It's an idea that Toronto first considered more than 80 years ago and this week one councillor is calling on city staff to once again get the wheels turning on the possibility of bicycle licensing.

Ward 3 Etobicoke Centre Coun. Stephen Holyday will present the motion, seconded by Ward 5 Etobicoke Lakeshore Coun. Jusin Di Ciano, when city council meets in the coming days, calling on transportation staff to look into and report back on how Toronto might register bikes.

Holyday says the move would generate revenue to fund cycling infrastructure around the city, gather Toronto cycling data, and promote safety and compliance with rules of the road. Toronto already has a cycling app meant to collect such information, but Holyday says it isn't widely used.

"Maybe there's a way to build this license and tie it into to that cycling app. Maybe there's a discount if you use the app. Maybe there's a discount if your ride a certain number of kilometres and log it into the app," he told CBC News about how the city might making licensing work.

Another possibility, he says, is to use radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology to track bikes as they move through the city.

'Riders are already paying'

"Maybe this license boils down to a sticker that you purchase at a retail store or through a club and we can put that chip onto the bike… and learn more about who's travelling where."

But while it's not clear exactly what the licensing structure might look like, one thing it seems sure to do is rile up cyclists, many of whom see the motion as nothing more than a cash grab.

"Here we go again," Yvonne Bambrick, author of The Urban Cycling Survival Guide, said when asked about her thoughts on the motion.

Yvonne Bambrick, author of The Urban Cycling Survival Guide, says licensing will unfairly penalize cyclists who already pay for the cost of roads and infrastructure, with few returns. (CBC)

Bambrick says licensing will unfairly penalize cyclists who already pay for the cost of roads and infrastructure, with few returns.

"Bike riders are already paying," she said. "We pay for our roads and despite the increase in numbers we've had very little increase in safe bikeable infrastructure in our city."

A long history of licensing debates

On its website, the city indicates that it has examined, studied and rejected bicycle licensing three times in recent history, most recently in 1996. Its focus then was riding on sidewalks, traffic law compliance and bike use by couriers. That bid was rejected like two others in 1992 and 1984, the city says. A bylaw to license residents owning and using bicycles was first passed in 1935 but repealed in 1957 under then-mayor Nathan Phillips.

Among the reasons the city says it's rejected the idea in the past: the difficulty of keeping databases complete and current, challenges licensing children who ride bikes and that licensing alone doesn't result in any meaningful change in the behaviour of those cyclists who disobey traffic laws.

"It's a waste of resources, both police and city staff," Bambrick said. "Administration costs far outweigh any potential to gain revenue."

And as for the suggestion that licensing might be used to encourage more people to use the city's cycling app, Bambrick says, "There are ways to get people to use an app other than this proposal."

Reem Farag, who regularly bikes in the city also disagrees with the idea.

"There's much bigger problems that police should be worrying about than bicycles. I would hope there's a list of priorities."