Right: Cycling is heavily promoted as a healthy family activity and critics of registration say that families with several children, each with his or her own bike, would incur extra - and unfair - expense. Further implications
In the short term it seems unlikely that governments will require bicycles to be registered or cyclists to be licensed. Many countries are seeking to increase the number of people who regularly use bicycles, both recreationally and as a means of transport.For example, in Britain, 'Cycle to Work' is a government tax incentive encouraging employees to bike to work, reduce their engine pollution and improve their health. It has tax advantages for both the cyclist and their employer and either means the cyclist gets a bike free or through a salary-sacrifice repayment scheme.
In Victoria, the Government has recently committed to spending $115 million to improve bicycle- related infrastructure and fund bicycle education and safety programs.
Increasing the costs associated with cycling by requiring registration and licensing would act as a disincentive to potential cyclists. However, as bicycle promotion strategies take effect and the number of cyclists using the roads increases, then the need for regulation is likely to become greater. The rising cost of petrol, alone, is likely to cause a dramatic increase in the use of bicycles.
Once governments are no longer worried about having to woo their citizens onto bicycles, then it is probable that they will begin to look at what additional regulation would be useful.
Registration appears a likely medium term measure. This would probably not be for revenue-raising. Registering a bike and requiring the rider to wear a registration number is a simple way to make bicyclists less anonymous and hold them accountable for any breach of road laws they commit. Cyclists who plan to make regular use of roads, for example, by cycling to work, may also be required to take training and be licensed, for their safety and that of other road users.
These initiatives are likely to occur once governments and road authorities judge that bicycle use has reached a critical mass. Greater numbers of bike riders makes regulation more necessary and removes governments' concern about discouraging cyclists.