General Cycling Discussion - Bicycle Registration...?

So whats going on with bicycles were I live you do not have to register your bicycle...maybe we need a multi purpose plan like having all bicycles in differant paint jobs or one color for every year...oh I suppose that wouldn't work just imagine having every new bicycle in your town the same color...I guess what I'm getting at is a fast way for police to Identify bicycles and there year at a glance...any feed back on this one.You can't hold little kids to a drivers license and they drive there bicycles to school?:(

There is a global bicycle registeration, I can't remember the link off-hand. Basicaly it is used to identify your bike by serial number. I don't think it would be feasible to make it recognized by glance by police officers. They can't even do cars that way now. I've seen a few old bikes with license plate things from Longbeach police dept but the plates had a year like 1970 though.

Give it up I'd rather not find my stolen bike than have one more government intrusion.

Joe

Our old State Bike Advisory Committee did a bit of research on bike registrations at the behest of the motoring community who used that old and discredited argument that cyclists don't pay to use the roads. On a space pro-rata basis (ie, bikes take up such a fraction of space compared with motor vehicles), the revenue would fall far short of the admin costs. And what would you do with the revenue? I think some would say spend it on bike paths... which sort of defeats the purpose of a road registration system for bikes. Anyway, our car owners pay something like a AUD$45-a-year motor vehicle tax, plus another AUD$50 for registration. That doesn't buy much road space in my book.

However, I have spoken to Swiss people who visit, and some seem to like the idea of the rego system they have back home. You get a sticker to go on the bike's chainstay. I don't know what the motivation for the scheme is, though.

If following up after theft is an issue, then really, the owner should have the registration numbers of his/her bikes recorded anyway to pass on to the authorities. If you don't know your bike has been stolen there might be a problem somewhere...

R

I think bicycles should be registered effectively and be able to identify all parts has well with a reg. number from manufactuer...so when you buy a new bicycle the dealer would automatically send in reg. to police...your bicycle would automatically be reistered.

The police in my city don’t make an effort to find the owners, or the thieves for that matter, of stolen bicycles. Once a year they hold an auction and sell off about 700 recovered bikes and I think, they use the money for beer or some other good cause. They do have a registration scheme, but they charge you $5.00. The police in my city are more like the Keystone Cops in that they would rather run around like clowns, than try to prevent theft.

Originally posted by Rowan
Our old State Bike Advisory Committee did a bit of research on bike registrations at the behest of the motoring community who used that old and discredited argument that cyclists don't pay to use the roads. On a space pro-rata basis (ie, bikes take up such a fraction of space compared with motor vehicles), the revenue would fall far short of the admin costs. And what would you do with the revenue? I think some would say spend it on bike paths... which sort of defeats the purpose of a road registration system for bikes. Anyway, our car owners pay something like a AUD$45-a-year motor vehicle tax, plus another AUD$50 for registration. That doesn't buy much road space in my book.


Nor does it cover their subsidised fuel, but I digress.

This is a tired old argument that's been run so many times it's just a joke. As I've said many times before, I'd be happy to pay on a pro-rata basis for the space my bike takes up on the road and the pressure it puts on the maintenance of that road. However, if this amount was pro-rata'd against what cars pay for the same thing, any bicycle registration system would almost certainly run at a loss. The question is whether the general public would be prepared to pay for such a loss - my feeling is that they would not.


Originally posted by Rowan

However, I have spoken to Swiss people who visit, and some seem to like the idea of the rego system they have back home. You get a sticker to go on the bike's chainstay. I don't know what the motivation for the scheme is, though.

I imagine such a sticker could be easily be removed by a professional thief - or even a not so professional one, so I don't know that it would really help all that much.


Originally posted by Rowan
If following up after theft is an issue, then really, the owner should have the registration numbers of his/her bikes recorded anyway to pass on to the authorities. If you don't know your bike has been stolen there might be a problem somewhere...

I recorded the serial # of my bike when I purchased it a couple of weeks ago (to replace the stolen one). However, it was a pretty pointless action. After all, if this one does get stolen, it's unlikely to even turn up in this state, so I don't see how I'm going to find it.

https://merchant.calweb.com/nbr/cgi-bin/display_wa.cgi?waid=8019734644WA

The National Bike Registry. I haven't done it yet but have been considering it.

-Rob

I can see it won't work everyboby would have to agree to a plan down the road for example all the new bicycle next year would have a certain frame design every manufacturer would have to agree to that that way we know that this certain frame design for example means a certain year
thats the only way it would work cause numbers can be filed colors can be changed but you can't change your frame design:)