British Columbia Bicycle License Plates
City of Victoria

Enacting Bylaw: A By-law to compel the Registration of Bicycles
Bylaw No. 2517 (Adopted April 11, 1938)
Amending Bylaw: unknown
Repealing Bylaw: unknown
Enacting Bylaw: A By-law to compel the Registration of Bicycles
Bylaw No. 2778 (Adopted October 13, 1942)
Amending Bylaw: Bylaw No. 2811 (Adopted August 16, 1943)
Bylaw No. 2816 (Adopted November 15, 1943)
Bylaw No. 2986 (Adopted April 28, 1947)
Bylaw No. 3130 (Adopted May 30, 1949)
Repealing Bylaw: unknown
Enacting Bylaw: A By-law to provide for the Registration of Bicycles
Bylaw No. 3619 (Adopted February 12, 1957)
Amending Bylaw: Bylaw No. 3775 (Adopted June 23, 1959)
Repealing Bylaw: unknown
Enacting Bylaw: A By-law to provide for the Voluntary Registration of Bicycles
Bylaw No. 4082 (Adopted November 26, 1963)
Amending Bylaw: unknown
Repealing Bylaw: unknown
Enacting Bylaw: A By-law to provide for the Registration of Bicycles
Bylaw No. 4572 (Adopted July 27, 1971)
Amending Bylaw: unknown
Repealing Bylaw: A By-law to Repeal By-law No. 4572 being the Bicycle Registration Bylaw
Bylaw No. 5346 (Adopted June 3, 1980)
1901-1904
By 1901, the City of Vancouver, in an effort to fund the construction of pathways for use by cyclists, introduced a bylaw requiring the registration of bicycles at an annual cost of $1.00. To encourage cyclists to come in an register their bikes, the City had been printing notices in the local newspapers asking; "Have you got your bicycle tag? If you haven't it may cost you something."  Yet, by early April of 1901, it was estimated that only a quarter of all private bicycles in the City had been registered, yet most of those used by liveries and messengers had obtained their licences.
To achieve better compliance, it was announced, by an Inspector Brown, that the City's bylaw requiring registration would be strictly enforced after April 16, 1901. On the Friday before this deadline, an estimated 180 bicycles were registered followed by an additional 350 the next day, prompting Inspector Brown to keep his office open late:
The imposition of a fee on bicycles raised the enmity of many cyclists, who joked about the meaning of the "C.B.T.P.O." acronym that appeared on the licenses.
Suggestions included "Collector Brown Told Police Officers" or "Catch Brown Turning Proceeds Over". A former resident of Portland suggested it meant "Come Back to Portland, Oregon", while another suggestion was "Cyclists Bound to Pay Over". What the letters actually stood for, however, was "City Bicycle Tax Paid - Owner". For licenses issued to Liveries and Messengers the acronym changed to either "C.B.T.P.L." and "C.B.T.P.M.".
Not surprisingly, there was a competition for who would be issued the first tag (No. 1), with Inspector Brown apparently having designs on it but not the same clout as Alderman Robert Grant, who claimed he was entitled to the first number as the "father" of the bylaw. Grant's wife was issued No. 2, while No. 3 & 4 went to a Mr & Mrs Hanna while a "newspaperman" obtained the No. 5.
Brown ultimately ended up with the No. 13 after a "well known cyclist who occupies room No. 13 in a well known hotel, expressed his intention of getting tag No. 13, but was dissuaded from his purpose by superstitious friends" and the number being passed over by another 40 cyclists after that.
Another cyclist sought out the No. 11 on the basis that it could be read the same whether upside down or right side up.
While not many of these types of bicycle licenses have survived, it is assumed that the design of the tags changed each year in order to help with identification. It is also assumed that the number of cyclists in the City at this time was possibly in the thousands.


1940s & 1950s
The bike plate No. "096C" is the rarer steel base while the others are made with the more common aluminium base.

The images shown above show how Vancouver bicycle license plates from the 1940s and 1950s were attached to the cross-bars of a bicycle. Can you spot the plate on the bike being ridden through Stanley Park at right?

This story was posted to a social media site in 2022:

On April 22, 1963, Bryan registered his bicycle, but for some reason, the bike vanished and the decal was never applied. Fifty years later, the bicycle registration number 14414 (in photo). At the time, bicycle registration was 50 cents, subject to renewal each year. If you sold or gave away your bicycle, you were to mail the certificate to the bike registration depot at 2512 Yukon Street (Vancouver). If your bike was lost or stolen, you would immediately report your bike to the police with the certificate.
Source: illustrated vancouver

1970s

Bicycle Courier
Information
Series:

unknown
Registered:
unknown
Over-run:
unknown
Issued:
singles
Manufacturer:
George Hewitt Co.*
Dimensions:
TBD
Material:
Tin
Comments:Unknown at this time when the first plates were issued.
* Estimate / Unconfirmed

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