Pacific Grove to review e-bike rules as police struggle to enforce laws
Updated: 12:45 PM PST Feb 4, 2026
The Pacific Grove City Council will be reviewing the city’s e-bike rules, but their efforts could be meaningless, as police records show that zero citations have been issued under the current ordinance. At the city council’s February 4 meeting, councilors will discuss and possibly give new direction to police about the regulation of e-bikes and e-scooters. Current city rules say class 1 and class 2 electric bicycles are prohibited in Perkins’ Park, the Pacific Grove Golf Links, and El Carmelo Cemetery, and may only be used on the paved portion of the recreational trail. When permitted on the trail, they are subject to a maximum speed limit of 12 miles per hour and must always be operated at a speed that is reasonable and safe given pedestrians, visibility, and trail conditions. (Read more on the city code on e-bikes.)At the end of 2025, the city’s Traffic Safety Commission created a report for the city highlighting public safety concerns in the city, in which “excessive speed of electric bikes on PG Recreation trails” was listed among 12 items most often raised by citizens in the year prior. Before that, city manager Matt Mogensen said to a resident, in an email that news media was copied on, that police chief Casey Day was “working on creating an ordinance and regulations around e-bike use and safety.””E-bike concerns and safety have been a priority of our Police Department for some time now, especially concerning our youth,” said Mogensen in a separate email. A Public Records Act request with the city found that in the three-year span from Jan. 1, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2025, police issued zero citations for the municipal codes related to e-bike regulations. KSBW reached out to the police department for comment, but a representative from the department said they would not comment ahead of the city council meeting. A review of the 2024 Annual Report produced by the police department, the most recent one available at the time of publication, showed that the police department had four vacancies, or 17%, for sworn staff. The report said one goal for the following years was to increase bicycle patrols. The city council meeting will be held at City Hall, located at 300 Forest Ave., and being at 6 p.m.
PACIFIC GROVE, Calif. —
The Pacific Grove City Council will be reviewing the city’s e-bike rules, but their efforts could be meaningless, as police records show that zero citations have been issued under the current ordinance.
At the city council’s February 4 meeting, councilors will discuss and possibly give new direction to police about the regulation of e-bikes and e-scooters.
Current city rules say class 1 and class 2 electric bicycles are prohibited in Perkins’ Park, the Pacific Grove Golf Links, and El Carmelo Cemetery, and may only be used on the paved portion of the recreational trail. When permitted on the trail, they are subject to a maximum speed limit of 12 miles per hour and must always be operated at a speed that is reasonable and safe given pedestrians, visibility, and trail conditions. (Read more on the city code on e-bikes.)
At the end of 2025, the city’s Traffic Safety Commission created a report for the city highlighting public safety concerns in the city, in which “excessive speed of electric bikes on PG Recreation trails” was listed among 12 items most often raised by citizens in the year prior. Before that, city manager Matt Mogensen said to a resident, in an email that news media was copied on, that police chief Casey Day was “working on creating an ordinance and regulations around e-bike use and safety.”
“E-bike concerns and safety have been a priority of our Police Department for some time now, especially concerning our youth,” said Mogensen in a separate email.
A Public Records Act request with the city found that in the three-year span from Jan. 1, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2025, police issued zero citations for the municipal codes related to e-bike regulations. KSBW reached out to the police department for comment, but a representative from the department said they would not comment ahead of the city council meeting.
A review of the 2024 Annual Report produced by the police department, the most recent one available at the time of publication, showed that the police department had four vacancies, or 17%, for sworn staff. The report said one goal for the following years was to increase bicycle patrols.
The city council meeting will be held at City Hall, located at 300 Forest Ave., and being at 6 p.m.
