Small bike-related fee could lead to more riders riding

A recent letter complained of tax dollars wasted on the Atascadero bike path to nowhere (“Taxpayers’ money wasted on Atascadero’s road projects,” Dec. 12). Nobody (myself included) likes to pay taxes that exclusively benefit somebody else.

Suggestion: Why not impose a small (2 percent?) bike infrastructure fee on all bicycle sales, parts, accessories and service? Bicycling “advocates” will argue that this small expense will discourage biking. Nothing could be more wrong. The biggest deterrent to biking is having to share roads with speeding cars and trucks — unpleasant at best, lethally dangerous at worst. Building more dedicated bike trails, like the one along the train tracks here in SLO, would surely encourage more people to ride — especially parents with children.

Note: For the record, I am age 65 and ride a bike 4-10 miles a day, weather permitting.

This story was originally published December 20, 2016 at 6:42 PM with the headline "Small bike-related fee could lead to more riders riding."