London Banter - View Single Post - Final design for the "New Bus for London" (aka BorisBus / newRoutemaster) unveiled

Mike Bristow · May 18th 10, 05:09 PM posted to uk.transport.london

In article ,
d wrote:
On Tue, 18 May 2010 16:26:37 +0100
Mike Bristow wrote:
In article ,
d wrote:
Except they're not. Everyone who uses the roads (apart from lycra louts)
pays road tax.

Cyclists pay the same VED (not road tax) as all other band A vehicles.

What do you think an "Âexcise duty" is? Its a tax.

Band A vehicles still have to have a valid a tax disc. Do bicycles?

What do you think the V stands for? (It's not "Road"). Still,
it's a minor (and rather pedantic) point that I made.

The substantive point - about bikes being band-a vehicles - remains
true (bikes also do a tiny amount of damage to roads compared to
cars, which is another distinguising feature).

Given that all push-bikes are Band-A it seems like a waste of tax
money to issue them all a tax disc. OTOH, Band-A motor-vehicles
are difficult to distinguish from Band-B ones, so it's probably
cheaper to issue disc to them for £0, than deal with the appeals
when someone driving a Band-A car gets a ticket from someone who
thinks it's a Band-B one.

Ergo we all have equal rights on them.

Paying VED is not the source of your rights to use the road.

Correct, vehicles also have to be insuranced and have a valid MOT. Do bicycles?

No.

Those aren't the source of your right to use the road, either,
seeing as your right to use roads and other public rights of way
pre-date the external combustion engine.

Cheers,

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