Bike riders who don’t have a license can coast, and the pressure is off bicycle shops, too. The city of Los Angeles’ Transportation Committee recently voted to end the Los Angeles Police Department’s enforcement of the bicycle licensing program.

The city program, dating back to 1976, requires that all bicycles be registered and licensed, and that bike shop owners offer registration at the time of purchase. Vendors recently told the Business Journal that they had no idea where to get them or even that they needed to sell them in the first place.

The licenses are issued by the LAPD but only for a few hours each week. The blue and silver stickers are $3 each and valid for two years. Santa Monica and Long Beach have similar regulations, but shop owners say those cities, like Los Angeles, rarely enforce the law.

But police recently had begun enforcing the law. A few cyclists who were cited for not having licenses late last year contacted city officials, and Councilman Ed Reyes called for a review of the program. In late December, LAPD Chief William Bratton recommended dropping enforcement in a letter sent to the city’s Transportation Committee, which voted Jan. 14 to do so.

“This has been years in the making,” said Aurisha Smolarski, outreach/advocacy coordinator for the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, which lobbied for a moratorium on enforcement. “This means we can ride more freely and encourages others to join in looking for other modes of cleaner, safer transportation.”