
Donna Grethen / Op Art
The Seattle City Council approved a Bicycle Master Plan this week. The city would need to find about $20 million a year for 20 years to pay for it, editorial columnist Jonathan Martin wrote in an Opinion Northwest blog post Wednesday. How could the city raise the money?
Here are seven ideas submitted by readers. Add your voice to the conversation in the comments section or submit a letter to letters@seattletimes.com.
Pay a registration fee
The state currently registers all motor vehicles, trailers and vessels. Why not bikes?
Where I grew up, we had to pay a registration fee when we purchased a bike. The retailer put a sticker on my bike with a registration number.
So let’s start with requiring a special registration fee (based on value) on all adult-sized bikes, new or used, sold by a licensed retailer in Seattle or King County. The retailer would collect the fee and submit it with the purchase info, including name, address, etc., to the state Department of Transportation.
Current owners, those who purchase from private parties or over the Internet have one year to register their bikes or face being fined.
Dick LaPorte, Seattle
Licensing wouldn’t be practical
Again with “how can we stick it to those bicyclists?” Jonathan Martin said it himself: It’s been tried elsewhere and failed.
So since it’s failed elsewhere, let’s try it here? What would happen: Another level of bureaucracy would be created, which would, no doubt, cost more to set up and maintain than it would ever generate in revenues.
And to whom would we
More