Changes to Madison’s Bike Registration Program?

(1) Registration and Licensing of Bicycles . No person shall operate a bicycle upon any public way within the City of Madison unless said bicycle shall have been properly registered by the City of Madison as hereinafter provided, or shall have a valid current registration in another municipality.

(2) Registration Form . Every owner or operator of any bicycle within the City of Madison shall, within ten (10) days of the acquisition of such bicycle or from establishing a residence in the City, file with the Director of Transportation or her/his designee a complete description including make, model, color, serial number and additional information as required and name and address of purchaser of such bicycle, upon a form to be provided for that purpose. The registrar shall verify serial number and name and address. Such registration shall be serially numbered and kept on file by the Department of Transportation in its office as a public record. The registration shall be cross-referenced so that a bicycle can be identified by all of the following methods:

(a) Bicycle serial number.

(b) Registration sticker or decal number.

(c) Name of owner.

(d) Any bicycle purchased from a bicycle dealer within the City of Madison after the effective date of this ordinance shall be registered by the dealer. The dealer, at the time of sale, shall require the buyer to complete an application for registration, collect the required fee, and mail the application and fee to the Director of Transportation or her/his designee no later than two (2) weeks after the date of sale. When a bicycle dealer sells a bicycle to a person from another city, town, or village who wishes to register that bicycle in her or his home city, town, or village, the dealer shall, at the time of sale, complete an application for registration and indicate on the application that the bicycle is to be registered in another city, town, or village. All bicycle dealers shall supply registration information to the City on all bicycles sold or transferred. Dealers may retain one dollar ($1) from the sale of each registration to cover the costs of administration of the registration program.

(e) The University of Wisconsin-Madison shall actively promote bicycle registration through both educational and enforcement programs. The UW-Madison or its representatives may complete applications for bicycle registration and collect the required fee. The UW-Madison or its designated representative shall mail the completed applications and collected fees to the Director of Transportation no later than two weeks after completion of each application. The UW-Madison may retain one-half of each registration fee collected to cover the costs of the registration program. (Sec. 12.78(2) Am. by Ord. 11,917, 8-18-97)

(3) Sticker or Decal . Immediately upon the registration of a bicycle, the registrar shall issue to the owner of such bicycle a serially numbered sticker or decal to indicate the period of registration. Such sticker or decal shall be affixed to the bicycle frame so that it is plainly visible and shall be kept reasonably clean at all times. It shall thereafter remain affixed to such bicycle until the expiration or the cancellation of the registration. A fee of ten dollars ($10) for one or two bicycles, and eight dollars ($8) for each subsequent bicycle shall be charged for the registration of any bicycle under provisions of this ordinance. No person shall willfully remove, deface or destroy any such sticker or decal. (Am. by Ord. 13,601, 5-11-04)

(4) Expiration of Registration . Bicycles shall be registered every four (4) years. Registration of bicycles shall be effective until May 15 of the calendar year four years after the year of registration.

(5) Lost Registration Stickers or Decals and Ownership Transfer . In case of theft or loss of decal or sticker, a new decal or sticker shall be obtained. Upon the sale or transfer of a registered bicycle, the new owner shall report the sale or transfer to the Chief of Police, indicating her/his name and address as well as the name and address of the person from whom the bicycle was acquired.

(6) Notification of Change in Address . Whenever the owner of a registered bicycle moves or changes address, s/he shall notify the Chief of Police in writing of the new address within ten (10) days.

(7) Bicycle To Be In Safe Mechanical Condition . The Chief of Police or her/his designee shall refuse to register or shall suspend the registration of any bicycle found to be in unsafe mechanical condition or not equipped or registered as herein required until proof is given that the defect or defects are corrected. Unsafe mechanical condition includes, but is not limited to, a bicycle with improvised or defective handlebars. (Section 12.78 Am. by Ord. 10,245, 4-26-91)

PENALTIES

12.79 has the penalties, here’s the sections that apply

The penalty for violating Sections 12.74 through 12.782 shall be as follows:

(1) Any person violating any provision of Sections 12.76(1) to (4), 12.78(6), 12.782(3) and (4) may be required to forfeit not more than forty dollars ($40). (Am. by ORD-10-00015, 2-18-10)

(2) Any person violating any provision of Section 12.78(1), (2) and (4) may be required to forfeit not more than twenty dollars ($20) for the first offense and not less than twenty-five dollars ($25) nor more than fifty dollars ($50) for the second and subsequent convictions within one year.

(3) Any person violating any provision of Sections 12.78(3), (5) or 12.782(1) may be required to forfeit not more than ten dollars ($10).

(5) Any person violating Section 12.78(2), 12.781(3), or 12.782(2) may be required to forfeit not less than ten dollars ($10) nor more than two hundred dollars ($200) for the first offense, and not less than ten dollars ($10) nor more than two hundred dollars ($200) for the second offense and revocation of license for the second offense within a licensing year.

IS THIS PROGRAM BREAKING EVEN?

In a word, no.

It brings in $20,000 a year.  At least that is what it brought in the last three years.

The decals cost $4,000. That leaves $16,000 for advertising and staff.  Staff is about 30 hours of time for the Treasurer’s office and a 60% FTE Bike Registration Coordinator.  The Bike Registration Coordinator also works with bike parking, the pedestrian flag program and education.

ISSUES THE STAFF IDENTIFIED WITH MADISON’S BIKE REGISTRATION PROGRAM

• Income doesn’t cover the program costs.
• Only 12,000 bikes are registered.
• Bicyclists and bike shop owners don’t see value of the program
• Department store turnover and cumbersome registration process make it hard to increase awareness.
• City’s online registration system is seen as difficult to use.
• UW-Madison isn’t promoting the Madison’s bike registration program.
• The Bicycle Registration Coordinator position is not used efficiently.
• Madison’s bike registration program discourages a travel mode they are trying to encourage.
• There is an equity issue that some people might not be able to afford it.
• The process is cumbersome.
• There is little or no enforcement, its a low priority for the police department.
• Perception is bicyclists don’t pay their way. They provide info in the powerpoint showing the bicyclists damage to roads is minimal compared to cars.

THE BICYCLE RECOVERY PROGRAM

• While they recover 400 bikes a year
  • Only 5% of the bikes are registered
  • Only about 30 bikes a year get returned to the owner. Only 20% of those were registered.
• The Bicycle Registration Coordinator returns another 8-10 bikes per year.

The reasons cited for the program not working are:

• Wrong serial numbers registered
• Bike owners don’t notify city of address changes
• They currently don’t search the national database. They only search city registration records, stolen bike reports and National Crime Information Center database.

ALTERNATIVE – NATIONAL BIKE REGISTRATION PROGRAM

• The program would cost the city about $1,000 a year
• 800 bikes from Madison are already in the system
• They have 1 million bikes in their registry
• It’s free to register
• They have an easy to use app
• People can buy a registration decal but its not required
• There is easy point of sale programs for easy registration

HMMMM, WHAT DO YOU THINK THE STAFF WANTS TO DO?

Clearly they’ve laid out all the bad things about the program, the good things about the national program and they want that 60% staff position to do other work.

I’m wondering what the Transportation Planning and Policy Board will say about this on Monday night.  They only have 10 minutes set aside for this topic, so they may not have much time to discuss.

The options as laid out by the staff are as follows: