Overview

• More than 70 mayors from Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse have sent coordinated letters to their state transport ministries seeking support, according to dpa-cited correspondence.
• The campaign builds on professor Ralf Bochert’s proposal to allow up to 320 medium-sized municipalities over 20,000 inhabitants to receive their own licence prefixes.
• Around one hundred municipalities have publicly signalled interest, with local leaders framing the move as low-cost for public budgets and useful for city marketing and civic identity.
• The Federal Ministry of Transport has indicated willingness to discuss the idea and to review it favorably, as reported by auto motor und sport.
• Media have published wish lists of desired codes, including examples such as BKR for Bad Krozingen, BUX for Buxtehude, RHE for Rheine and, in Hesse, BNH for Bad Nauheim, VIL for Bad Vilbel, BAU for Baunatal and DR for Dreieich; existing ‘Altkennzeichen’ reintroductions since 2012 show procedural precedent.