With electric bicycles booming in popularity, Long Beach officials will grapple with how to regulate them.
City Council members on Tuesday requested the city manager return in 90 days with an outlined plan on rules around the usage of electric bikes on all public right-of-ways in the city and along the Los Angeles River.
Dubbed the “Electric Bicycle Interventions to Keep Everyone Safe” or E-BIKES law, the ordinance would establish rules on when, where and how electric bikes can be ridden, with additional policies laid out on speed limits, helmet use, storage, age limits and more.
There would also be an enforcement system established with penalties, but specifics were not provided.
In the absence of state or federal law governing e-bike use, the city says it must create local rules to remedy what they have seen as a spike in “unsafe riding behaviors, increased public safety risks, difficulty in enforcement,” and confusion among the public over biking rules.
Council members asked for a system that strikes a balance between discouraging reckless riders and not deterring those who follow the rules and simply want to get around without a car.
“More people are getting e-bikes, they’re getting cheaper; we have to talk about how this is going to grow in our city and what regulations look like,” said Mayor Rex Richardson.
The city has rules around electric scooters and skateboards, as well as for manual bicycles but not for privately-owned, motorized models.
Electric bikes have become an increasingly convenient way to zip around the city without the need to constantly find parking. But this influx of e-bikes has come with consequences, officials warn, to pedestrian walkways.
Some council members, like Cindy Allen — who represents neighborhoods around Alamitos Beach — said her office routinely hears complaints about e-bike riders flouting rules of the road and walkways.
“How they’re zipping past the scooters and skaters and regular cyclists on our beach path and through the high-trafficked areas,” Allen said.
Earlier this year, the Long Beach Post found that the city had not enforced the beach path’s existing speed limit in years.
Other California cities, like Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Torrance, have adopted e-bike rules around requiring helmets, designated no-ride zones, equipment safety standards and education programs.