Bike article from News.com

1id10t

Read this today on News.com. If only Iemma and Tripodi were so open to alternatives.

"QUEENSLAND is considering radical suggestions to get people out of cars back and on to bikes and public transport.
These would include tax breaks, offering money to owners of old cars to get rid of them and arranging bus pick-ups by mobile phone.

Last week Premier Peter Beattie called on the Federal Government to include bicycles, cycling equipment and public transport fares in salary packaging schemes.

"Salary packaging of bikes and public transport attracts fringe benefits tax, but why should they be treated differently from cars, mobile phones and laptop computers?" he said

A policy options paper to ease city parking congestion being looked at by Mr Beattie has also suggested handing up to $500 to owners of pre-1987 cars to spend on a bicycle or free registration on a newer, smaller car.

The paper also proposes the creation of cyclists' hubs where riders could lock up their bikes and shower or change at the end of a journey.


The paper also proposes a parking tax with licences issued annually to people who park in the city.


"We are relying on our cars more and more to get around," Mr Beattie said.

"If this trend continues, traffic conditions will worsen, air quality will deteriorate, travel times will go up and quality of life will go down."

Mr Beattie said the ideas were options, and no policy decisions had been made.

But RACQ spokesman Ken Willett called the options paper "ideological claptrap", which would do nothing to ease peak-hour congestion.

"It's a blueprint for a centrally planned utopia where we all live like rats in high-rises, walk to the shops, walk to the bus and ride our bikes to the sprocket factory," he said.

Bicycle Queensland manager Ben Wilson welcomed the proposal for infrastructure support for cyclists.

By David Southwell and Malcolm Cole of The Courier Mail"

Full story can be found on following link - http://www.news.com.au/story/0,1011...746-421,00.html

artemidorus

I don't understand why the RACQ want more cars on the road. Sure, it is in their charter to look after the interests of those who choose to drive, but drivers will be better off if other people leave their cars at home. Beattie has not proposed any measures discouraging driving, he is merely promoting other transport.
I, for one, find it hard to be inclined to listen to motorists' groups at all if they can only be knee-jerk reactionaries.

Greenboy

RACQ = Royal Automobile Club of Queensland
Car owners and drivers are members of the RACQ = revenue
Cyclists are not = no revenue

The RACQ had some anti-cyclist hype in one of their recent magazines.

mezzinator

I'm sure the average car driver is too smart to fall for that shite. Well, here's hoping.

__________________
I'm pretty sure theres more to life than being really really good looking, and one day I hope to find out what that is...

artemidorus

How many cyclists actually have no car and pay no fees to their motoring association? Not many, in my experience. More cyclists on the road does not necessarily mean less revenue for the RACQ.

artemidorus

Ahhh, the sharp scythe of irony....