By Dianna Marder
Philadelphia Inquirer, May 4, 1997

City Hall Notebook

Center City pedestrians, take heed: You can do something the next time a bike courier nearly runs you down on the sidewalk.

And, you there, in your car/truck/minivan: You, too, have some recourse the next time you narrowly escape an accident caused by a bike courier darting through a red light.

There is such a thing as a Pennsylvania motor-vehicle code, and all bikers are required to abide by it: Only children under age 12 are allowed to ride on the sidewalk. And red lights apply to everybody. Disobey and you risk getting ticketed - just as if you were driving a car.

But how are police or law-abiding citizens supposed to report or ticket errant bikers if they can't identify them? Now there is an answer.

Thanks to a bill passed by Council last week, bike couriers will be required to carry photo ID and to display their company name in letters at least two inches tall.

The bike-courier bill is the latest effort by at-large Councilwoman and transportation advocate Happy Fernandez, who believes everyone has a right to get around safely.

Getting bikers, pedestrians, motorists and mass-transit users to recognize that as a common goal has not been easy. Maybe Fernandez should sing them that song from Oklahoma!, the one about the farmer and the cowboy being friends.

A related Fernandez bill is expected to get final approval from Council this week. It would repeal the ban on bicycles on the Chestnut Street Transitway.

But take note, ye on two wheels: Riding on the sidewalk there is still outlawed, and traffic is still officially one way, west to east.

Councilman W. Thacher Longstreth said he voted in favor of the bike-courier bill with particular zeal.

``It's about time!'' Longstreth, 76, said Friday. ``Those couriers are quite a challenge to elderly citizens like myself.''