They get it.
The loss of bicycling incentives in the new climate bill didn’t escape the notice of DC’s hometown newspaper, The Washington Post.
Provisions designed to supercharge the sale and use of traditional bikes and the battery-powered variety were dropped from the climate deal reached by Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Joe Manchin III (W.Va.), the Senate’s most conservative Democrat. The absence is grinding the gears of bike manufacturers and cycling enthusiasts who pushed for months to include the pro-bike provisions in Democrats’ climate package…
Dropped from the deal is a tax credit worth up to $900 to help cyclists purchase electric bikes. Also gone is a pretax benefit for commuters to help cover the cost of biking to work. Versions of both benefits were included in the roughly $2 trillion spending package that passed the House last year.
The proposed commuter benefit for bikers, which Republicans repealed in 2017, would be similar to a perk many employees already get for taking a car or subway to work.
As it stands, the bill — officially titled The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 — is a gift to makers of electric cars, with a $7,500 tax credit for new electric vehicles, as well as a tax credit for used ones.
Yet it inexplicably excludes the hottest selling electric vehicles in both Europe and the US.
Ebikes.
Which are somehow outpacing sales of electric cars, despite being outside the price range of many potential buyers.
And which offer the greatest potential for getting drivers out of their cars, and reducing the number of cars on the street.
Which you’d think would be a reasonable goal for a climate bill.
But apparently, you’d be wrong.
Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels.
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This is the key point to remember.
Because business owners will always oppose anything that takes parking away, without realizing they will probably be better off without it if they just give it a little time.
It’s REALLY important that #Vancouver’s Downtown Business Association, who were originally AGAINST downtown bike-lanes, have become one of their most vigourous supporters, because of EVIDENCE that bike-lanes are better for downtown business than any street parking they replace. pic.twitter.com/4FaJoLg3tE
— Brent Toderian (@BrentToderian) August 2, 2022
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Now that’s more like it.
L39ion of Los Angeles is teaming with Colorado’s New Belgium brewery to introduce the L39ION X Fat Tire Golden Ale, brewed with lemon peel and sea salt for “post ride consumption.”
Proceeds will benefit the Grow Cycling Foundation to provide education, access and opportunities that promote diverse representation and equity in cycling.
However, the hyper-limited release may be difficult to find, unless you have the brewer ship it directly to your door.
You’re welcome.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Life is cheap in New Zealand, where an impatient driver walks with a measly $1,200 fine and a six-month driving ban for intentionally driving into the path of a group of bike riders, and physically attacking one man who crashed into his car.
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Local
The LA Times questions whether the new $588-million 6th Street Viaduct is an architectural and cultural wonder or a symbol of so much that is wrong with Los Angeles. I vote for c) All of the above.
Los Angeles expanded a prohibition on homeless encampments near schools and daycare centers, which also prohibits blocking roadways and bike paths. Of course, the problem is getting someone to actually enforce it if a homeless camp blocks a bikeway.
A passing bike rider in Tujunga called 911 after noticing a man in a car who appeared to be unconscious; police discovered the driver was dead from a gunshot wound to the head.
State
San Francisco 49ers General Manager John Lynch is one of us, although he might skip the upcoming NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony after falling off his bicycle and bruising his face. And no, he wasn’t wearing a helmet.
Streetsblog says leaked communications prove San Francisco’s mayor is trying to kill off the city’s popular Slow Streets program.
On Focus highlights the Bicycling Hall of Fame in Davis.
National
Bicycling looks at the best bike headlights available on Amazon. Which isn’t exactly the same as the best bike headlights, period. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you, although this one doesn’t seem to be paywalled.
A Dutch man with peripheral neuropathy is riding an ebike across the US to call attention to the disorder, as well as promoting ebikes for people with physical disabilities. I suffer from the same condition, albeit from a different cause. So maybe there’s hope for me yet. Once again, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.
A new bike taillight launching soon on Kickstarter promises to make you look more like a human and less like an object. As if there are a lot of floating red flashers out there roaming the roadways on their own.
Someone is stealing locked-up, high-end bicycles from Colorado mountain towns. Just like pretty much everywhere else.
Strange case from Texas, where a 48-year old woman remains missing four days after she set off on a bike ride, even though her bicycle mysteriously showed up outside her parents home Tuesday morning.
A Michigan bike advocacy group demands that new cars come equipped with automatic emergency braking that can detect bicyclists, along with driver alcohol detection systems.
Boston bike riders formed a human bike lane during Tuesday’s morning commute, telling the city’s new mayor it’s time to get going on building new bike lanes.
He gets it. A New York Congressional candidate responds to the recent death of a bike-riding woman by saying the feds can do a lot better when it comes to bike lanes and traffic violence.
Great story about a 13-year old neurodivergent Georgia boy who learned how to ride a bike with a little help from his friends, who told him to “stop saying you can’t.”
International
Americans are coming out of their Covid shell, and celebrating their newfound freedom by biking through Europe.
A Halifax, Nova Scotia group objects to plans to remove up to 125 mature trees to make room for new bike lanes. Then again, I’d probably object to that, too.
A British student’s call for mandatory bike helmets has made it to the halls of Parliament, though a government minister says they’d rather encourage helmet use than require it.
Life is cheap in the UK, where a driver walked with probation and a one-year driving ban for attempting to drive off with a bike rider still clinging to the hood of his car following a crash.
Several Iranian bikemakers have shuttered their shops in recent weeks, pummeled by high production costs and a lingering recession.
A bike rider from Myanmar is suing Singapore’s water agency after his front wheel got caught in a metal grate with grills running parallel to the roadway. Something that shouldn’t exist there, or anywhere else.
Competitive Cycling
Cycling Weekly offers five takeaways from the first women’s Tour de France in 33 years.
USA Cycling was accused of transphobia after trans cyclist Leia Genis was allowed to compete in the women’s individual pursuit at last week’s USA Cycling Elite Track National Championships, then stripped of her silver medal the next day.
Finally…
If you’re going to pop a wheelie, try not to crash into a taxi and pull an endo in the process. Now you, too, can ride your Corona while you drink one.
And feel free to accessorize with someone’s old bike tubes.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
