Should bicyclists have to pay toll on new 520 bridge?

Taken from Wednesday’s edition of The Dori Monson Show.

A Washington state senator says if we’re going to be tolling the new 520 bridge for cars, maybe we should be tolling it for bicycles as well.

“Fair is fair and equitable is equitable. I think it’s reasonable to say to a bicyclist if you’re going to ride your bike across that bridge, you can help us pay for it,” State Senator Curtis King (R-Yakima) tells KING 5.

I like this idea. I’m a bicyclist. But the bicycle community is the neediest, greediest group imaginable. They demand that they have their own dedicated bike lanes, that roads be transformed from cars into dedicated bicycle roads and they don’t want to pay any dedicated taxes for any of that.

I think asking cyclists to pay a toll for crossing the bridge is a reasonable request. But not everyone in the bicycle community agrees.

You want to hear some hypocrisy? Listen to what the Executive Director of the Cascade Bicycle Club has to say about it:

“If you’re on the bus, you don’t pay the toll. If you’re walking, you don’t pay the toll. It not only would be incredibly complicated to enforce but is also the first of its kind in the country,” Elizabeth Kiker, Executive Director of the Cascade Bicycle Club, tells KING 5.

So transforming a road from cars to bicycle lanes, that’s not complicated? Transforming Second Avenue for the bike lane you’ve put down there, that’s not complicated?

The thing is, you love complication when it benefits you, but if it costs you guys a penny, you’re against it. They’re a bunch of hypocrites.

Taken from Wednesday’s edition of The Dori Monson Show.

JS