themp

Just do not understand the need for this and the added policing this requires for law enforcement. And it seems you will get a plate to attach to your bicycle. For me I would just carry the registration card and forgo the plate.

https://trackbill.com/bill/north-car...ycles/1701849/

Ogsarg

Fees.–The annual bicycle registration fee shall beten dollars ($10.00).The fees shall 11be used by the Department of Transportation for bicycle safety related projects, including bicycle 12lanes, signage, safety education, and bicycle helmet grants forminors

At least they are saying they will use the income for bike related use.....or at least what they don't spend on studies and consultants.

Iride01 

Will the cops in NC be stalking all the cycling events that take place on the roads and ticket all of us from out of state?

sdmc530

The penalty is $25? This seems like a bad way to create funds for what they should be funding already.

ridelikeaturtle

Collecting the fees and maintaining the records will cost more than the fees, nevermind the cost to enforce the rule. This'd be one of those things where the po-po should speak up and say this is impossible, don't pass this crap bc we're not gonna enforce it.

I'd be curious to hear how much revenue they expect to generate with this.

fietsbob

Oregon was $15, one time Point of Purchase, New, ..and exempted small wheel bikes..

themp

On all the local stations tonight and the phrase the announcers are all using is: "Pay to Pedal"

TimothyH

The bill's sponsor is Representative Jeffrey Elmore - 94th district, Wilkes and Alexander Counties.

NC House Representative Jeffrey Elmore

Work to vote him out of office.

Gresp15C

At least this will permanently lay to rest the claim that cyclists aren't paying to use the roads.

Also, what about "read my lips, no new taxes?"

livedarklions

They had this in Minneapolis when I was growing up. I never complied with it even though the cops would occasionally block the road and confiscate unlicensed bikes from under you. You could spot the roadblocks a block or two away. I once saw it a bit late and ducked into an alleyway about a quarter block short of the roadblock. A cop was looking right at me and looked like he was going to yell at me to stop, but his expression quickly turned to "why bother?" and he didn't say anything.

Everywhere in the US that has done this as anything more than a glorified sales tax on new bikes has found it to be a big money loser. Enforcement is damn near impossible.

cyccommute 

No, bicycles with wheels smaller than 26" are exempted. Think about that for a while. The "wheel" of a bicycle is the metal bits. A 622mm rim is 24.5" in diameter which clearly puts it below the requirement.

As noted above, it's also a utter failure. As of December 2018, it brought in a whopping $1 million. It was projected to bring in $2 million which isn't anything to crow about either. A bike lane costs around $130,000 per mile so Oregon will get a massive 9 miles of bike lane.

A multiuser separated bike path (11 feet wide) costs around $500,000 per mile. So they can squeeze out just shy of 2 miles of MUP. North Carolina isn't going to get any better deal.

Caliper

Should get rid of it for cars as well. But, Governments are always looking for another revenue stream.

It will depend how "wheel" is defined in law, not how cyclists refer to things. In automotive nomenclature, a wheel is a rim+tire so the law may see it the same way for bicycles.

Lemond1985

Laws like this, in the right hands, could put a huge dent in the bike theft problem, by keeping track of bike via serial numbers or unique undetectable markings, such as Smart Water technology:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SmartWater

I personally have had 5 bikes stolen from me over the years, but I wouldn't even want most of those bikes back at this point. The burden of having to pay license fees, deal with bureaucrats, and update registration tags far outweighs any benefit I would gain by getting my old BMX bike back 40 years later. California tried this in the 1960's and 70's, and it became a joke at some point. The bike tag laws still may be on the books for all I know, but they're definitely not enforced. I do see the old tags occasionally on used bikes from the era, they're a nice bit of nostalgia, for something I hope never makes a comeback.

Hokiedad4

They'll collect $10 per bike and it will cost $15/bike to administer the program.

BlazingPedals

These schemes pop up every few years and never make it to law because saner heads do the math and discover that the break-even point would be somewhere north of $50 per bike per year just to support the bureaucracy necessary.

themp

I hope you are right on this. The bill has not passed yet, so crossing my fingers it will not make it....

Doctor Morbius

First registration, then confiscation! As a citizen of these United States, I have a Constitutional right to bear bikes!

Flip Flop Rider

annual fees for owing bikes? sounds about as ridiculous as car inspection fees which NC has also, and any station can hold your vehicle until it is said to be compliant (even if it looks fine to you)

77 toll lane is coming soon too

​​​​​​​lots of fees and regulations living in NC, left there many years ago

drlogik 

I live in North Carolina. I can tell you this, they need to start ticketing red light runners before they start looking at bike registration.

It is absolutely disgusting how many people flagrantly run red lights here. It is a relatively new phenomenon too. We didn't see this 20 years ago and it wasn't too bad even just 10 years ago. What has changed is the very rapid population explosion from outside. I guess those people brought their red light running (and impatience) with them.

Funny though, we moved out to Arizona in 2011 and moved back to NC in 2016 and we noticed the difference. Arizona on the other hand is a bike heaven, truly! Well, save for the 110+ degree weather in the summer....

It's a driving heaven too! People out there are far more patient and considerate both to other motorists and cyclists. The cultural difference in motorist behavior hit me right away the first day. In the five years I lived out there I may have been honked at once...and, it was probably my fault.

The cycling community here in NC is probably none too happy about this and this is the first I've heard about it. Sad huh?

Sy Reene

Good to hear about AZ. My kid's entering UA in the fall, and am planning the Tour de Tucson as a visiting weekend.

drlogik 

Sy Reene,

UA is a great school! My son is at ASU...wish he would have gone to UA. I'm not familiar with cycling around Tucson but if it's anything like the Phoenix/ Scottsdale metro area you'll probably love it.

It is interesting that long-time Arizonans think motorists are terrible and terrible to cyclists. Well, compared to North Carolina, Arizona is a bikers dream...motor cycle bikers too.

sdmc530

this is just to run the program. think about the enforcement side. Ticket is $25. That is peanuts in judicial system right. they will waste more money and time trying to collect that petty offence fine that has no bearing to a persons record. AND if they do collect the 25 bones not one dime of that will actually go towards the program the 10 was made for. the courts get the 25 for filing/fees and such. This is a pretty poorly planned idea to me.

will this require you to carry a ID? Can't do that....what about a kid riding with friends? Are they going to ticket a 12 year old? this idea is just mind boggling at this level. If they fee a new bike that is one thing but this route is really silly.

This guy is very pro education if you look at his records, bills, votes and such. I am guessing he is only working for his education croneys and lining his own pockets....seems like a "winner"

TimothyH

Write your NC rep and clearly state that if they vote for this bill or support it in any way, you will give $100 to their opponent in the next election and work tirelessly to make sure they are not reelected.

That's the only thing politicians understand.

A written letter is worth about 20 emails so write it, sign it, stamp it and drop it at the post office.


-Tim-

Teamprovicycle

they can pry my saddle from my cold dead butt cheeks !!!!

jon c. 

As a UA grad, I'd agree. It was a great city for riding when I was there, but that was 35 years ago. More infrastructure now, but more people as well. One thing I liked was that with the streets largely on a grid pattern, there were many options to get from one place to another so you could always pick a route with less traffic during peak travel times.