Hope for the Bicycle Commuter Act

The Bicycle Commuter Act, or language similar to it, has been included in the Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Act of 2007 that has been approved by the House Ways and Means Committee.

This bill passed out of committee 24-16 and is now headed for a floor vote.

From the markup summary:

Fringe benefit for bicycle commuters. The bill allows employers to provide employees that commute to work using a bicycle limited fringe benefits to offset the costs of such commuting (e.g., bicycle storage). This proposal is estimated to cost $10 million over 10 years.

It's probably no coincidence that Earl Blumenauer serves on that committee. [I heard a rumor that he might be running for Senate soon BTW. Addendum: he's not]. More specifically,

The Bicycle Commuter Benefits Act, would change the tax code to allow employers to offer a tax-exempt transportation benefit for bike commuters. Instead of Metro cards, bikers could set aside money to defray the costs of bike maintenance, locker rentals or safety equipment.

As commuterpage points out, it still doesn't place bike commuters on equal footing with transit users.

[The] tax free benefit of up to $20 a month for persons commuting by bike. Yes, this is much less than the $110 transit and vanpool benefit and way less than the $215 parking benefit. But those that have been working on this issue for years and years say it is an important foothold in the tax code and that parity can come after that.

Rome wasn't built in a day I guess. From the Politico article (which I recommend)

Getting bike-friendly legislation passed is difficult. Bikes are often overlooked in favor of more technologically advanced solutions like hybrids and biofuels.

"We cover lots of different issues, but we are not the big, sexy solution to any one of them individually," Clarke said.

Comments

[Grendel]

Biofuels are technologically advanced? How long have people been making alcohol from grains? I wonder how long till people notice how much the cost of staple foods is going up because grain production is being redirected towards methanol production? Two years ago a bushel of corn was getting $1.70 on the markets, now it is getting over $5.00.

[Murph]

This Bicycle Commuting Act is a great start. Once in place, it will be possible to up the $ amount. It makes perfect sense that we should be providing tax incentives for people to commute by bike, rather than driving and parking at work.