I use a bicycle for most of my transportation.

[Rockntractor]

http://www.democraticunderground.com...ss=389x6156868

taterguy (1000+ posts) Sun Jul-26-09 06:40 PM
Original message
If we're handing out cash for higher mileage vehicles; WHERE THE HELL'S MY MONEY?
Sorry, but this really sticks in my craw.

I use a bicycle for most of my transportation.

I do it for a lot of reasons.

One, but not the only, is that I felt silly in 1990 chanting NO BLOOD FOR OIL.

So now we have this spiffy new government program. If you have a vehicle which gets low mileage (Most of which were bought after the 1990 war; and 99% of which were bought after the 1970s Energy Crisis), the government gives you $4,000 for buying a new vehicle, but it has to be a car.

I don't ask for much.

I accept that in my area there's not going to be any investment in making it safe for me to bike to work; despite the fact that a considerable portion of the money the government spends for road building and and maintenance comes from general revenue funds. I've read my city's budget. It's several million dollars, and that doesn't count state and federal expenditures.

So I bike to work anyway, despite the fact that the only road that leads to my employer has been officially designated "Unsuitable for bicycles", and that there are abandoned railroad tracks next to this road that would make an ideal bike path.

But now I need a new bike. It would only cost $500, because my friendly local bike shop owner likes me.

Could I please have a little more than 10% of what you car folks are getting?

Please?

obliviously (642 posts) Sun Jul-26-09 10:45 PM
Response to Original message
32. And you cause traffic problems
and dangerous situations on busy streets everyday! Plus the carbon you expell as you belch and fart yor way down the road!

Do you ever have days you just feel mean?

[Apocalypse]

taterguy[/B] ] 9. I spend lots of money on shit I don't need

The money I don't spend on gas is spent on beer and smokes.

Hassin Bin Sober[/B] ]4. And while we are at it, I want tax credits for kids I don't have.

And a write off for a second home I don't own.

And a free school lunch.

I'm not adopting I child but I hear that gets you a nice junk. Where's mine?

[ralph wiggum]

I felt silly in 1990 chanting NO BLOOD FOR OIL.

You should feel like a dumb-ass every day for chanting that.

[Rockntractor]

I have to pass these assholes on narrow roads when I am pulling the tractor all the time. I don't give them much room! We spent millions building them a bike riding trail along the arkansas river and then connecting that to old railroad tracks and paving them to. And thy still go out and joy ride like they own the road.

[Japandroid]

Having cabs honk and the corporate slaves whine as I ride through the left turn lane at Wabash and Wacker brings a unbeatable smile to my face. My 1984 Miyata gets pretty unbeatable mileage for a vehicle it's age.

[Sonnabend]

Having cabs honk and the corporate slaves whine as I ride through the left turn lane at Wabash and Wacker brings a unbeatable smile to my face. My 1984 Miyata gets pretty unbeatable mileage for a vehicle it's age.

Zipping past in warm, dry comfort in my car brings an unbeatable smile to my face, every time I see a soaking wet, struggling cyclist trying to make his way in traffic as the rain pours down.

My 1988 Corolla CS hatch, with air con, heater and radio gives me great mileage and I don't arrive at my destination looking like a drowned rat.

"Corporate slave"? Dont tell me, you're an unemployed dole bludger like Satanica .

[SarasotaRepub]

taterguy (1000+ posts) Sun Jul-26-09 06:40 PM
Original message
...

But now I need a new bike. It would only cost $500, because my friendly local bike shop owner likes me.

Could I please have a little more than 10% of what you car folks are getting?

500 smackers??? WTF you elitist bastard, try going to Wal-Mart and getting
something for around $80. :mad::D

[Milly]

Obviously, these nitwits don't have kids, or - if they do - they don't get involved in things like scouting, t-ball or soccer.

How do you transport a soccer team on a bicycle? Just askin'.

[noonwitch]

A lot of cities in the metro area have bike paths, so that the bikers don't interfere with the car traffic.

Royal Oak, Ferndale, and the People's Republic of Ann Arbor all have them. People who ride bikes to work tend to live in those communities, so it seems to be working.

[CharlesCS]

I'm all for people riding their bikes. I just wish they left the rest of us alone. I enjoy bike riding from time to time but I am not sure my boss and co-workers would appreciate me being all sweaty and smelling in my semi-casual attire at work and I don't plan on taking showers every morning in the office restroom sink just to save money on gas and make everyone else feel their endorphins rise.

And $500 for a bike is like buying an electric car with chrome rims, a boss stereo system and leather seats. Sounds kinda hypocritical to me.