With the proliferation of e-bike riders zooming around Monterey County, sometimes speeding down sidewalks or weaving through pedestrians, the Pacific Grove City Council is exploring what it can and cannot do to regulate e-bikes.
At a City Council meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 4, the city’s special counsel, Elena Gerli, broke down the current regulations for electric bike riders, who, like people-powered bicyclists, are obliged to follow similar as motorists, such as always yielding to pedestrians.
Gerli described the three classifications of e-bikes – with classes 1 and 2 able to reach speeds of 20 miles per hour and class 3 e-bikes able to travel at a maximum of 28 mph. In Pacific Grove, e-bikes are prohibited in Perkins Park, Lovers Point Park, P.G. Golf Links, El Carmelo Cemetery, and property on the ocean side of Ocean View Boulevard, except on paved portions of the Rec Trail.
To further regulate e-bike use, Gerli said the city can prohibit the operation and parking of bicycles and e-bikes on sidewalks, paths and other public property. But the city cannot limit the use of e-bikes on bike paths that are on or adjacent to roadways, or regulate operation on public streets and highways. (City Council directed city staff to conduct a deep dive and revisit the topic at a later date.)
From a multimodal perspective, Monterey County Sustainability Program Manager Cora Panturad said that making the roads safer for all – whether e-bike riders, motorists or pedestrians – comes down to improved infrastructure, education and awareness.
“For safe ridership, having more programs starting in schools on how to ride bikes safely would be beneficial,” Panturad said. “And the best thing to do [as a bike or e-bike rider] is to just slow down when you see that you’re going down a crowded path. Being able to instill that sense of civility in people is something we need to concentrate our efforts on.”
For Panturad, e-bikes are far from a problematic form of travel; they are a critical component in a sustainable transportation future.
“E-bikes are part of a solution for our transportation problems, our climate problems and for our municipal budget problems,” Panturad says. “And finding a way to rebalance our infrastructure so that pedestrians, bicycles and cars can coexist is in everyone’s best interest.”
