What you have to consider about Holland is that gasoline there is the equivalent of around $7.91/gallon (one of the highest in Europe) and they have a much different tax system that allows massive funding to public transit. They have a progressive income tax rate that peaks at 52% (down from 60% a few years ago), a corporate tax that peaks at 25.5% and a "sales" tax that peaks at 19%.
That being said, there are a lot more factors, incentives, and advantages about commuting by bicycle in a place like Holland and it's easy to see why we can't have that here. On Jan 19, 7:26 am, newenglandbike <matthiasbe...@gmail.com> wrote: > Wow, that's a good read. "Cars and bikes both are vehicles, in the > same way that a Glock and a Squirtgun are both guns" is a kind of > potent analogy right now, however imprecise analogies may be. > > The point about bicycle culture/laws in Holland, and the reasonability > of incentives for commuting in a safe, non-polluting manner is > something that's resonated with me for a long time. Sometimes I long > to move to a place like that, but then I wonder why shouldn't I just > try to be be more active in trying to help change happen here, which > i'm woefully not and just riding a bike doesn't really do > anything. It seems futile riding a bike for 'green' reasons, or > because you think it's right thing to do-- even if you do it for those > reasons-- and it's easy to end up suppressing frustration at the > status quo, but reading stuff like this always brings it back to the > surface, which is probably a good thing. um I doubt that makes any > sense. which means it's probably too early for me to be typing right > now. yesterday's ride home west of boston was a slush-ice > nightmare. Thank god for studded tires but even they were out of > their league. we were expecting some weather, but if i knew it > would be that bad I would've stayed home. > > On Jan 18, 7:23 pm, James Warren <jimcwar...@earthlink.net> wrote: > > > > > There's an interesting editorial on rivbike right now about how bikes > > aren't the same as cars. > > > It reminds me of something I often remember when teaching students: the > > idea that doing what's right and fair for a kid is sometimes not the same > > thing for any two given kids. > > > -Jim W. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
