Plan encourages bicycle commuting with tax credits

I don't find anywhere in the article the million dollar (tax credit) question - how does the gov't, exactly, verify that the someone rides their bike to work? Can't wait to see that population number of those that travel to work that way! Sure, I bike to work. Not to fair for those that have a long commute. What a piece of legislative garbage. This will do absolutely nothing to help the transportation problem. Nothing. Accept it. Hear that sound, it's our taxpayer money going down the drain. Have u looked at your paycheck lately?

People wouldn't need to block traffic if this area had bike lanes on the side of the road. And before you keep complaining about bikes in the road, read the VDOT web site, that is where we are supposed to ride.
http://www.virginiadot.org/programs/bk-laws.asp

Definition of selfish:
Concerned excessively or exclusively with oneself : seeking or concentrating on one's own advantage, pleasure, or well-being without regard for others. My point is that drivers of motor vehicles are way too selfish. I always treat bicycles the same as I treat pedestrians....I give them the right-of-way. After all, they aren't able to go 60-70 mph and are more suseptible to personal injury if involved in an accident with my vehicle. It's a rarity for a car/pedestrian or car/bicycle accident to injure the motor vehicle operator. Drivers need to be less selfish and territorial over public and private roads. Use some common sense, common courtesy and give more than you expect to receive!!! I don't personally believe the tax credit will ever get off the ground. There are way too many loop holes for fraud and it would cost more to implement the whole darn thing to make it of any substantial use to anyone. Majority will win this one (more vehicle than bike drivers).

No one is an idiot for riding a bicycle. You're only an idiot if you ride it in the street, holding up traffic. In fact, if you do that, you're a selfish idiot.

As a cyclist, I do not need a $15 credit for riding my bike to work. Please, use that money to pay down the deficit. I would however, appreciate any means to encourage local businesses (including one of Hampton Roads largest employers AGP) to build responsibly with shower facilities and a safe, dry place to store your bicycle. Riding to work, polluting less, and doing something good for yourself, does not make you an idiot. Close minded attitudes do. Thank you to the local delegate for trying again.

not only do vb cyclists-idiots constantly choose not to utilize currently designated bike paths. but they frequently ride 3-5 wide on two-lane backroads with very little shoulder.
cant exactly call them geniuses.

Couldn't have said it better myself. Calling a cyclist an "idiot" typifies the dimwitted redneck culture that sadly pervades Virginia Beach and Chesapeake. These statements usually come from shallow minded, egotistical, knuckle dragging hicks driving Hummers and other five-ton trucks and SUVs. It's kind of funny, most people I see getting out of "sport utility vehicles" appear to participate in no "sport," as they tend to be mostly fat women and guys.

Only a fat, ignorant, selfish person would call a cyclist an idiot. If the government gave tax credits for being overweight and hateful, alot of Virginia Beach citizens would get more money back on their taxes.

Thanks. Glad to know that. 2.5 years of bike commuting, all off road (on shoulders where necessary), 11 miles each way. Yes, I really caused a lot of traffic jams. With or without the tax credit, I will continue to ride. Attention city of Virginia Beach. Open up some pedestrian / bicycle easements to interconnect neighborhoods that are full of dead-end streets forcing bicycles and pedestrians to go out on main roads. I have posted this before. Is anybody listening? We don't need million dollar bike paths. Easements are cheap by comparison. Why were developers allowed to build all dead end streets in the first place? In addition to three bicycles, I also own and operate two cars, paying personal property taxes and gasoline taxes just like everyone else. Bicycle commuting is fun, relaxing, stress reducing, and you arrive at work and at home feeling energetic and high on endorphins, it saves money, and safe if you stay far away from autos and some of the idiots who drive them.

For a while I was biking to work from Norfolk to Virginia Beach, 20 miles one way. Because of the distance, I could only do it a couple of months. But I found a very pleasant bike route away from major roads. I did not hold up traffic at all, and in fact I really would rather not be biking in heavy traffic during rush hour. I think if more people biked (and did it safely) it would lower taxes in the long run, because people would be healthier and bikes require less transportation infrastructure.

Let's be clear about this: if businesses get a $5,000 tax credit, and bicyclists get a $15 a month credit....and the total required tax revenue doesn't change, then guess whose taxes will go up? Right....everyone else's....yours and mine! Virginia Beach is not a bicycle-friendly city.....in many areas, there are few sidewalks, much less bike paths. Couple this with the need of the cyclist to ride at some point on such NASCAR tracks as Virginia Beach Boulevard, Holland Road, Independence Boulevard or Laskin Road, for instance, and you have a recipe for disaster. Our accident rates would soar....and some people would find out why helmets are called "brain buckets" (makes the cleanup easier). Until we have bike paths on all major roads (which will never happen), I will not support tax credits for cyclists, or the companies that encourage them. Here's a thought....give up your over-sized trucks and SUVs, and get into compact cars. I get over 40 mpg....where's my tax credit, Terrie?

As previously reported in the Pilot, the League of American Bicyclists does not consider Virginia Beach one of its bicycle friendly communities. It gave the Beach an Honorable Mention for its apparent efforts to become one, but the city will have to actually fund and enact their citywide bicycle plan to have a shot at the bicycle friendly designation.

Of course, the name is a misnomer. Bikes are just simple machines and don't need friends. It's the human beings that ride them that could use more friends among the motorized masses (and their community planners).

Anyways, the tax credits sound like a good idea. For federal employees, there's a vaguely similar voucher program for using mass transit, but there's no provision for cyclists and the fine print is that if you participate your agency can take away your parking spot. Good to see that this state legislation at least recognizes that it's often not possible to ride every day of the month.

So more bicyclists on the roadways will help decrease gridlock? That's a laugh. Just one of these idiots is enough to slow traffic to a crawl as they selfishly block the flow of traffic. I never thought I'd see a proposed tax break I didn't like, but it's a crazy world ...