MESSENGERS OBJECT TO D.C. LICENSING PLAN
By Lawrence Feinberg
Washington Post, October 22, 1987
Some came to the D.C. Council chambers in their biking tights -- green, maroon and bright blue. A few had on goggles and cycling caps, fanny packs and leather-palmed, open-fingered gloves. One wore a gray sports jacket over his cycling regalia with a ribbon of orange reflective tape wound around the sleeve.
They were, unmistakably, members of the growing fraternity of bicycle couriers who ply the District's downtown streets -- and several dozen turned out yesterday to protest a proposal before a council committee to license them.
Some of the couriers called themselves part of a modern, urban Pony Express. However, to some of their critics, including council members and several pedestrians and motorists, the couriers seem more like "hell on wheels" and kamikaze cyclists.
"I get more complaints about the bicycle situation than anything that goes on in my community now except drugs," said council member John A. Wilson (D-Ward 2).
"You ride behind the little old ladies in my ward and they break their hips," Wilson lectured one cyclist. "You scare the normal motorist to death . . . . The truth of the matter is that you scare the living hell out of me when I'm walking downtown. And I can get out of your way, and then I can kick the back wheel of your bicycle to get you out of the way."
A.J. Horne Jr., president of the Professional Bicycle Couriers Association, agreed that "there are things we have done that are wrong and we are trying to take hold of ourselves." But Horne said the way to cut down on reckless riding is to enforce existing traffic laws rather than set up an "expensive new system" of regulation.
Representatives of other cycling groups, most of whose members use bicycles for recreation or commuting, also appeared at the hearing, generally to support the bill, which was introduced last summer by council member Nadine P. Winter (D-Ward 6).
Under the bill, similar to a measure passed three years ago in New York City, "commercial bicycle operators" would be required to complete a training program, pass a safety test and pay up to $50 a year for a license. They would have to carry a photo ID and display on their backs or the back of their bikes a large identification number issued by the city. The license could be suspended or revoked for traffic violations.
Horne, who said he is a "nine-year veteran of the streets," termed the bill "discrimination" because it requires no licensing or training of other cyclists. He called it a "direct violation of our constitutional right to make an honest living."
Winter likened the proposed courier's license to the license for cabdrivers.
But several witnesses said the licenses have had no effect on New York City's bicycle problems. Last month New York tried to ban bicycles from mid-Manhattan streets, but the move was blocked by a judge.
Council member Jim Nathanson (D-Ward 3) said the pressure for couriers to "tempt the law . . . {and} be as quickly free-spirited as they can" comes from the system by which they are paid according to the number of deliveries.
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