Fullerton City Council discussed amendments to the city’s municipal code last Tuesday in order to further regulate electric active transportation, such as e-bicycles and scooters.
Fullerton Traffic Bureau Commander Tim Petroupolus presented the proposed amendments to the council, citing a study done by the Orange County Grand Jury that revealed a lack in uniform regulations on e-bikes across the county.
The ordinance prohibits unsafe operations on public streets, sidewalks, parks, trails and accessible private property.
“Unsafe operations” are specifically defined as swerving, slow bypassing, stopped traffic, disregarding posted signals, not yielding to pedestrians, and doing acrobatic tricks and stunts when riding.
Policy violators in the city of Fullerton are required to pay a fine of $100 for the first offense, increasing to $200 for a second offense of the same ordinance within the year.
If the offense is again repeated in that same time frame, it will increase to $500, according to the current municipal code. Though according to Petroupolus, the third violation would not exceed $250.
Parents can potentially be issued citations if a child in their care under 16 is found to be lacking necessary equipment, such as a helmet.
Pedestrians who require self-propelled wheelchairs, motorized tricycles and quadricycles due to disabilities are exempt from the ordinance.
Additionally, the amendments would clarify legal electric bicycles into three classes and set different operational standards for each class.
Petroupolus said that the Fullerton police had multiple meetings with the Cal State Fullerton Police Department in order to “unify” the safety message and offered to create a safety training program for students.
This issue was initially brought to the Fullerton Active Transportation Committee on Oct. 15, 2025, where they recommended there be clarifications made to specific terminology. The committee also recommended increases to speed limits on sidewalks from 5 miles per hour to 10 miles per hour and paved trails from 10 miles per hour to 15 miles per hour.
The item passed 4-1 with an amendment to lower the allowed e-bike speed limit on sidewalks from 10 miles per hour to five.
Mayor Pro Tem Nicholas Dunlap voted against the motion, as his proposed friendly amendment to prohibit e-bikes from riding on sidewalks did not make the final vote.
Electric scooters under California law are already prohibited from driving on sidewalks and exceeding 15 mph. Though they do not need to be registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles, a driver license is required to ride.
“You’re sixty times more likely to be injured by a car than an E-bike,” Active Transportation Committee member Anjali Tapadia said during the meeting. “If we actually want to protect cyclists and pedestrians, please make infrastructure that they can actually use, that actually separates them from pedestrians and from cars.”
The Active Transportation Committee will return to the city council to revisit the amendments in November.
