[throwaway9980]

Are bike manufacturers going to pay for bike lanes? Or is it going to be a regressive transfer?

What about Big Walking Shoe, are they going to pay for these sidewalks or are we going to continue to subsidize their profits?

[xracy]

I don't know if you've ever been to a walkable city, but they pay for themselves. Because people don't spend all of their time driving to and from the place they want to be, they get to spend extra time shopping and growing local businesses that pay taxes for infrastructure to stick around.

Car lanes are paying money for people to skip those places and only go to one place at a time without drawing them to other places in the same area. If I'm driving to the store, I'm driving... To the store. I'm not going to walk around outside of the store after I'm done. This has no benefits for adjacent businesses.

[cscurmudgeon]

Source? I can easily make the other argument.

Car lanes bring more customers from far away locations etc. etc.

[Akronymus]

> Are bike manufacturers going to pay for bike lanes? Or is it going to be a regressive transfer?

The fact that there are less cars on the road already is a HUGE benefit to them. Less cars => less parking lots and less noise pollution => less maintenance costs => savings for tax payers.

[xracy]

Also, huge one... How many cyclist -> pedestrian fatalities are there?

I would bet dollars to donuts that 99.9+% of cyclist fatalities are cars hitting cyclists. (As opposed to cyclists hitting pedestrians. If there are any driver deaths from cyclists hitting cars I will eat my shorts)

[briandear]

Do bikers pay usage taxes or registration fees?

[ghaff]

What on earth makes you think that autonomous driving that alleviates a driver from having to drive (and park) in some of the least pleasant to drive in conditions will result in fewer cars? Having to drive into the city that's about an hour away is a major consideration for me not doing it more frequently.

[UncleEntity]

> Are bike manufacturers going to pay for bike lanes?

Are bike manufacturers operating the bicycles for profit?

> What about Big Walking Shoe…

Are they operating the shoes for profit?

Or is it the citizens, taxpayers if you will, operating the shoes and bikes as part of their “social contract” with the city?

Now, are the citizens of SF owning and operating robocars as part of this social bargain or is it for-profit entities 100% doing it to extract income from the citizens?

Not that I’m saying profit as an incentive is wrong but you do see the difference in these two things, right?

[killjoywashere]

Pedestrians (aka everyone) pushed for sidewalks, long before cars. Cyclists (a much smaller voting block), pushed for bike lanes, and it took them much longer. What voting block is going to push for infrastructure improvements needed by self-driving cars?

[scottLobster]

Since money is speech, and this is SF, just a few rich VCs.

[phpisthebest]

>>Pedestrians (aka everyone)

False, everyone is not a Pedestrian, I moved into my current home specifically because there are no sidewalks (and no HOA), and I resist any movement to add them to my street.

>>What voting block is going to push for infrastructure improvements needed by self-driving cars?

People that want to use and benefit from Self Driving cars, just like people that vote for sidewalks.

I have a feeling the number of people that want the dream of being able to have a car that just drives itself is FAR FAR FAR FAR higher than the number of people that utilize sidewalks. At least for my Geographic region...

[hermannj314]

I'm pretty sure the garbage truck in a single weekly trip does more damage on my street than all the bikes and cars combined for that same period of time.

Time and weight consume road and sidewalk infrastructure.

[Akronymus]

The huge amount of cars makes it seem attractive to widen roads and such. Which, more road surface leads to more maintenance. Along with that, widening also induces more demand and such.

[marcellus23]

I don't necessarily agree with it, but it's not inane. It was the government that paid for roads and highways, after all, not Ford or GM.