House Bill 3008 proposes a $54 bi-annual “bicycle registration and licensing system.”I'm not really sure why this bill has been introduced. Is it to solve some problem? Bike theft? The licensing system will somehow curb theft... Too many bikes? At $54 per bike, people may think twice about buying a bike.
All I know, is that it would cost way more to register my bikes than my car! I guess the bill only penalizes those over 18 for not registering, so I think we can get away with not registering the boys' bikes. That said, we're still looking at $324 every two years for our bikes, and $131 for our car (and $10 of that registration fee goes to the BTA!).
So of course I'm opposed to the bill.
Read about it at BikePortland.
[Update: Jonathan Maus, the Editor of Bike Portland interviewed the primary sponsor, Rep. Wayne Krieger (R-Gold Beach). Apparently, for Representative Krieger, it's a matter of equity. If bicyclists want to be treated equally, he believes we should pay our fair share. I could agree with him, but I believe $54 per bike is too steep. Perhaps it it be a percentage of the value of the bike, or something like that.]
1 comment:
I would think the key question would be 'what are they going to spend the money on?'. Will the fees go to fund construction and maintenance of bike lanes and parkways? Or is it offsetting the drop in revenue from gas sales with more people driving fuel efficient cars or choosing different transit all together.
I found a similar story to this a couple weeks back. Obviously something like this scares the hell out of me, but I'd bet this and the bike registration have similar motives.
$54 does seem a little steep. Maybe they can put GPS on everyone's bike and tax you based on how hard you peddle, or tax bike fuel (cliff bars and bottle water).
Post a Comment