In city parks, riders would be prohibited from park pathways and recreational trails, athletic fields and turf areas, plazas and promenades.<\/p>\n
During a recent commission discussion, Transportation and Mobility Director Milos Majstorovic recommended riders be allowed to cruise along city sidewalks, the Riverwalk and park roads too as long as they did so in a safe manner.<\/p>\n
Commissioner Pamela Beasley-Pittman questioned who would be determining whether they were riding in a safe manner.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would be up to the judgment of a police officer,\u201d Majstorovic said.<\/p>\n
Mayor Dean Trantalis interjected.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere are these police officers?\u201d he asked. \u201cDo you think we\u2019re going to station police officers on all of our sidewalks and our parks? There\u2019s not going to be a police officer anywhere. And you\u2019re going to see these e-scooters or these e-bikes just pushing pedestrians off the sidewalk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miami Beach and Sunny Isles don\u2019t allow e-bikes on their sidewalks, the mayor noted.<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/tfl-l-electric-bikes-scooters-1-100826_6a2f13.jpg\")
A man rides an e-scooter on the sidewalk on Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale on Oct. 8, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n
Commissioners Steve Glassman agreed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m agreeing with what I\u2019m hearing on the dais,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we should have it on the sidewalks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trantalis made it clear he did not think e-bikes should be allowed anywhere in city parks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we should have them in the parks at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The mayor suggested riders park their e-bikes at the entrance to the park and walk instead of riding through the park.<\/p>\n
\u201cWalking is a better compromise than putting pedestrians\u2019 lives at risk,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m totally against this. We have to protect pedestrians.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to be very careful about that,\u201d Trantalis said. \u201cThis only would contribute to it.\u201d<\/p>\n
After hearing the feedback, Majstorovic pivoted, saying the city could prohibit e-bikes and other micromobility devices from riding in parks and on sidewalks if that was the direction of the commission.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s enforcement,\u201d Trantalis said. \u201cUnless someone gets hurt, the police are not going to be called. The police have better things to do than to worry about bicyclists. People who walk don\u2019t want to be dodging motorized vehicles, including scooters and bikes.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/tfl-l-electric-bikes-scooters-3-100826_25295b.jpg\")
A man rides an e-scooter along Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale on Oct. 8, 2026. (Amy Beth Bennett\/South Florida Sun Sentinel)<\/p>\n
The city is considering the following requirements: Minimum age of 16 years to ride; operators must carry government-issued photographic identification; all devices must be registered with the city and display a registration decal at all times.<\/p>\n
Vice Mayor Ben Sorensen recommended the minimum age for riders should be lower than 16.<\/p>\n
Some members of the city\u2019s Parks, Recreation and Beaches Advisory Board also had concerns about prohibiting riders under the age of 16, city records show.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are just a lot of younger people that ride them all over neighborhoods,\u201d Sorensen said. \u201cThere are 12- and 13-year-olds riding them. I think it should be lower.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sorensen was late to the meeting and not present for the earlier discussion.<\/p>\n
Trantalis shared his concerns with Sorensen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very concerned about kids being irresponsible and taking these e-bikes and rampaging through neighborhoods and through parks,\u201d the mayor said. \u201cI can just see it would be an absolute nightmare. And no one\u2019s there to enforce it. We don\u2019t have police officers who are going to be looking for bicyclists who are underage or acting inappropriately. This discussion was to keep them off sidewalks and to keep them out of parks.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sorensen said he agreed with that idea, but argued that kids under 16 should be able to ride too.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of young families use these safely in the neighborhood,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Commissioners are expected to renew the discussion in the coming months.<\/p>\n
City staff provided the following information about restrictions enacted by three other cities in South Florida.<\/p>\n
Miami Beach<\/p>\n
Sidewalk: Prohibited
Park\/path restrictions: Beachwalk, South Pointe Park, Baywalk, Lincoln Road Mall
Minimum age: None
Photo ID required: No
Fine: $129 per violation
Adoption date: May 2024<\/p>\n
Sunny Isles Beach<\/p>\n
Sidewalk: Prohibited
Park\/path restrictions: Prohibited
Minimum age: 16
Photo ID required: Yes
Fine: $250 first offense; $500 subsequent
Adoption date: July 2026<\/p>\n
Wellington<\/p>\n
Sidewalk: 15 mph on sidewalks and pathways
Park\/path restrictions: Town Center, neighborhood parks, Heart Trail, bridle trails
Minimum age: 15
Photo ID required: Yes \u2013 school ID accepted
Fine: Non-criminal traffic infractions
Adoption date: August 2026<\/p>\n
Susannah Bryan can be reached at sbryan@sunsentinel.com. Follow me on X @Susannah_Bryan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With e-bike accidents on the rise, Fort Lauderdale is now looking at regulating the speedy power bikes to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[506,28,249,251,250,114,266,109],"class_list":["post-426489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-broward-county","tag-florida","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-social"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}