Bike Registration in Vermont
 

Vermont representative Weed of Enosburg has introduced a bill (H46) that would require anyone 16 or older to register their bikes in order to ride on public roads. Does anyone know if any other state requires bike registration? If so, how the does program work?

Massachusetts used to require bike registration. The fine for not registering your bike was one dollar. It was repealed in 2008.

(The fine for jawalking is also one dollar, but that hasn't been repealed.)

-mr. bill

If there is registration, it is usually city by city... which is crazy, if one happens to cross a few cities in your day to day rides.

Simply ask your legislators how much money they are willing to spend forcing cyclist to register their bicycles.

Those that have registrations, have found that it cost the government more money than the registration fee brought in. Thus most governments ignore the registration by not enforcing it or they repeal the law.

NJ is one of the most recent legislatures that introduced a bill and the sponsor quickly dropped it with major push back.

Los Angeles ignored their registration for a long time and cyclist could not go to their local police station, as required to register their bicycles. I think LA recently repealed their law.

I believe Long Beach still has a bike registration. Cops used it to confiscate the bicycles of critical mass riders.



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No country in the world has bicycle registration for the purposes of providing a permit to ride on the roads.
Every country that has previously had bicycle registration for this purpose has abandoned it due to the cost and impracticability that such a system brings. Switzerland had it in order to attach a form of insurance for cyclists, but this was abandoned.
Nazi Germany had such a system whch was limited to the Jewish population.
Hawaii and Japan had a system but this was to assist in returning lost and stolen bicycles to their owners.
Various states of Australia has investigated it multiple times over the past few years and at each investigation found that there would be no public benefit, and considerable public cost.

Harare, Zimbabwe is currently trialing it though.

This is one of those "bright" ideas that people come up with from time to time. The reality is that it won't ever pass. There's no benefit, and enforcement is too problematic to be worth the effort. Dumb ideas like this are especially problematic in states like Vermont with plenty of bicycle tourism.

If they ever passed something like that were I'm from I would be a pain. I would be calling for every pot holes where I ride, debris on the side of the road or anything else that is detrimental to cycling. If I have to pay then I want something from it also.

City of Charleston has had bike registration for a few years. Mixed results in my opinion. Makes it easier to Charleston police to write a ticket when your bike is parked illegally.

Hawaii has it (one time registration), mainly enforced by requiring all retail shops to register at time of sale. But this year they started annual registration of mopeds and AFAICT, by the law "e-bikes" are classed as mopeds so in theory also have to get annual registration (mopeds also have to get annual safety inspection too now).

scott s.
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In my county, if it is a requirement I haven't heard about it. So, I went and got my bike registered, back in 2007, when I moved back to the county.

When I was living in Duluth(Minnesota;2002-2007), there was no requirement.

When I lived in Brattleboro(Vermont; 1978-80, 82-84). They didn't have a registration program.

But isn't Hawaii's registration scheme to assist with the return of lost and stolen bicycles rather than providing a permit to ride a bicycle on a public road?

Bicycle License

Voluntary, mostly for return of stolen bikes

I know you've been to Davis. The university has a bicycle license requirement but the city of Davis does not. One can literally cross the line of required/not required dozens of time per day.

In fairness, once upon a time there were tens of thousands of bikes on campus and a significant number of them got abandoned at some point in time. The license requirement was so the campus knew which ones they could impound in order to free up needed bike parking spots. Even that wasn't enough, so they would occasionally leave notes on bikes that had valid licenses that stated the bike would be impounded if not moved within a week. After the bikes became scarcer and parking was no longer a problem (in fact the campus has removed most of its bike parking) they chose to leave the license requirement in place. I'm not sure why.

Hawaii is a bike registration, not a license. Same with what most here are talking about in this thread, registration not license.

The claim is that it is to return lost/stolen bikes, not really. Few are ever returned. It is a tax more than anything else and the only reason that it takes in more money than it cost, is they force bike shops to register the new bikes, collect the money and then the bike shop has to turn the money over to the county. Already owned bikes have to go down to a city office to register bikes they moved to Hawaii with; mostly hitting up military members with an extra tax.

Cops also use it against the owner for identification if you ever want to complain about them or motorist. Since cyclist do not have to carry ID cards, the registration # is a quick alternate for ID.

Yes, that is what I am saying.
It registers your bicycle to increase the likelihood of it being returned to you should it be lost or stolen (as opposed to providing you with a permit to use your bicycle on a public road).
In effect though you are saying that this can also be used somehow to fine you?
We dont have that in Australia or anywhere else I am aware of in the world.
I dont get the point of that part TBH. In NSW, $1.5million in cyclist fines were levied in 6 months without any need for a registration/permit/licence.

Here in Rochester MN the police have a bicycle registration system. Couple of points.

It is voluntary
It is free
It is done online by the owner

Basically, the cops say they want a database to use in trying to return bikes that have come in to their possession.

If you are in possession of a bike without registration (evidenced by a sticker on the seat tube) it can be seized. There is a provision for transferring registration on sale. TBH, I don't know if it is legal to sell a bike without registration. You have 10 days after seizure to register your bike and pay a $25 penalty or the police can auction it off.

scott s.
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That is about as stupid a law as MHL.
It is a bike, not a lethal weapon.

Do these legislators want more cars on the road? Seizing bicycles will increase drivership, congestion and their associated fatalities and road maintenance.

I thought the US, in general, wanted less government intervention and regulations.

Just what we need more rules and regulations

And on top of that, when several cyclist with the Hawaii Bicycle League (HBL) met with the head of the Honolulu Police Department (HPD) bicycle patrol force, he proudly declared how the bicycle force routinely went out to confiscate bicycles that were not registered.

When asked if they confiscated cars and trucks that were not registered, his answer was NO.
When asked if they confiscated mopeds that had the very same registration sticker and process, that were not registered, his answer was NO.
He could not answer the "Why not?"

Showed how far out of step all of HPD is with cyclist when the bicycle force does not get it. Most of the bicycle force can barely ride and only use bicycles in parks.

Many just want cyclist off the road and out of their speeding ways.
Citizens overall want less government intervention and regulations, politicians overall want more.

Nationally, as of Saturday, USA regulations are dying on a daily basis.

So what happens if I come to Hawaii on holiday and want to bring my bike?
Let's say only a couple of days stop over? Before I go riding I need to find a police station and register my bike?

From the link:

Wouldn't a sticker be easy to remove by a bike thief?

Back when I worked in law enforcement my PD offered bike registration which was totally voluntary & free, basically consisted of recording the s/n of the bike in case it was ever stolen, or engraving a number into the bottom bracket if for some reason there wasn't a serial number.

Likely depends on if they have buddies in the oil companies.

That's just what a lot of politicians want you to think, while they pass laws restricting this or that.