"Bicycle tax": Really now? AfD calls for compulsory licence plates & fees for bicycles

While in the European Union cycling is recognised as an environmentally friendly Means of transport Public promoted the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party wants to take the opposite approach. In the Stuttgart municipal council, it has proposed measures to combat the "policy of marginalising the car".

According to her plans, an annual fee is to be charged for all bicycles and e-bikes. It is also calling for all bikes to be subject to compulsory registration and labelling. "The purchase of a bicycle is linked to mandatory registration with the city council," the motion in the municipal council states.

According to the AfD, a fee of 15 euros per year should be charged for a bicycle and 25 euros for an e-bike. Visitors who come to Stuttgart by bike "need a time-limited vignette (daily, weekly or annual vignette) when travelling within the city limits. This ensures that users from outside the city who benefit from the local infrastructure also make a fair contribution," it continues.

Against the bicycle boom

The justification for the compulsory licence plate and fee is ideological: "For years, Stuttgart has been experiencing a significant increase in aggressive behaviour from cyclists who see themselves as the vanguard of an ideologically charged traffic turnaround. In particular, those in favour of the so-called '15-minute city' are pursuing a policy of excluding the car and restricting individual mobility. This development leads to a growing sense of superiority over other road users and a dangerous polarisation of road space." The party would also like to use the charge to ease the burden on Stuttgart's budget.

The 15-minute city model

In its motion, the AfD explicitly refers to the 15-minute city model invented by Professor Carlos Moreno, who works at the Sorbonne University in Paris. The concept he developed of the 15-minute city (and its further development into the 15-minute region) describes an urban planning vision in which residents can reach all essential facilities for daily needs within 15 minutes on foot or by bike.

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No legal basis

The AfD's proposal is not capable of winning a majority in Stuttgart. So far, it only has four seats on the municipal council. Furthermore, measures such as mandatory labelling are not the responsibility of a local authority. The legal responsibility for road traffic and thus also for regulations regarding the labelling of vehicles, including bicycles, lies with the federal government through the Road Traffic Act (StVG). Local authorities are not authorised to issue their own laws or ordinances that deviate from this. "There is no legal basis for the AfD parliamentary group's motion. We therefore see no need for a substantive debate," explained Björn Peterhoff, parliamentary group leader of the Greens, to our sister magazine TOUR.