cycling

@ajsadauskas@aus.social

@ajsadauskas From The Guardian:

"SUVs accounted for more than 50% of new vehicles sold in Australia last year, a share which has almost doubled over the past decade. The uptick has prompted calls to tackle the trend by limiting tax incentives, building bus lane-style narrow lanes and more parking spots exclusively for small cars.

"The transport and cities director at the Grattan Institute, Marion Terrill, said tax rules for businesses and employees were subsidising the costs of buying a car and many saw this as an opportunity to upgrade.

"Terrill points to two tax incentives that she believes are behind the surge in sales of larger vehicles: the instant asset write-off for businesses, and the car concession in the fringe benefits tax."

I know tax incentives that favour car ownership over public transport is a topic that @danielbowen has spoken about a lot in the past.

It's time for some serious tax reforms on this front!

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/mar/23/tax-perks-driving-surge-in-number-of-suvs-and-larger-vehicles-on-australian-roads-experts-say

@defilmendefietser@mastodon.nl

In January, Amsterdam opened the first underwater bike parking facility of the world, right in front of the central station.

It offers space to 7,000 bikes, including some 700 rental bikes.

The parking is a true engineering piece of art. The inside also looks like art, with it's pillars and several artworks.

The parking has a underground connection to the metro hal and Central Station, so cyclists can easily walk to and from public transport.

There are some 700 yellow-blue OV-rental bikes in the bike parking.
One of the paths inside the bike parking, with two-tiered bike racks on both sides. The racks are full of bikes.
The entrance of the underwater bicycle shed. Cyclists can enter and leave the parking facility via treadmills, there is also a staircase in the middle. Next to the entrance is the water, with dockings for the tour boats in the background.

Inside the underwater bike parking facility. On both sides of the central passage are pillars with row numbers on them. Behind the pillars, the rows with two-tiered bike racks begin. An information display hangs from the ceiling.