City considering new regulations on e-bikes

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – There are few rules and regulations on the use of e-bikes and other electric mobility devices on Oahu, and officials are trying to catch up as their popularity continues to accelerate.
“I think e-bikes are great if they get more people out of cars. Potentially better for the environment,” said Honolulu bike commuter Keith Leong.
Leong is sharing the King Street bike lane with other small mobility devices, such as electric scooters, single-wheeled boards and e-bikes.
“Potentially there’s a lot of abuse on the e-bikes, where people are going way too fast on the road or the bike lane, or maybe not even knowing the rules of the road,” said Leong.
E-bike riders have also been seen showing off on roadways, doing wheelies and other stunts.
Police have been hard-pressed to take action because the city’s laws are outdated.
“We see that people have no framework for bad acting right now. And even if they do, we don’t have a framework for enforceability of that bad action,” said city Deputy Transportation Services Director Jon Nouchi.
Nouchi made the comment at a virtual meeting on proposed regulations Thursday evening.
The problem has been made worse by popularity. The city said just three years ago, there were about 1,400 e-bikes, making up only 5% of all bicycles registered on Oahu.
“Fast forward to 2023, you’re looking at ten thousand regular bikes and almost eight thousand e-bikes, so we’re reaching the tipping point where it’s almost a 50-50 split,” said Nouchi.
So far this year, EMS reported responding to 180 crashes involving an e-bike — about one every other day. Thirty of those crashes involved kids 15 and under, who aren’t allowed to operate e-bikes.
The city council is trying to make streets safer by starting with the question: What is an e-bike?
“Bill 52 takes a national standard of classifying e-bikes into three different categories depending on how fast they go, and whether a rider needs to continually pedal or of it’s throttle-assisted,” said councilmember Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, who introduced the bill with fellow councilmember Augie Tulba.
The bill would also cap the speed of e-bikes at 28 miles per hour. The fastest category would also ban operators under 15, and helmets would be required for those under 18.
The city council is looking at putting this measure on the fast track.
“We want to get this done before the end of the year because we know a lot of kid are going to be getting e-bikes for Christmas,” said Dos Santos-Tam. “We want to make sure there’s clear rules around where they can ride them, who can ride them and who has to wear a helmet.”
The city council’s transportation committee is set to hear a revised draft of the measure on Tuesday.
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