License plate for bikes



Corzhens

Well-Known Member
May 26, 2015
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Our town has an ongoing consultation on the proposed ordinance to require bicycles to sport a license plate similar to motorcycles. Some cities have done that before and pedicabs have that but mainly because it is for business or employment. But for personal use of a bicycle it is argued that requiring a license plate is preposterous and just an added expense to the biker. You just cannot please everyone.
 
It's a matter of cost vs benefit and it isn't really practical to require license plates for bicycles. Bicycles are really cheap compared to motorcycles or cars, so anyone can have it and some people even have multiple bicycles. So there can be potentially a lot of bicycles which you have to set up a system for registration and tracking the plates, which costs a lot of money for the government with little benefit - rarely does bicycles cause severe injury to pedestrians and they can be easily apprehended by police vehicles if they try to bike away.
 
I definitely agree to the license plate. Although it's not really necessary to have that, but the stolen bike right now is very alarming and the owner needs the protection right now, it's hard to recognize the bike without the plate.
 
The cost of getting a bike license plate, and paying annual renewal fees may discourage people from riding at a time when we need more people on bikes and less in cars. It wouldn't prevent theft, and a thief would simply remove the plate. A lot of cyclists, here, would never accept such a thing, and cops wouldn't have time to stop every bike without a license plate.

My two bikes are registered with the local police, and they have stickers on the seat tubes, but like the registering officer said, a thief will just remove the sticker.
 
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We need more people out of cars and riding bikes instead,especially in the city. The beauty of bicycles is their simplicity, hop on and ride. Anything that over complicates this should be resisted. License plates are a ridiculous idea that serves no practical purpose.
I would refuse to put a registration plate on my bikes, the same way I would refuse to wear a helmet if it was made compulsory. Cycling is freedom and needs to be encouraged, not over regulated.
 
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I really don't think a bike needs to have a plate, it sounds absurd to me. However, I do think, at least in America, that bikes should be charged a one time registration fee that cost 5% of the value of the bike for all bikes including kids bikes, this money would be used to increase funding for bike paths, lanes and trails, plus as an added bonus theft protection that would enable the bike to recovered and returned by searching the serial number on the computer and finding the owner. A kid's $50 Walmart bike would only cost the parents another $2.50, they won't even blink at that, while an adult buying the average bike costing $400 is only going to spend $20, again nothing; while of course a high price bike that cost say $7,000 will cost the buyer an additional $350 won't scream too much because they can afford a $7,000 bike. If they had that active when I bought my Lynskey bike for $2,800 in 2013, my registration cost would have only been $140 which for the benefit of getting some sort of theft protection would have been worth it to me. A decent mid level bike for say $1,500 would only cost an additional $75, again not bad considering the benefits. People spend on average $92 a MONTH at Starbucks! that doesn't even include all the fast food **** people buy each month that averages another $100 a month. My god for someone who goes to Starbucks and fast food to cry about paying 5% more for a bike is just insane when they're paying more than that for coffee and **** a month!
 
... I do think, at least in America, that bikes should be charged a one time registration fee that cost 5% of the value of the bike for all bikes including kids bikes, this money would be used to increase funding for bike paths, lanes and trails,...
Provided the money went to that those purposes and only those purposes. Some years ago the government imposed a tax on off highway motorcycles to benefit the riders. Gradually, the government took the money and used it for things that had nothing to do with off highway riding. The American Motorcyclist Association has fought to get the money back that was stolen.
 
Provided the money went to that those purposes and only those purposes. Some years ago the government imposed a tax on off highway motorcycles to benefit the riders. Gradually, the government took the money and used it for things that had nothing to do with off highway riding. The American Motorcyclist Association has fought to get the money back that was stolen.

That is always an issue with ANY tax collected for ANY reason, there is no safe guards on that stuff.