Cylists to pay tax! You people are evidently ignorant of the damage cars are doing to the environment (NOx) Not to mention the rising obesity and diabetes prevalence , coupled with the future health effects of climate change, which will cost the NHS £100,000,000's! Dangerous? look to Asia's example!

Mike, Bromsgrove, England

When drivers are taxed on their carbon emissions as well as their petrol consumption, perhaps they will see the light.

Richard Morris, Sydney, Australia

I do believe that the time has come to licence all cycles. They use up a large section of the road. Money has, and is being spent on cycleways. Why should I as a motorist pay for these people. All cyclists should be insured, against accidents etc.

victor arram, westcliff,

I would like to get back on my bike but it is just too dangerous.

We don't need multi million pound schemes we just need a safe place to ride but hold on, they all ready exist, they're called pavements and every road has two, why can't cyclists be allowed to use one of them, nobody else does?

richard james, london,

As a cyclist I think that this is a good step in the right direction and welcome any improvements to making cycle routes safer. However motorists need to be educated in passing cyclists safely as far too many speed past dangerously close to the bike. Buses are also a culprit of this.

S, Swansea,

It is another example of rip off Britain when they are talking about charging a £10 fee to register for the 'free' bike city rental system. In Austria it costs just €1 and is very popular with residents and tourists. We also have lots of cycle lanes.

Reg - ex pat, Vienna, Austria

And what will be done for pedestrians? Cyclists are a menace to people using the pavement and pedestrian crossings - cyclists must learn that if they wish to travel quickly, on the road, they obey the rules of the road. If they wish to use the pavement, like everyone else they must walk.

John Scott, London,

is this the government's way of saying: "look, people, we've failed miserably to provide decent public transport, you're on your own now. get pedalling."?
me, i take a bus to work, if i'm in no hurry, i walk, and i cycle for fun - somewhere nice, in good weather, in good company.

Marco, Kraków, Polska

If you buy your mountain bike with the 21 gears, as recommended, make sure you fit road tyres,unless you want the extra effort involved with nobbly ones for exercise. And to do it properly, which they wont, they will have to knock down one side of practically every street in the land to make room.

alan, warks, uk

A far better way of spending £100 million of tax payers money is to import 6 million bicycles from China at £33.33 a bike and let 6 million people get one for 1/2 price at £16.66.
THEN you'll have a demand for bike routes which the local councils can fund by charging an extra few quid a year.

David Diggins, Derby., England.

Sounds a great idea, but as it is a government intiative, it will be around 2099 when it gets implemented (cross rail has taken 167 years and counting to get off the blocks).

By the way, as a cyclist, I pay income tax and council tax that funds roads, irrisective of whether I drive a car on them.

Peter, London,

Many people are put off cycling because they think it will be too hard, especially hills. Buy a lightweight mountain bike with 21 gears and you can ride up a one in five like a walk in the park!

J Emerson, Warwickshire,

Don't worry, it'll probably never happen.
Last week it they announced "Free swimming for all".
My local authority (and most others) promptly denied it and carried on as usual.

JJ, Southampton, UK

Bring back the guards van on trains. The Governments record on ensuring room on trains for cyclists is deplorable.

Charles Bockett-Pugh, Sandhurst,

Getting us on bikes is great ; doing so without burdens of insurance and regulation is excellent, but, without complete and dedicated cycle paths, it's close to government policy sending people to their deaths or serious injury. Risking life for whimsical purpose is daft. City road cycling is lethal

peter, London, England

"Cyclists are a law unto themselves-disregarding the road laws totally" - As a cyclist I agree there are a number of cyclists that don't completely obey the road laws, however if you were to take a guess at the percentage of drivers that stick to 30mph in a 30mph zone? lets share the road.

Ben Davies, London, England

Secondly, I would happily exchange paying cycling campaign groups and into paying a tax if it was to have a positive outcome. Can councils please stop spending money on placing cycle lanes on footpaths!!!! lets share the road! 20mph zones and not trying to cram two lanes of traffic on narrow roads!

Ben Davies, London, England

Cyclists are a law unto themselves-disregarding the road laws totally, and riding dangerously. It is about time each cycle is registered, has a road fund license, actually help maintain the roads and cycle tracks they use and have to carry insurance. Cyclists should have to abide by the highway code

Chris, Birmingham,

All very sound public policy on a number of key fronts - should be more of it around the globe

Alex Unwin, Sydney , Australia

Knock down a few of these hills in Yorkshire and I might give it a go. Isnt it about time cyclists paid road tax and had insurance instead of relying on motorists to pay all the bills?

Cromwell, Leeds, England

I like the idea but it would be nice to some kind of scheme in London as I think it's it's too dangerous cycling here and London could certainly do with less cars.

Veronica, London,

It is hard to get Britain on two wheels when no funding is allocated to cites in Scotland. Aberdeen could certainly do with some major cycling infrastructure.

Nimesh, Aberdeen, guess

This is a pretty foolish story. All it says is that politicians have figured out that bicycles are good for a photo-op and yet another bit of dosh sloshed to your local council.

We seem to have gone from bike-hostile to bike-corrupt without ever going through the stage of people riding bikes.

jon livesey, Sunnyvale, CA/USA