Ocean City Council was ready to act last month to ban electric bicycles from the boardwalk, but hit the brakes after everyone got a lesson in the variety of e-bikes that exist.
The boardwalk is not the place for the big, heavy e-bikes with fat tires that are much closer to motorcycles than bicycles. Because of their size and speed capabilities, they pose a danger on a busy boardwalk during the tourist season. (There also should be a way to regulate them around town, but that’s a different matter that may take state legislation.)
As council members and others, us included, learned when council tried to move the ban forward, there are also many e-bikes that basically provide an assist to pedaling for those who need that extra help, including frailer seniors and those with health conditions or injuries.
The argument that all types should be allowed because e-bikes is where things are trending is weak. A quick view any morning is that human-powered pedaling the boardwalk remains highly popular.
The boardwalk needs to remain safe. That’s the reason no bikes are allowed after noon as crowds increase.
The problem is that it will take some thought on council to figure out how to limit one type but allow another … when it is not always easy to tell some of their capabilities apart.
We’ll be curious to hear what rules council, in concert with the Ocean City Police Department, arrives at.
In the meanwhile, we would hope those with the bigger, powerful throttled e-bikes would avoid the boardwalk … and obey traffic laws. It’s bad enough watching regular bicycle riders blow through traffic lights, stop signs and crosswalks.
