So apparently some legislator in New Hampshire needs a compulsory $50 bicycle registration charge or one thing:
As is mostly the case with this stuff, the thought behind it’s that if these pesky cyclists need bike lanes and bike paths and different ineffective crap like that then they need to should pay for it themselves:
Walsh stated there are particulars to his plan he anticipated to alter, however that the fundamental logic of the invoice needs to be acquainted in a state the place car registration charges assist pay for transportation initiatives.
“Let’s do that honest. If now we have a bunch of modes, let’s have a look at the person of the mode to pay,” Walsh stated. “You both agree with the person charge idea otherwise you don’t. I occur to.”
Okay, clearly I’m fully in opposition to bicycle registration charges, and clearly they’re dumb. There’s this concept that individuals who trip bicycles are someway exempt from taxes and will incur some type of punitive surcharge for his or her freeloading methods, which is particularly foolish since right here in Canada’s unfettered id most individuals who trip bikes additionally personal and function motor autos and pay all of the related charges anyway. And positive, generally municipalities construct leisure paths and stuff which can be just for cyclists, however in addition they construct stuff like public operating tracks and swimming swimming pools, and I’ve by no means heard anybody argue that you need to should pay a registration charge in your sneakers or your bathing go well with. (Although arguably some individuals needs to be fined for carrying swimming costumes in public.)
However in fact the principle motive I object to obligatory bicycle registration charges is that driving a bicycle needs to be a straightforward and accessible possibility for anybody who needs to do it and that there needs to be as few obstacles as doable for many who select to do it.
And but…
I’m [XX] years previous now, and I’d be mendacity if a part of me doesn’t discover the thought of a bicycle registration charge interesting. Nevertheless, I believe in case you’re going to do it, you shouldn’t dick round. $50? Please. What’s that, a number of inside tubes bottles of sealant? Why not go all the best way? Bicycle registration ought to value $1,000 per 12 months at a minimal, although I may possibly get behind one thing like a $100 surcharge for every further bicycle, or for any bike operated by a rider beneath 18 years of age. (Perhaps these under-18 registration charges may very well be decided by wheel measurement, although you then’d have individuals driving Bromptons as a workaround.)
So what’s my reasoning right here? Properly, since that is 2026 and folks take the whole lot actually, I’ll remind you as soon as once more that I’m fully in opposition to bicycle registration charges. Nevertheless, I’m previous and ornery, and because the a part of me that cares about different individuals shrivels up and dies I do more and more marvel if possibly this complete “biking needs to be accessible” factor was a little bit of a mistake.
I’m unsure when the idea of creating biking accessible and simple for individuals was invented, however I solely got here throughout it after I began this weblog in 2007. See, my expertise with driving bikes as a toddler was that you just needed to keep alert always as a result of your bike was liable to be stolen at any second, plus in fact there was the ever-present hazard of getting run over by a automobile. (I do know you’re presupposed to say run over by a driver, not a automobile, however while you’re that age a automobile actually is only a free-roaming wildebeest and one thing you instinctively keep away from.) Then as I received older I began racing BMX, the place children would make enjoyable of your garments in case you didn’t have the fitting gear, and the place in case you crashed they’d simply trip proper over you. So by the point I used to be an grownup I had no hassle with the thought of driving round in a hostile city surroundings, or with the hidebound world of street biking, or with the idea that in case you received dropped on a bunch trip 50 miles from house and also you had no thought the place you have been then robust shit, that was your drawback.
However then I began this weblog, have been I principally made enjoyable of all the brand new fixie riders who have been immediately in all places. Definitely this was the pure order of issues, proper? I’d paid my dues, and now it was my flip to ridicule the clueless. Hey, how else would they study? Nonetheless, once in a while a reader would level out, “Hey, these hipsters could also be foolish and clueless, however at the very least they’re driving,” or “Hey, that bike positive appears ridiculous to me, however no matter will get individuals driving is an effective factor.” And I’ll be darned if I didn’t discover myself agreeing with them.
On the similar time, the town too appeared to assume that something that received individuals driving was factor. In addition they picked up on this radical new concept that you need to have the ability to trip a motorcycle with out getting run over, and they also fastened all of the bridges and constructed this stuff known as “bike lanes.” Seemingly in a single day my biking world was reworked from one characterised by resourcefulness and self-sufficiency into one wherein individuals thought-about having the ability to trip round on a My Little Pony-themed bike with no brakes in a protected bike lane free from each ridicule and grievous bodily hurt to be an inexpensive expectation.
However are we actually higher off for having so vilified the idea of the “barrier to entry?” Perhaps some obstacles is an effective factor. I imply, what do now we have to point out for it, anyway? Bikes should be digital now, as a result of you may’t have something that’s “distracting” to new riders:
Oh, in addition they should have electrical motors, so children don’t should pedal too onerous, and so mother and father don’t have to attend for his or her children:
And why shouldn’t some membership group Strava wanker really feel completely entitled to sit down on the wheel of one of many world’s greatest skilled cyclists as an alternative of minding his freaking enterprise?
the place all this has gotten us, this concept that everybody ought to take part and nothing needs to be onerous and no place needs to be off limits to bikes? It’s gotten us to THIS FREAKING THING:
Perhaps a $1,000 registration charge is strictly what we deserve.