Bicycles to pay road tax

[trevor brooker]

Posted to get my facts checked

1- I recall reading that after the introduction of the safety bicycle that bike clubs built & paid for the initial paved road network.
2-The weight of a bike does not register on a road, nor do its tyres cause wear as tarmac is harder than the tyres.

Whereas the weight of a car will deform tarmac causing micro cracks which fill with water then freeze so degrading the surface. Also car tyres erode tarmac.

So i would be happy to pay for any road maintenance caused by my bike use, which I would estimate at say 1p per year. As this is too small to collect, why not put in on say the cost of bike tyres - oh yes we already pay VAT -

So the answer to those who say cyclists should pay road tax is "we already do"

 

[Ocsid]

As it is about getting "facts checked", I think your main premiss re tyres and the damage on tarmac, is probably flawed.
Structurally, would not pressure be the damaging factor not weight?

 

[matthewslack]

I suppose it would be necessary to break down the money spent on roads into tarmac and 'the rest', and just check if there is anything attributable to cycling in 'the rest'. For example, road markings and road furniture specific to cycling.

That might add a few more pence.

In the meantime, until I completely convince myself that I can do without my other transport, not only do I pay road tax, but despite being small and 50+mpg average, it is at the 'van' rate.

 

[graywok]

Fundamentally its not a 'Road Tax' . Its vehicle excise duty and goes into the overall govt funds along with all other taxes.

 

[AndyBike]

Big pandemic, skinned the coffers.
Taxation
Taxation
Taxation.
They'll look at all avenues and with the rise of ebikes this is clearly going to be one of them.

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon.
And for the rest of our lives.

 

[Nealh]

Bicycles won't be taxed, what will happen is electric cars will have to pay a road fund eventually or every one will pay per mile they drive. The tech for pay per mile can be integrated in to car electronics universally or done via the MOT via mileage recording annually.

 

[sjpt]

Bicycles won't be taxed, what will happen is electric cars will have to pay a road fund eventually or every one will pay per mile they drive. The tech for pay per mile can be integrated in to car electronics universally or done via the MOT via mileage recording annually.

Of course, pay per mile works much easier with petrol/diesel cars where it can be collected on fuel tax. That has the added benefit of greater costs for less efficient cars. The downside with the way it works at the moment is that fuel tax isn't nearly high enough.

But as you say, pay per mile will still be possible with electric cars.

 

[flecc]

But as you say, pay per mile will still be possible with electric cars.

Not just possible, it's the only way.

It cannot be added to all electricity prices since e-cars can charge and will just be charged from household supplies, which cannot have extremely high taxes added.
.

 

[Nealh]

E cars have to come in to the equation sooner or later as ice car road duty is lessoning every year as more are taken off the roads and replaced by greener fuel cars. Problem is companies are very slow at introducing the new tech and only doing do thru being forced and driven by environmentalists/lobbyists.
Electric isn't the answer to the whole solution and we need more choices, LPG never caught on so now we need hydrogen as the other alternative. Not forgetting it was used some 75 years ago small scale in the UK.

 

[guerney]

I'm sure privacy watchdogs will take a very suspicious view of electric cars being monitored by the mile. Hackers will be selling software patching kits for various models to reduce reported use. Present day lorry drivers and car thieves use GPS jammers. When the automatic stop facility (it'll be a feature of future ecars) is activated by cops, a lie detector probe will shove up through the seat to monitor internal body temperature and alcohol content. Kevlar trousers will fly off the shelves...

 

[Nealh]

It won't just be e cars it will be all cars if pay per drive is bought in.

 

[Stanebike]

I understand that cyclist are healthier, live longer and use the NHS less than non-cyclists. So the more people cycle the better. Would any sane government wish to tax us back to ill health and clogging up the health service?

 

[richtea99]

Structurally, would not pressure be the damaging factor not weight?

From observing our tarmac drive degrade 25 over years, the damage is mostly from material squashed between tyre and tarmac, and it's at it's worse where vehicles turn. How does the material (gravel, mud, stones) get there? Freeze/thaw action starts the damage initially in our case, then once you have a few loose stones, the rest 'just happens'.
= A long-winded way of saying that's unlikely to happen with bicycle tyres (or at a very much reduced rate).

 

[Andy-Mat]

As it is about getting "facts checked", I think your main premiss re tyres and the damage on tarmac, is probably flawed.
Structurally, would not pressure be the damaging factor not weight?

Apparently heavy lorries are the main cause of damage, so I think its a weight "thing", coupled with speed...
Andy

 

[sjpt]

Would any sane government wish to tax us back to ill health and clogging up the health service?

No sane government would, but that doesn't rule out our current government doing so.

 

[Stanebike]

No sane government would, but that doesn't rule out our current government doing so.

As Boris is a cyclist you would hope he had more sense, but then again when was he noted for his sense?

 

[WheezyRider]

There is no such thing as road tax, it was abolished in 1937.

Roads are funded from general taxation, so every household in the UK pays over £2000 per year to fund the roads, whether they own a car or not.

Vehicle Excise Duty is basically a licence to pollute. The more you pollute the more you pay. Hence the VED for bicycles will be zero.

 

[Ocsid]

Vehicle Excise Duty is basically a licence to pollute. The more you pollute the more you pay. Hence the VED for bicycles will be zero.

It would be "nice" to think VED had that element of logic.
However, they totally lost the plot with the "extended exemption from Vehicle Excise Duty to vehicles", allowing classic vehicles where pollution can be massive relative to modern technology vehicles, to get off free.

 

[AndyBike]

Would any sane government wish to tax us back to ill health and clogging up the health service?

That would be the Tory party

 

[guerney]

HGV operators should pay far more, it seems car owners are subsidising (much greater) HGV damage of roads. The damn constant digging up of roads by utility companies, leads to ever more potholes and ever more gigantic and more polluting SUV use. Many of our inner city roads resemble those of the third world IMHO.