Quick Take
Electric bicycles are on the rise nationally and in Santa Cruz County. As the county prepares to launch an expanded bike-share program, local lawmakers have approved the first draft of a law that restricts where riders can take their e-bikes.
A new law that would ban electric bicycles and scooters from Santa Cruz County sidewalks and walking paths cleared its first hurdle on this week after local lawmakers threw unanimous support behind the change.
The move comes both as e-bikes become increasingly ubiquitous (sales nationally jumped from 325,000 in 2018 to 1.1 million in 2022) and as the county is preparing to welcome hundreds of new electric bicycles into its urbanized unincorporated areas next month through a bike-share partnership with BCycle.
District 1 County Supervisor Manu Koenig proposed the new law with a cartoon generated by artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT that depicted a young e-bike rider zooming past a frightened older woman on a sidewalk. “My office,” Koenig said, “has heard many complaints of just this type of situation.”
The law, as proposed, would prohibit e-bikes and e-scooters from county parks and any sidewalk in the county’s jurisdiction, unless the sidewalk is also dedicated as a bike path. However, there are some exceptions in Koenig’s proposal. E-cyclists can ride on a sidewalk as long as no pedestrians are present and no adjacent bike path exists. The law also gives flexibility to county officials to dedicate specific sidewalks and county park paths for e-bike usage in the future. E-bikes would also be prohibited from all hiking and mountain biking trails unless explicitly allowed.
Live Oak resident Michael Lewis told supervisors to scrap the exceptions.
“Sidewalks are designed for pedestrian usage, that’s why they’re called sidewalks and not siderides,” Lewis said. “There are no sidewalks where a pedestrian is not potentially present.”
Resident Jean Brocklebank, Lewis’ wife, said the exceptions are too vague and that e-bikes should be prohibited from sidewalks absolutely.
“That woman you saw in the [ChatGPT] illustration, that’s me,” Brocklebank said. “At 79, I have two disabilities. … I cannot respond quickly and easily to a speeding e-bike.”
Koenig emphasized that e-bike regulations would require an “iterative process” since it’s a new technology. Supervisor Justin Cummings said the law represented only the “first step in this process.”
“It’s important that we’re moving forward with this technology to begin with,” Cummings said, explaining that the county could use the rise in e-bikes as an opportunity to begin expanding bike lanes in county areas where the roadways are dangerous.
If the supervisors advance the law with a second vote on April 9, the new prohibitions would apply only to sidewalks, pedestrian paths and parks within the county’s jurisdiction, which could create a confusing patchwork of regulations for riders who cross into city boundaries where no e-bike restrictions yet exist.
“We need a universal approach to e-bike regulations so there is consistency across the county and its cities … I would hope that everything gets into alignment,” Piet Canin, strategic development director with local environmental nonprofit Ecology Action, told Lookout. “I also think there is a wide range of stakeholders, from public health and sustainable transportation folks, to law enforcement and medical providers who can help figure out the best course of action to reduce crashes and health impacts. Hopefully the county gives everyone a little more time to vet it.”
If it passes, the new law could mix in with a state bill moving through the legislature this session that seeks to prohibit children under 12 years old from riding e-bikes. Assembly Bill 2234, proposed by Encinitas Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, would also require e-bike riders to have a valid driver’s license. Riders over 12 years old without a driver’s license would need to take an online safety course and pass a written test in order to legally operate an e-bike.
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