But there are no pop songs about bicycles…
Interesting bill to be introduced to the US Congress to promote commuting by bicycle:
Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) will join bike advocates on Thursday, March 15, at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington D.C., to introduce the Bike Commuter Act. The bill would amend a section of the IRS code to include bicycles in the definition of transportation covered by fringe benefits. If passed, it would provide strong financial incentives for employees to bike to work. Cycling is already known to be a clean, healthy and efficient mode of transportation.
Will be interesting to see how this evolves in the land of ‘Cars’.
I must admit I feel some guilt for not commuting by bicycle, my main excuses being the danger (both from traffic and pollution) inherent in cycling in central London and the (rainy/unpredictable) weather. Not sure how much I would need to overcome these factors. I guess I could consider hedging the weather risk and put a price on this component, but I’m not sure how to price the danger component.
March 30th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
First off, I have to say “Queen - Bicycle”. And, while I’m on the subject, I have yet to see Disney’s cars, but I will admit that I’ve had “Gary Numan - Cars” on repeat more than once in my life (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cdgTWitj_o).
If you are happy to hedge weather risk with weatherbill, what is wrong with run of the mill insurance for danger money?
April 2nd, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Sean - check out the UK cycle to work scheme http://www.wiggle.co.uk/CustomerServices/cycle2work.aspx and the tax breaks.
In London I do tend to agree with you regarding the risk / pollution; however in terms of “the darwinian ladder of London’s commuter roads” road/mountain bikes are above Vespa Scooters (I know as I used to commute on a Vespa and we were definately the bottom of the pecking order). The answer, leave london…..
However, nothing beats the daily commute from Opio to Coussols on a bike
April 16th, 2007 at 10:55 am
This sounds like yet another reason why we need a good mortality risk market.