Future residents of Gainesville may have to leap over a few hurdles before hopping on a bicycle.
The City of Gainesville Public Safety Commission discussed a potential bicycle registration program on Monday that would mandate local cyclists to register their bicycles and pay a fee.
The proposal has generated both support and criticism.
Yvonne Hinson-Rawls, a District 1 commissioner who brought the proposal to attention, believes it would be a positive move for the city.
“I’m trying to do what I think is good for everybody,” she said. “Every mode of transportation needs its own revenue source.”
Hinson-Rawls said she supports the bicycle registration program because she believes it will provide a system of guaranteeing revenue to support the city’s bicycle infrastructure, help educate citizens on how to ride safely when sharing the road with automobiles and provide a greater means of security in creating a system to help track down lost and stolen bicycles.
She said an enforced registration program would also help identify a growing number of criminals who use bicycles when committing crimes.
Other committee members disagree with Hinson-Rawls.
“I think the challenge just on enforcement makes it impractical,” said Helen Warren, Commissioner At-Large, who chaired the Public Safety Commission meeting.
Warren said she believes a fee would deter Gainesville residents from registering their bicycles.
The committee also discussed problems with bicycle commuters disobeying traffic rules, which creates safety concerns for motor vehicle drivers and pedestrians.
Warren believes that this issue will open a discussion with the public on bicycle safety.
“I would like to see more public education about what are the rules of the road when you are on a bike,” she said.
Craig Carter, a District 3 commissioner, also disagrees with an enforced registration system.
“I’m personally not in favor of putting any more fees on our citizens or any more obligations on our law enforcement,” he said.
He said that if citizens were required to register their bicycles, it would create a problem for out-of-town visitors to Gainesville with bicycles if they were apprehended by local law enforcement.
James Thompson, advocacy director for the Gainesville Cycling Club, attended the committee meeting to see where the discussion would go.
Thompson said he believes required registration fees are a waste of time for the city to pursue.
When discussion was open to the public during the meeting, he said that several of the cities that have enacted a similar program didn’t find it to be a productive measure.
“The evidence is pretty conclusive that this practice has never generated any money for any municipality,” he said.
The committee decided to forward the topic to full commission for discussion.
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 7/29/2014 under the headline "City talks bicycle registration"]
