Myths and Facts About Bicycle Transportation In Florida
By: Louis Rossi
(a retired civil engineer)
The world of transportation is full of myths, and bicycle transportation has its share. Perceptions about bicycling affect transportation policy making within government. Policies translate into bicycle programs and funding levels. You guessed it — bicycling has been “under-funded” because several misconceptions consciously or unconsciously dog Federal, State, and local transportation officials.
FIVE MYTHS THAT EVEN SOME BICYCLISTS BELIEVE:
Automobile trips are somehow more “legitimate” than bicycle trips. It is annoying to hear transportation engineers say auto trips are somehow more “legitimate,” than bicycle trips. Ridiculous. We have a cadre of highway-builders that think their only job is getting motorists to and from work. Today, roughly 20-25% of all auto trips are journey-to/from-work. The rest — the majority — are drivers going to places of shopping, entertainment and recreation, or going to visit friends, and then some are just a ride in the country. Just like bicycle trip purposes. After all, most bicycle trip purposes (and pedestrian trips too) are roughly the same as auto trip purposes – about one-fifth are work-related; the rest are not. So cyclists shouldn’t accept the argument that their travel is intrinsically less important than the average motorist’s. And by the way, a good portion of the auto trips in Florida are 10-20 miles, not a longer distance than a typical bike trip.
Cyclists do not pay for the highways they use. Highways are paid for in two primary ways — by gasoline/user taxes and by property taxes. In general, the higher the roadway’s “functional class,” the greater the proportion coming from gas taxes. For example, Interstate highways, the highest functional class, are property tax exempt, and financed exclusively through motorist user fees. Bicyclists don’t ride there. But, where we do ride, on local county, and city streets, finance comes almost exclusively through property taxes. Since cyclists mostly ride the lower functional class roadways and, like drivers, are also homeowners, apartment-renters and local businessmen, they DO IN FACT PAY FOR the roads they use. Don’t let anyone tell you they don’t.
Transportation agencies won’t invest in amenities. Both Florida and Lake County have a solid tradition of transportation projects that include non-motoring amenities. Officials oftentimes offer such amenities to make highway projects more palatable to local communities. Parks, playgrounds, memorials, landscaping, sound barriers, are frequently incorporated into project designs. Suburban sidewalks, shoulders and bike paths are regularly part of good highway projects. However, these amenities don’t automatically occur: a community has to express its needs and press for them. Highway monies available for amenities are finite and bicyclists have to compete for the funds. Speak up! By the way, I kind of “chuckle” to myself every time I travel over SR46 in Lake County, where enormous expenses have been spent to protect bears! Bicyclists vote more than bears!
The highest (and most costly) design standards are always best. Wrong again! Over-designing is often a waste of our money. That is, money spent beyond what is actually needed is an opportunity lost to do additional good elsewhere. I was taught in my engineering schools that costs should not exceed benefits. Solutions need to be proportional to problems. Sadly, not all engineers learned the lesson and they assume bigger is better. Too often, particularly on roadways in the lower functional classes, highway designers opt for the highest possible standard within a range of acceptable standards. This not only WASTES scarce transportation funds, it can truly HARM the abutting community. The philosophy of “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth overdoing” is a hidden tax on communities and transportation users. How much remedial safety work is delayed because funds were wasted making another project “bigger” and more expensive than necessary?
Florida is a poor place to bicycle. Well, the accident rates are bad; from a safety perspective, this might be more “fact” than “myth.” But, Lake County is one of the better bicycle-friendly places in Florida. Our off-road trails are developing well. Many of our roadways have shoulders and/or bicycle-lanes. This is important to the Lake County local-economy too, as cyclists come here to train from all over the USA and from other countries as well. Capitalizing on this is an important opportunity for the all of Florida’s economy. And the “bottom line” is this – the State’s Vehicle & Traffic Law, written and enacted decades before the Interstate Highway System was conceived, fully protects bicyclists and pedestrians. All bicyclists should abide by the Traffic Law – many don’t! All police should enforce the Traffic Law on ignorant drivers — most don’t!
So there you have it, five misconceptions concerning bicycling.
New Bicycle Commuter Benefit Effective 1/1/09
Beginning January 1, 2009, employees who regularly use their bicycles to get to and from work will be eligible for a $20-a-month, tax-free reimbursement from their employers for bicycle-related expenses. Employers will in turn be able to deduct the expense from their federal taxes.
The Bicycle Commuter Act was part of the larger set of Renewable Energy Tax Credit Initiatives included in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, a.k.a. the “Wall Street Bailout Bill, signed into law by President Bush in early October 2008. Section 211 of the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008″ allows for a “qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement” for “reasonable expenses incurred by the employee…for the purchase of a bicycle and bicycle improvements, repair, and storage, if such bicycle is regularly used for travel between the employee╒s residence and place of employment.”
“We’re hearing that a lot of employers don’t know anything about the bicycle commuter provision, nor that it goes into effect at the first of the year,” said Peter Harkness, Board of Directors Chair of the National Center for Bicycling & Walking (NCBW). “This provision is a matter of equity; it gives bike commuters similar benefits to those already enjoyed by those who drive or take public transit to work.”
The $20-a-month bicycle commuter benefit comes in well behind the $115 mass-transit benefit already available, or the $300-plus parking subsidies aimed at helping those who drive to work. “The original ask was for an $80-a-month benefit ,” said Harkness. “But during the compilation of the House and Senate bills, the compromise amount was set at a maximum $20 a month. It’s not a perfect program, but it’s a good start.” more »
