Requirements for mandatory bicycle registration in some California cities appear to be going the way of the penny farthing into near-extinction.
Long Beach is the latest city to consider abandoning its mandatory bicycle license program. Late last year San Jose ended bicycle registration, a law that had been on the books since 1974, and Los Angeles ended its program in 2009.
[Update: Feb. 9 — The Long Beach City Council approved halting the licensing program.]
The issue in Long Beach is scheduled to come up at Tuesday's City Council meeting, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram. The city calls itself the most bicycle-friendly in the US; it is listed as a bronze-level bicycle friendly community by the League of American Bicyclists.
Criticized
The city's bicycling community has criticized the program, although the registration reportedly is used by police for reuniting stolen bicycles and their owners. Out of 980 stolen bicycles recovered in 2010, 220 were returned to their owners.
Meanwhile, police also issued 1,035 citations to bicyclists riding unregistered bicycles last year. Some of those came during a critical mass ride in October where police issued tickets and confiscated as many as 40 bicycles.
One objection to the program is that the $3 licenses only are available between 8 a.m. and noon on Saturdays and Sundays at Long Beach's short-staffed fire stations.
Instead of the requiring a city registration, the city will direct bicyclists to use such programs as the National Bike Registry.
Abandoned
The San Jose City Council stopped issuing licenses last year after learning that only $636 had been collected in the sale of 22,000 bicycles in the city in a recent year, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Meanwhile, the police had never set up a license database to match recovered bicycles with their owners.
The state allows cities to issue bicycle licenses. Los Angeles and San Francisco have both abandoned their programs.
One place where bicycles must be registered is the campus of UC-Davis; a new license is $10 and a renewal is $5.
Proposals
Calls for bicycle licenses occasionally are raised elsewhere, but never gain much traction.
This year, a legislator in New Jersey who submitted a bill to require $10 bicycle licenses throughout the state withdrew it before the legislature even convened because of intense opposition.
Two years ago a call by a columnist at the Seattle Times to require an annual $25 bicycle fee to fund bike lanes and bike paths brought criticism from the Cascade Bicycle Club and bicycle lawyer-advocate Bob Mionske.
[See comments below: Hawaii is proposing an annual statewide fee.]
2 cities with fees
Colorado Springs and Honolulu both have bicycle fees.
Colorado Springs has raised some $2 million on the sale of new bicycles with a $4 excise tax in the past 20 years. When combined with matching funds, it has helped create a bicycle trail network throughout the city.
Honolulu charges a one-time fee of $15 on bicycles, and a $5 fee for transfer of ownership. The income goes into a bikeway fund that pays for bike facilities and bicycle education.
Recent Comments