The unlimited freedom on the bike that did not exist 100 years ago

A hundred years ago, every cyclist in the country was required to carry a driver’s license and have the document renewed every year for a fee of two francs. Nowadays we enjoy much more freedom while cycling than then.

The document is called: “Permit to cycle. Approved by the Governor of the Government.” The Federal Council issued the legal basis on April 7, 1914, and it remained valid until the 1930s. Under the somewhat unwieldy title “Concordat on a uniform regulation regarding the movement of motor vehicles and bicycles”.

The cantons must implement the regulations and, for example, the canton of Bern regulated cycling on July 21, 1914 through the “Enforcement Ordinance on the Decree on the Intercantonal Concordat on Traffic in Motor Vehicles and Bicycles”. Even in the time of our ancestors, red tape neighs loudly and persistently.

Here are some excerpts from the concordat. Article 58 of the Federal Council Regulation provides:

The required identity card for the Canton of Bern is a booklet with 42 pages. There we will find all regulations in German and French.

According to the Federal Council Regulation, the following persons were exempt from the obligation to provide an identity document:

The Federal Council also regulated how a bicycle should be equipped. Article 62 concerns alarms, brakes and lighting:

The traffic regulations are extensive and can be found in article numbers 63 to 71:

Authorities instruct cyclists with ten commandments, which are listed on the first two pages of the ticket booklet:

Anyone who ignores the commandments, regulations and laws will of course be punished:

More than a hundred years ago, the state regulated cycling down to the last detail. The basic principles of the legal regulations that apply to car traffic today are already visible.

All in all, we recognize that cycling is one of the few areas where the state now gives us more freedom and requires less paperwork than in the good old days. We don’t need a ticket or license plate now. When driving a car the screw is tightened further and when cycling it is loosened. Yes, the non-motorized two-wheeler is, so to speak, a symbolic vehicle for freedom.