is not a bad idea, the general push on this blog for more bicycle fees makes little sense.
Given the external costs of cars and other large motor vehicles (pollution, damage to the road, fatal accidents, wars fought over oil, etc.) greater fees should be imposed on those vehicles to make up for the damage using them causes. Fees should not be imposed on bicycle riders because more bicycle commuting will reduce such costs. If anything, incentives should be provided for bicycle riding.
We all have seem time and time again how bike riders do not follow the rules of the road.
They should be made to support the taxpayer financed transportation network like everyone else.
They should be held accountable like everyone else to follow the rules of the road, too.
The fact of the matter is you are increasingly looked at a Bloomberg Boondoggle. Not a good thing. Not a good thing.
We're talking about a dollar a year, at least in Detroit, where this has been successfully implemented. Yet they're still bitching about the cost?
BULLSHT!!!
Its to collect taxes and registration fees. Next will come mandatory insurence and bike licences !!
I wish this sick F** ing Mayor would drop dead already !!!
We all have seem time and time again how bike riders do not follow the rules of the road.
Have you driven around this city? You talk like motorists in NY are complete angels. What we need are more diligent police that actually seem to care about people not using signals, running reds, double parking etc.
No one has said anything about motorists being angels. Quit being defensive and admit that there are assholes who ride bikes, just as there are assholes who drive cars.
If you want to see real racism, talk about bike safety with a bike nazi. You'll how it's only Chinese and Mexican deliverymen who ride recklessly.
Forgotten NY,
Can you cite anything where bike groups are asking to be immune from regulations? I have never heard this argument.
If there is bike registration, it should be voluntary.
I am all for registering my bike just like I would my car, but in return I would expect the infrastructure that would allow me to ride without fear of moronic drivers killing me, like proper bike lanes, and proper ticketing of trucks etc, that see bike lanes as a place to load/unload.
That's what the blog post talks about. Providing bike infrastructure in return.
Because we all know what a deterrent registration is to automobile theft.
Give me a break.
It doesn't prevent it but it helps you get the car back.
I cannot cite anything specific about bike groups such as Transportation Alternatives or similar bike groups demanding to be free from regulation, no.
But several years ago, I called in my resignation of Transportation Alternatives, citing this issue and others in which I believe TA was overpoliticized, and was treated to a lecture from Jon Orcutt about how ignorant I was being, so my *general* impression is that organizations like TA and Critical Mass do not take the well-being of pedestrians as a first priority.
I walked the George Washington Bridge today and found it, like the Brooklyn Bridge, has to divvy up a narrow pedestrian walkway between walkers and cyclists, some of them Tour de France-type speed demons. The GWB has an unused walkway on the north side. It should be opened for cyclists, and the south side should be pedestrian-friendly.
www.forgotten-ny.com
Bicycle registration would be great if the NYPD would actually, you, know, do it. I tried on four separate occasions to register my bike at the Greenpoint precinct house nly to be turned away for various reasons each time. Then the 2-week window for complying with Kryptonite's insurance policy closed, and I gave up on registering.
BTW- food delivery guys usually ride on sidewalks and wrong way in traffic and generally ignore the rules of the road. I give them more space than cabs and city buses when I'm in Manhattan.
I don't really see this as a way to get your bike back - more like a way to make more money. Yeah you might get it back.... a carcass consisting of nothing more than a frame & chain (if you're lucky) but hey, you got it back!
As for the sidewalk riding debate:
In town (i.e. populated areas) I ride in the street along with traffic - as if I am traffic. However, in high traffic / unpopulated areas, I admit I do ride on the sidewalk. However, I think these are extreme circumstances - don't want to die in traffic / no bike land or being used to park, etc / no pedestrians.... Then I don't mind risking a ticket. ANd if, by chance, I encounter a pedestrian (has happened 2 times maybe ever so far), I pull over, stop and let them pass since they have the right of way.
These places I am talking about is Cross Bay between Howard Beach & Broad Channel (Call A Head seems to think bike lane = unloading spot for all their trucks) or in Rockaway where the fancy curb cuts were installed on unused sidewalks.
I'm happy to see an influx of bike lanes being painted on streets in Queens... but NYPD should enforce street laws more often to hopefully keep more and more people from violating bike lanes.
"Just occured to me why they are suddendly pushing young people on bikes.
With less car usage, you will get less pollution, and CAN SHOEHORN EVEN MORE PEOPLE INTO NYC!!!!!"
Yes....lets not fight for a Greener NY. Bring the poulluting industries back to NY so as not to have outsiders move here. Of course that is the only reason to want more bikes on the road...
cute, but you DID dodge the point.
coupled with their avoiding discussing the real issues of interest to NY, mass transit overwhelmed with development,
interesting....
This suggestion is utterly disingenuous. If you want to limit and control biking, have the courage to say it directly and explain how your desire for an automotive urban culture outweighs the quantifiable benefits of biking.
Worried about theft? We have serial numbers, thanks. One can even buy insurance. The private sector has us covered in terms of providing police departments with needed information. It's because bikes are less costly and easier to hide than cars, for example, that police are usually not motivated to investigate deeply.
As for infrastructure, there should be tax breaks for bike costs. After all, bikers save on wear and tear of streets, vibrational soil compacting that damages street trees, and of course we don't rely on the subisidies that keep American pump prices so low. Yes, low: take away the tax support for the oil industry and charge for its environmental and health damages and you'll see the real price of gasoline. Additionally, bikers are saving costs to our healthcare system in both damages and obesity-related diseases.
Not a bad deal for a strip of asphalt, eh?
Erik Baard
www.naturecalendar.com
www.licboathouse.org
Hey, Eric, if you put another developer decal on your boats they would sink.
Love how you supported Lizzie Crowley.
You are poster child for the developers and the machine, the face of how the greens are co-opted.
Wait till they get what they want.
They will drop you like a hot potato.
Come over to the people.
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