For those who choose two wheels, bicycles are celebrated as eco-friendly, low-barrier alternatives to the automobile. A bicycle license plate recently highlighted by the Vermont Historical Society however, reveals a time when they were subject to the same municipal oversight, state regulation, and licensing as motor vehicles.
In fact, municipal bicycle licensing and registration was widespread across Vermont, New York State, and indeed the United States, from the 1930s through the mid-1970s. [Read more…] about Two-Wheel Bureaucracy: How America Once Governed Bicycles