Sal Esquivel
It has been interesting to follow the widespread discussion spurred by the proposal in the Oregon legislature that would establish a $54, mandatory bike registration fee in Oregon. Even though the bill is highly unlikely to pass, it has drawn the attention of advocates, the media, and citizens like few other issues I have covered.
Yesterday, a reader sent me over an email newsletter sent out by one of the sponsors of the bill — Representative Sal Esquivel, a Republican from Medford. In that email, Esquivel admits that the bill, “may never see the light of day”, but he also defends the idea on similar grounds as his fellow co-sponsor on the bill, Rep. Wayne Krieger (learn more about what he thinks of the bill in my interview with him last week).
“It may transform into a piece of legislation that helps keep bikers safe or improves riding circumstances for bikers that commute.”
— Rep. Esquivel
Esquivel writes that “the phone has been ringing and the emails are flying” and that the reaction his office has heard so far from “bicycle enthusiasts” is “the oh no you don’t. Don’t tax my recreation.” Esquivel understands that reaction but then goes on to write, “but Share the Road — Share the Load”.
“With the ever growing concern over income at the city and county level all avenues must be explored,” he writes.
Like Rep. Krieger, Esquivel seems to see this proposed law as being a positive thing for biking in Oregon. He writes:
“The bill – well it may never see the light of day. Then again, it may transform into a piece of legislation that helps keep bikers safe or improves riding circumstances for bikers that commute.”
“So hang in there with us,” Esquivel concludes in his e-newsletter, “change is happening!”
— For full coverage of this story, browse all our stories at the “bike registration bill” tag.
(Thanks to Evan Manvel for the heads up on this.)
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Pretty disturbing to see that people charged with overseeing the State’s budget don’t even understand how key transportation infrastructure is funded.
I get worried when I hear people confidently stating that a bill is unlikely to pass. Also, don’t discount the potential for an amendment or two to change the bill in such a way that more legislators find it appealing.
There has been a lot of talk amongst ourselves about this – I just hope the same amount of energy will be used to talk to our legislators about it.
Not another round of this double taxation business.
It’s baseless and he might do his constituents a service by dropping this and focusing on something of actual value.
Tax my feet when I go walking. This topic is exhausting
If find the following a bit disingenuous on Esquivel’s part:
Esquivel writes that “the phone has been ringing and the emails are flying” and that the reaction his office has heard so far from “bicycle enthusiasts” is “the oh no you don’t. Don’t tax my recreation.”
Bicycle enthusiasts don’t see it as recreation, but as transportation. That said, it shouldn’t be “share the road – share the load.” I offer some alterntives:
“Share the road – that’s already paid for by everybody!”
“Share the road – it’s broken by your load”
“Share the road – because we all own it”
PS: there’s an unclosed em or i on this page making everything in the comments and sidebar of this page italic.
Share the road? Happily.
If I register my bike, I will be using the road. Drivers can line up behind my 10mph cargo bike.
I’ll make a special point to go riding during morning rush hour on one-lane roads like Division and Alberta, and I’ll take the WHOLE lane.
I pay for it? Yeahhh…I guess that means I own it, just as much as any car.
Share the road, share the load?
I have a car registration which entitles me to driving on the roads ’24-7′. When I ride my bike to work, it takes my car off the road 5 days a week.
If we are going to charge for road access, I want my 5/7th’s back! That’s 5/7th’s less wear and tear.
That goes for carbon offsets as well…
“Share the road, share the load”?
I already do, thanks.
Will somebody PLEASE share with these elected officials the breakdown of the funds that pay for roads by tax type???
It seems like these people have NO IDEA where the money comes from– or that it ALL comes from gas tax, and car registration!!!
I think he means “Share the road, bear the load” – as others have pointed out, the majority of cyclists pay MORE than their fair share, regardless of what metric you use to determine the fair amount to pay.
Let’s see some transportation equity. Let’s see weight-based fees, fines and tariffs. Let’s see laws, rules and regulations which recognize the difference in environmental, medical, social and public safety impact between motorized and non-motorized transportation.
In short, let’s see these legislators explain why we should pay more for what we already have a right to, and why those who can’t pay should be forced to give up what is theirs by right (i.e. the public roadway)
I’ll happily pay the $54 registration on one condition — if my bicycle is going to be taxed just like any other vehicle, I want the same rights to the entire road as any other vehicle.
I propose as new slogan for the esteemed Representative.
Share the Whole Load – Share the Whole Road.
There are some big-time implications here. First, I get to take the full lane at any time on any road, so we’d also have to rewrite the existing laws that require a bicycle user to stay as far right (or use the bike lane).
I’d expect all Oregon police officers to immediately become fully certified and trained such that they are knowlegable in cycling-related law, and to start handing out hefty tickets to road users that violate the law or endanger cyclists.
Share the Load cuts both ways. If I get to shoulder additional load, I expect the state to share the burden as well.
It’s interesting that Reps. Kreiger and Esquivel have overlooked this part in their sloganeering. I’d love to hear more about what exactly the state plans to do for cyclists for the cost levied by the registrations. Do they have a real plan, or just a slogan?
If such a fee is levied, there needs to be very real and very tangible benefits for cyclists beyond simple ‘road maintenance’ — it’s quite clear that anyone that is using this argument as the justification for the legislation has no concept of the issues that are really at stake.
Ok. I went to Rep. Esquivel’s page and found the specific newsletter that was mentioned. Here’s his statement about what he and his co-sponsors are doing: “Their thought process on this is to begin a conversation about ways to pay for maintenance of and building of new bicycle paths and riding lanes in the future.”
Talk about putting the cart before the horse! Is this how the process works? Think up a problem and draft a bill that doesn’t address it and then have the conversation? It looks like the research process is to float a trial balloon and then see what people tell them. I guess that’s how democracy works – majority rule and all that. It’s scary when people don’t have a handle on reality but think they do and our “leaders” don’t see any need to be better informed themselves.
Then there is the attitude that cycling is only recreational rather than a primary transportation option. Do these guys really believe this is nothing but a luxury tax? Sheesh!
I think the big thing that bothers me about this is that for a lot of people it’s not going to be taxing their recreation, it’s going to be taxing their means of getting around at all.
Share the road; what a load.
Hmmm, I’ve stayed quiet on this subject publicly because mostly I agree with the idea/concept and I know I’ll get flamed for admitting it here. After some research recently I have to say that I am further convinced this is a good idea. I discovered recently that Geneva Switzerland is a great example of exactly how this works and works well. ALL privately owned bikes are required to pay not only a license fee of about 40CF but also to have liability insurance. Both are purchased at the Post Office and according to the article this has not reduced cycling at all, in fact Geneva has seen a huge uptick in cyclists and bike infrastructure over the last 10 years. The public perception is that cyclists are contributing to the infrastructure that is dedicated to them even though it takes far more funds to maintain and implement. I understand that this is not Switzerland and that the tax structures are different, but the salient point is PERCEPTION.
We must win the battle of perception first. Even here in Portland it is still an important front, and one we must continue to press.
I don’t have the link in front of me,as I’m at work right now, but I will post as soon as I find it.
If this passes, not only am I only going to register my bike AFTER I have been caught twice, but also, only AFTER I have sold both my wife’s and my cars. I Since I will be paying for 3 bicycles, I won’t want to pay for those cars anymore. It will change the length of time it takes me to get to Laurelwood (the one by Gaston, not the one here in town) too, since riding my bike up Bald Peak will take me a little while.
I will ride my bike in the center of the lane with two lights on the rear of my bike (one to illuminate my new shiny license plate) and two in the front (one to shine in peoples eyes when they leave their brights on).
I will not go the speed limit because that is not the mandatory minimum speed on the road at that location.
I will change my life insurance policy so that my wife will at least be taken care of when I am road raged…
What will all the homeless and dirt poor people do? How will they afford to register their bikes? Many people ride bicycles out of necessity because they can’t even afford public transit. This bill will essentially criminalize an entire group of people whose only crime is not having enough money. It’s disgusting. Bicycling must remain free, because for some it is the only way they can get around.
Sharing the load….equally?
Weight and size would have to be taken into consideration.
How many square feet of roadway are designated primarily for car use? How many square feet of roadway are designated primarily for bike use?
What a ridiculous idea all the way around.
Road costs consist mainly of two things:
Maintenance/repair and congession/expansion.
Large trucks cause the vast majority of all damage to roads. Passanger cars cause the vast majority of congession. Bikes cause almost none of either. There are more than enough roads for all the biking that will ever take place in Portland. These roads would almost never need to be repaired except for cars/trucks.
Solutions:
Registration fee based on vehical weight squared and miles driven to account for damage to roads.
Rush-hour tolls (congession pricing) to account for busy roads.
Road users should bear the full actual cost of their activities. Why is it that large trucks do not pay (full?) tax on the diesel they use? End the subsidization. If trucking goods around the country becomes too expensive, maybe we’ll think about building some more train tracks.
If our esteemed legislators are looking for ways to pay for maintenance why not take steps to ban or charge a user fee on the use of studded tires?
There have been studies estimating that it would extend the life of the asphalt and save the state tens of millions of dollars.
Apparently the Gov has looked into this as well, but as a way to improve vehicle fuel economy. This story says that measure is also unlikely to pass.
http://www.bendbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090227/BIZ0102/902270373/1041&nav_category=
I just sent the following e-mail to Rep. Esquivel:
Dear Rep. Esquivel,
I would encourage you to study economic analyses of transportation funding. The attached article (online at http://pubs.its.ucdavis.edu/publication_detail.php?id=1170 )is just one of many that explain how motorists currently receive substantial subsidies from taxes on personal and corporate income, property, and other sources. The researchers who authored this article conclude that gas taxes would need to be raised by 11 to 37 cents a gallon before drivers started paying their own way.
It is also important to note that this analysis looks only at direct transfers of tax money from other sources to subsidize drivers. It doesn’t include the other costs of motor vehicles. While we all need cars and trucks to make our modern lives work, we should recognize and deal with the substantial costs that motor vehicles put on us.
For instance, earlier this week a major study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine concluded that ozone and particulates that come mostly from motor vehicles substantially increase deaths due to respiratory illnesses. One of the researchers was quoted by WebMD as saying, “As for governments, Jerrett says, they should take steps to reduce traffic congestion, perhaps by offering financial incentives to carpoolers, increasing high-occupancy lanes, encouraging the use of hybrid cars and maybe even by discouraging driving with higher gas taxes.”
(See http://www.webmd.com/news/20090318/air-pollution-dangerous-but-deadly for the full article.)
We have two cars… and of course pay all the associated taxes. We are already sharing the load. But I also try to commute by bicycle. When I take my bike instead of my car, I am reducing wear and tear not only on our roads, but also the lungs of my neighbors.
I would encourage you to come take a look at the Hawthorne Bridge in Portland during rush hour. There is a strong and steady stream of bicycles. Indeed, the most recent city survey indicates that bicycles account for 20 percent of all vehicle traffic on the bridge. (The numbers for the Steel and Broadway Bridges are 15% and 14%.)
Imagine that public policies, including taxes, further discouraged people from commuting by bicycle (remember almost all adult cyclists also own cars in Oregon)… the resulting increase in congestion would hurt everyone. Conversely, the next time you are stuck in traffic, imagine that 20% of the cars were transformed into bicycles. The traffic jam would vanish.
The research on the subject indicates that every time a person leaves his or her car in the garage and instead hops on a bike, it actually saves taxpayers money, increases traffic flow… and improves the environment for everyone, not just the cyclist.
I urge you to take a closer look at the costs and benefits of all transportation modes before reaching conclusions about how tax policy can be improved.
@ Andrew (#18)
Well said!
Andrew #18 >>>
Nice letter. The reduction in car congestion is one of the clear benefits of folks riding bikes. You make that point quite well.
Nice to know there is no shortage of cretins in Salem. The bill should be be amended so that the state would pay bike owners $54 to register a bike if the owner chooses. If the bike owner wishes, he may defer his rebate to a bicycle improvement fund. In addition, the state should institute a $250 filing fee for motor vehicle accident reports.
That would be much more equitable for all road users. It would provide an incentive to register bikes, discourage crashes, and more accurately represent the distribution of financial liability within the transportation system.
Failing that, ditching the implausible notion of registering self-propelled transport, and raise motor-vehicle registration fees in proportion to vehicle weight would be acceptable. Let’s say a $0.50 per pound of GVW every two years. That should help Oregon budget issues and pay a higher portion of motor-vehicles use of our public spaces. (BTW, I have an SUV that would cost me $3K every two years under scheme, but I am totally for it.)
Alternatively – “share the load” would really be best reflected by a weight/mile fee. Set a cost per weight per mile and we all pay at that same rate. Let’s talk, Rep. Krieger, and let’s hear why bicycles pay almost twice what motorcycles pay… just so we understand your rationale.
I don’t think this guy even knows what its like to sit in traffic. http://www.oregontravels.com/_roads/cams_Medford.html
If fairness is being called for then it is time to redo the way roads are payed for, shift it away from property, and income tax and put it squarely on vehicle registration fees. A fair registration fee would take into account vehicle weight, miles traveled and which roadways are used (GPU device would be mandatory on vehicles). Little used roads would cost more per mile to travel on then highly used roads and would be built into a vehicle’s registration fee accordingly.
It cost nearly the same amount of money to build a mile of road out in the boonies as it does in the suburbs, but the rural road is used by a lot less road users, so less users to pay gas taxes for those roads. I’m sure Urban road users are tired of subsidizing rural road users in areas like these legislators represent. Fairness would be much higher registration fees for people using rural roads then urban streets. The
Cars and trucks cause a lot of death, injury and property destruction each year. The full cost of this should be built into vehicle registration. What fairness is it for a non-driver to have higher health care premiums to subsidize drivers?
Instead of paying for roads the taxes on gas should be instead spent mitigating the effects of the pollution caused by its use, for instance the health cost needed for respiratory illness related to car smog.
Maybe it’s possible that these legislators from rural Oregon are just legitimately unaware that a significant number of people in Oregon use bicycles as their daily means of transportation, not just as recreational sports.
The bill relies on uninformed supporters. Facts and sensible reasoning are a threat to these politicians. The commenters on local news sites were overwhelmingly in support of this bill.
@Tbird #13:
In Switzerland the bicycle liability insurance is only about $5 per year. In addition, they already have some decent and safe bicycle infrastructure. I don’t think there is a registration fee on top of the insurance, but I could be mistaken.
So, $54 for a two year registration is the same cost as auto registration in Oregon. It only costs $30 for a motorcycle/moped and $27 for an electric or hybrid motorcycle. The same price for a $30 lb. non-motorized vehicle and a 5000 lb. vehicle is just wrong.
If we break the fee down by weight:
Cost per pound for the average vehicle weight of 4000 lb. @ $54 = $.0135
Cost per pound for the average bicycle weight of 30 lb. (rough estimate by me) @$54 = $1.80
Cars cost one penny per pound and bikes $1.80/lb.
No thank you.
PdxMarK;
I get your point, but don’t start with the tax per mile idea again. It was silly when the governor proposed it; it’s silly now. While technically fairer than a gas tax (because the correlation of a vehicle’s road damage rate to its fuel consumption is fairly low), it requires a huge increase in infrastructure and expensive technology as well as a substantial decrease in personal privacy (GPS in every car sending data to the state?), and it does not reward any fuel efficiency savings that are not weight-related.
All funding sources are approximations of the ideal cost apportionment. Let’s stick to the pretty good one we have now – gas tax – and just increase it (as well as change it to a tax on the price of the fuel, not the quantity). Simple tweaks like taxing or banning studded tires can be added as well.
Oh, and about studded tires:
The legislature has tried to do it before, as I recall, but it’s an idea that’s very unpopular in the Eastern half of the state. Here’s my (impractical) proposal for that: the state should divide itself into two independent transportation regions. All funding for the Western half will come from the residents of that half, and it gets to set its own laws about studded tires, and all funding for the Eastern half from its own residents. See how quickly the Eastern Oregon road system falls apart!
This whole tax and license bikes idea makes about as much sense as taxing hybrid car owners with a special tax, because they pay less gas tax than a gas-guzzling vehicle. While we are at it maybe we should give owners of gas-guzzlers a tax credit, to offset the extra gas tax burden that they bear. It’s just nonsense, plain and simple. If we want a cleaner environment with less congestion and less reliance on foreign oil, then we should structure our laws accordingly. Simple as that.
If what is needed is a bill that helps keep bikers safe or improves riding circumstances for bikers that commute, then write that bill. Don’t pretend that the bill that is currently written does that or “may” transform into that.
Funny that Sen. Esquivel chose to use the word “load.” Accurate, too.
Peejay,
I agree about the issues with a straight miles-based tax, but my point was that everyone paying their “fair share” could arguably relate to vehicle weight AND miles traveled, not just a per vehicle tax rate. A weight and mile fee overcomes the disincentive to high mileage vehicles in the miles-only fee recently tested by Oregon.
Privacy issues aside, if Krieger and his tag-alongs really, sincerely want everyone to pay for what they use and impose on the roads, the knee-jerk per-vehicle fee doesn’t adequately do that. It amounts to yet another subsidy for car drivers. Even the registration fee plus gas tax doesn’t do equity, because a $54 bike fee is too large compared to the miles/weight basis of what cars impose on the roads. How about a fee based on:
(vehicle weight) x (fee rate) x (mileage)
The we all pay for what we use…
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/331734_firstperson17.html
A 1995 study titled “Whose Roads?” by cycling advocate Todd Litman laid all this out in detail. The study estimated that automobile users pay an average of 2.3 cents per mile in user fees, including fuel taxes and vehicle registration fees, while they actually impose 6.5 cents per mile in road service costs. Who pays the difference? It’s picked up by general taxes and property assessments. So while bicyclists pay an equal share of those taxes, they impose costs averaging only 0.2 cents per mile in road service costs.
The load hogs the road.. LOL
like car r coffins? haha
So has either Krieger or Esquivel shared with the press (or anyone else, for that matter) exactly how much of this $54 is supposed to go to road funding and how much of it will go to feed the DMV Bureaucracy Monster? Last I heard, the motor vehicle registration fees were pretty much eaten up by how much it costs to run the DMV.
Maybe this isn’t so much about picking on cyclists as it is a government-sponsored jobs program? That would be very pinko-lefty-liberal of them, wouldn’t you say?
If I have to buy a bike license at the same rate as I pay for a four wheeled vehicle, I want my money’s worth with a full sized “Share the Road” license plate and I will enjoy the full use of the road!
Now that would be about as ridiculous as this ill-conceived bill.
A $1/yr increase in vehicle registration, from $27 to $28/yr would generate nearly $5M annually. That’s enough to:
*Re-pave the Springwater from Sellwood to Downtown
*Build 15-miles of Bike Blvds
*Lighting, Improvements and a Ped path added to I-205 path.
…and have some change.
I wouldn’t mind paying an extra $1 a year to register my vehicle, and yes I do own and license a vehicle in Oregon, if it meant better facilities for cyclists… 😉
I’m guessing they dislike cyclists because we occasionally get in the way of their giant SUVs.
Forget that every cyclist is a potential driver and that by riding our bikes we are reducing traffic and wear on the road, saving the state buttloads of money in the long run, we bother old republicans who still haven’t accepted that the environment can be harmed (or don’t care).
There are a lot of homeless cyclists in my neighborhood and they haul recycling on their bikes. Even a full load won’t give them much money. 54 dollars would be a pretty big chunk of what they make.
I’m guessing these two idiots don’t care about that. This is just about their desire to get us off “their” roads.
Welcome back critical mass if this passes except now the cops won’t be able to do a damn thing about it!
My take on the interview with the Senator reported about earlier is that the motives behind the bill are two-fold.
1) Provide a mechanism to allow witness to a violation a mechanism to report on the violator using the license number to identify them.
2) Provide an additional revenue stream to the DOT to help fund road improvements that benefit cyclists and not motorists.
I can’t imagine any type of identifier that could be put on a bike that would provide an reliable identification system.
As far as funding road improvements – what if we charged the DOT to set up a foundation for cycling road improvements. Establish it as a non-profit that would allow tax deductible donations. I’ve no doubt that our state is full of folks who would gladly contribute freely to a fund that by it’s very design was set up to support road projects that directly benefited cyclists.
Given the estimates I’ve seen about what establishing the necessary beaurocracy to manage the licensing plan, it’s highly likely that a voluntarily funded system would provide more funds directly to the DOT.
I don’t have a problem with the *concept* of bike registration, especially if the registration dollars went to bike-specific infrastructure (the way motor vehicle registration goes to fund the Department of *Motor* Vehicles) – let’s have it be the ratio of the median “footprint” of a bicycle in a lane to the median “footprint” of a passenger motor vehicle. Or the weight ratios. So, what, 5%? I’ll pay ya $2.50 every two years. Happily. Heck, I’ll pay you $5 every two years if you promise it’ll go to bicycle infrastructure.
Oregon State Rep defends registration idea: “Share the Road — Share the Load”
“Defends”? I don’t see a rational defense of anything here. Coming up with a rhyming slogan doesn’t count as a logical argument.
I have a slogan too: “Save the Road – Lighten the Load!”
Oregon has a very lax registration law. You only pay every other year and it’s a set value regardless of vehicle value. Other more thoughtful states use a vehicle excise tax based upon the value and weight of the vehicle. If that were the case, I would be more than happy to register my many bicycles, that way, bicycles would not be paying more than motorcycles but would pay according to their cost and their weight.
Figure out the calculus and write the bill. Revenues will go way up for the state because everyone will pay more, and cyclists will be able to buy into the system. This is what it means to have mode share, my friends.
The key is to go along with it and then show what would be legally equitable. You might see all of those rabid conservatives turn tail at the smell of “excise tax” and then you would see the true motivations.
After all “share the load” is kind of catchy and would help show that bikes weighing 30 lbs should pay in proportion to 600 lb motorcycles and 3000-105,500 lb motor vehicles.
This bill really isn’t so bad; just change the numbers a little and get it passed. This might be a win for the bicycle community. You would have to change the name DMV to something else though because DMV only licenses motor vehicles.
More thoughts on “sharing” the load:
The Oregon gasoline tax is 43.4 cents/gallon. Let’s say the average car weighs 3000 pounds and travels 12,000 miles a year at 20 mpg. Each year the owner/user of that car contributes $27 for registration and $260 in gas taxes (600 gallons at 43.4 cents a gallon), for a total of $287.
In contrast, the average bike weighs no more than 30 pounds and maybe travels 1000 miles on roads. The bikes weighs 1/100 as much as a car and is on the road for 1/12 the distance. Based on weight and road miles used, an equitable fee for this “average” bike should be 1/1200 the amount for the “average” car – or about 24 cents. The other $26.76 proposed by Krieger is simply a mix of car-subsidy and bike-use penalty.
If Krieger & his friends want to argue some rational reason why bikes and cars are equivalent road users, I’d also like to hear the rational for why cars and heavy trucks aren’t also equivalent users. In contrast to the annual $287 fees paid for an “average” car, an “average” truck can pay $250-$500 a month in fees. The fee distinction between cars and trucks roughly correlates to the differences in their sizes and the miles they drive. Any bike registration/usage fee should do the same.
While’re arguing that pedestrian traffic should be taxed, let’s not forget about wheelchairs. Especially the Electric ones 🙂
Here’s the I forgot link for info on “average” truck fees:
http://www.leg.state.or.us/comm/commsrvs/wtmile.pdf
1) Provide a mechanism to allow witness to a violation a mechanism to report on the violator using the license number to identify them.
I don’t doubt that’s what the supporters want to believe, but…
So some motorist is sitting at a red light when a cyclists zips past and runs the light. NOW the irate motorist can report the cyclist to the police…because of a 1.5″ X 2.5″ license number attached to the seat tube of a rapidly receding bike?
Good one.