We got an email today from the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District announcing a little lunchtime commuter fair for tomorrow. It’s a fairly benign event, but one little detail jumped out at us:

Workers and visitors in downtown DC’s central business district can navigate Metro’s online trip planner, pick up bus schedules, register their bikes, get information on car sharing, and learn about MARC, VRE and commuter buses during a lunchtime commuter fair at Farragut Square on Thursday, April 26, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Rain date is Thursday, May 3. [emphasis added]

Ah yes, the old mandatory bicycle registration law for the District. We’ve mentioned it in passing a few times, but the City Paper published the definitive background on this issue a couple of years ago. The basic deal is this: “According to D.C. municipal regulations, any bicycle used by a District resident must be registered with the police department within two weeks after it’s purchased or brought into the city. If not, it can be impounded.” The problem, of course, is that actually managing to register your bicycle to comply with the law is close to impossible. Local police and fire department offices are not regularly equipped to deal with cyclists’ requests to file the correct paperwork, and the vast majority of D.C. bicycle owners are technically riding on unregistered vehicles. The City Paper article chronicles a few instances of MPD using this law as a pretense to detain “suspicious” people, which stinks of harassment.

So we wondered: should we all take advantage of this fair tomorrow to run down and get our bikes legally registered? The release from the BID states: “Free bike registration is available for DC residents only. Residents should bring along a photo ID and proof of bike ownership.” I can tell you right now, providing proof of ownership of my mother’s 30 year-old hand-me-down Schwinn is going to be next to impossible. Could you provide proof of ownership for your bike?

We checked in with the Washington Area Bicyclist Association‘s Eric Gilliard, who’s been leading a crusade to abolish this law for a number of years. Here’s what he had to say:

Councilmember Tommy Wells introduced legislation that would direct the Mayor to abolish mandatory bike registration three months ago. I just found out that Councilmember Mendelson, who’s the head of the Public Safety Committee that has jurisdiction over the bill, has scheduled a hearing for June 21st. He also introduced some great legislation that would require bike parking to be provide in new residential developments and DC govt offices.

More info on WABA’s campaign against mandatory bicycle registration can be found here. So should you go get your bicycle registered tomorrow? Technically, that’s still the law. But later this year, it could be a different story.

Photo by DottieboBottie.