FORT COLLINS BICYCLING FAQs
Below is a list of questions about bicyling that come up a lot, or are interesting to ponder, consider or debate.
FAQs
How do I report a road hazard in Fort Collins?
What plans exist for regional trail connections?
The North Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization has a non-motorized plan that is the best resource for regional trail connectivity.
Whats the difference between “sustainable transportation”, “active transportation” and “alternative transportation”?
We think the words we use to describe the world have a profound effect on how we experience the world. When you reduce transit and bikes and walking to “alternatives”, that reinforces single occupancy automobiles as a norm.
If we want to promote healthier, safer, more affordable and inclusive transportation systems, we can’t live with that status quo. bikes and buses are not alternatives, they’re rational, responsible choices which should be funded and prioritized and engineered appropriately. “Sustainable” and “active” are just two different ways of think about how different autocentrism (prioritizing the speed and convenience of cars) is from safer, healthier, more inclusive and affordable transportation systems.
Should bicyclists pay registration fees to “pay their share” of roads?
This is a common question. Our colleague Meg Dunn of Pedal Fort Collins addressed this in some detail in a pair of blog posts. There are essentially 2 parts of the question:
Most of our city and county street and road budgets come from sales and property tax, not gas tax and registration, meaning that we’re all chipping into the pot, and it should be obvious that cars put exponentially more stress on roads than bicycles do. When you put those facts together, all other things equal, a bicycle commuter with the same size house and consumer habits as a driver is actually subsidizing the driver, not the other way around. We’re happy to pay our own way and support infrastructure that keeps everyone safe, but we can put the notion that bicyclists are tax mooches to rest.
What about licenses for cyclists?
On a practical level, there are very few to no examples of places where licensing for bicycles has had a positive impact on traffic safety. In fact, if safety is your goal, your number one priority should be making it easier for people to make choices other than single occupancy vehicles, whose crashes are the leading preventable cause of death of Americans, including children. Why would we want to add barriers to making safer healthier choices? And let’s keep in mind that in the US, we do require licenses to operate motor vehicles, and they’re still a public safety menace.