I've just got to get this off my chest

[starphire]

For hundreds of millions of people, some of them living even in wealthy parts of this country such as Boston, bicycling is a essential mode of transportation, every bit as crucial to their quality of life as a car is to other people

Comments

[starphire]

Well, the law is pretty clear that bicyclists and drivers share equal rights as well as responsibilities to observe the rules, and it's not an obscure statute - I've seen it referenced in the driver's handbook that every MA driver is supposed to have read at least once (though I haven't looked recently).

I think you're both partially right about the source of funding. Cities and towns do pay a substantial portion of roadway maintenance expenses. But federal and state gas taxes supposedly exist largely to help fund the maintenance of freeways, highways and smaller roads. And then there are special projects and funds funded by legislation at the state and federal level, such as the federal funding that paid for a major part of the Big Dig, or the state money that paid for improvements to the medians on some local boulevards, upgrading busy intersections with new lights and turn lanes, and so forth. And that funding comes from more general sources of funding - income taxes, corporate taxes, excise and sales taxes, etc.

So in reality, just about everyone pays for the roads in some way or another. If the true cost of maintaining roads was internalized so that only the drivers paid (via gas taxes, excise taxes, and tolls), they might have an argument to claim some kind of priority. But that's not how it is, and the guy at the gas station apparently prefers a simplistic understanding of how things really work. And if he doesn't happen to be a property owner, then he has even less incentive to agree with you...