Why just save money when you could earn it?

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  • June 3, 2014 at 7:22 pm #915427
    creadinger
    Participant

    Western Europe, who always seems to be ahead of the game when it comes to urban cycling and commuting is experimenting with paying people to bike to work, in an increased effort to take cars off the road. Now France is joining the game and it’s one I’d like to participate in.

    $0.34/km and my commute being 28 miles round trip…. means I could earn $7.5 or $15/commute depending on whether they pay round trip or not.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/02/us-france-bicycles-idUSKBN0ED1O120140602

    I vote we do this here.

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  • June 3, 2014 at 7:30 pm #1003225
    PeteD
    Participant

    @creadinger 87418 wrote:

    Western Europe, who always seems to be ahead of the game when it comes to urban cycling and commuting is experimenting with paying people to bike to work, in an increased effort to take cars off the road. Now France is joining the game and it’s one I’d like to participate in.

    $0.34/km and my commute being 28 miles round trip…. means I could earn $7.5 or $15/commute depending on whether they pay round trip or not.

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/02/us-france-bicycles-idUSKBN0ED1O120140602

    I vote we do this here.

    I wonder if I can leverage this income stream into something that would make moving to Bourg d’Oisans and work remotely up a hill with free wifi at a cafe.

    –Pete

    June 3, 2014 at 7:34 pm #1003228
    dasgeh
    Participant

    But we can get $20/month bike commuter benefit! Isn’t that enough? [/sarcasm]

    June 3, 2014 at 7:46 pm #1003229
    jopamora
    Participant

    @dasgeh 87423 wrote:

    But we can get $20/month bike commuter benefit! Isn’t that enough? [/sarcasm]

    Don’t get me started. Time to talk to HR about switching back to Metro benefits.

    June 3, 2014 at 8:03 pm #1003230
    creadinger
    Participant

    @dasgeh 87423 wrote:

    But we can get $20/month bike commuter benefit! Isn’t that enough? [/sarcasm]

    You only get that if you bike a minimum of 15x/month too. I don’t think I can do that at 28 miles/commute. But assuming there’s no minimum limit with the France pay scheme, I could still ride 2-3 days/week and earn a nice chunk of change to put towards bike maintenance and upgrades. It would certainly make the special glass resistant tires worth it!

    June 3, 2014 at 8:22 pm #1003232
    Terpfan
    Participant

    @creadinger 87425 wrote:

    You only get that if you bike a minimum of 15x/month too. I don’t think I can do that at 28 miles/commute. But assuming there’s no minimum limit with the France pay scheme, I could still ride 2-3 days/week and earn a nice chunk of change to put towards bike maintenance and upgrades. It would certainly make the special glass resistant tires worth it!

    28 each way? That would be a lot. I do 34-36 roundtrip daily. It’s actually really not that bad. But if it were 56, I’m not sure I could do that 15x a month either. Maybe, if I didn’t do it back-to-back.

    June 4, 2014 at 12:15 am #1003245
    peterw_diy
    Participant

    @dasgeh 87423 wrote:

    But we can get $20/month bike commuter benefit! Isn’t that enough? [/sarcasm]

    Poor you!

    I get $0 per month.

    If I took Metro, I’d get $75.

    June 4, 2014 at 2:21 am #1003250
    hozn
    Participant

    I save money on gas, but the real value is that I get to ** ride my bike to work **. Heck, I would pay $20/mo to bike to work.

    June 4, 2014 at 3:01 am #1003256
    dasgeh
    Participant

    @peterw_diy 87441 wrote:

    Poor you!

    I get $0 per month.

    If I took Metro, I’d get $75.

    I actually don’t get the bike benefit (my employer doesn’t offer it), personally. I meant as progressive Americans.

    Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

    June 4, 2014 at 10:33 am #1003259
    sjclaeys
    Participant

    I presume that the payment is taxable income, so I wonder how much is left after taxes in France?

    June 4, 2014 at 12:06 pm #1003270
    creadinger
    Participant

    @Terpfan 87427 wrote:

    28 each way? That would be a lot. I do 34-36 roundtrip daily. It’s actually really not that bad. But if it were 56, I’m not sure I could do that 15x a month either. Maybe, if I didn’t do it back-to-back.

    28 miles total. I didn’t say whether you could do 28 miles every day. I said whether I could. After 3 days of climbing the hills of Anacostia, crossing the terrible Douglass bridge twice and fighting for space on the MVT I’ve about had it, which leaves very little energy for walking the dog daily, yoga practice, doing stuff around the house, and most importantly – weekend centuries.

    June 4, 2014 at 1:12 pm #1003276
    lordofthemark
    Participant

    @dasgeh 87423 wrote:

    But we can get $20/month bike commuter benefit! Isn’t that enough? [/sarcasm]

    I find it amusing that in the current District budget discussions, some folks are opposing extending the sales tax to gym memberships and yoga classes, because, you know, why do we want to discourage people from improving their health and fitness? Meanwhile all local jurisdictions tax everything bike related, and every now and again someone brings up the licensing/registration fee idea.
    OTOH the new MoveDC plan for bike lanes and cycle tracks is simply luscious, so I won’t complain.

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