Banned! Why 2023 noticed extra e-bike and e-scooter bans than ever earlier than

Electrical bicycle ridership grew to never-before-seen ranges in 2023. However regardless of the elevated ridership, or maybe even due to it, this 12 months has seen a rise within the variety of limits and bans positioned on electrical bicycles and e-scooters. Right here’s a glance again at among the most notorious bans and what led to them.

NYC needs e-bikes stopped on the border

Earlier this 12 months, NYC introduced an upcoming ban on the sale of electrical bikes that don’t have UL-compliant batteries. Firms got a six-month grace interval, then the ban kicked in a couple of months in the past.

The underlying situation was that a number of harmful fires have begun in NYC buildings, some turning deadly, after poorly constructed e-bike batteries caught hearth. 

Many main electrical bicycle producers resembling Rad Energy Bikes rolled out UL-compliant batteries in response, guaranteeing that their fashions would nonetheless be allowed to be bought within the metropolis.

Paris bans shared electrical scooters, then one thing shocking occurred

When Parisians took to the polls to vote on a referendum banning shared electrical scooters, the outcomes had been pretty one-sided. Studies put the tally at round 90% in favor of banning shared e-scooters, although extraordinarily low voter turnout meant that roughly 7% of registered voters really voted in favor.

Whatever the small variety of votes, shared e-scooters had been banned from the town. 

Curiously although, that wasn’t the tip of the story. Inside a 12 months, shared dockless electrical bike ridership had skyrocketed to over twice the degrees beforehand seen earlier than the shared e-scooter ban. 

I suppose it simply goes to point out, for those who vilify shared e-scooters, the villains will simply journey e-bikes. Or one thing like that?

Burning man might start banning electrical bikes

Bikes and different two-wheelers have at all times been a preferred approach to get round Burning Man. In reality, with automobiles banned, bikes are maybe second solely to strolling as the popular technique of transportation.

There’s a 5 mph (8 km/h) pace restrict across the total desert encampment, which throughout the competition balloons to deal with tens of hundreds of individuals. Besides, electrical bike riders have been criticized for driving a lot quicker, typically startling competition goers and generally inflicting collisions. 

Burning Man organizers, who usually keep away from blanket bans as a part of their coverage of radical inclusion, took the dramatic step this 12 months of pre-warning contributors that if e-bike conduct didn’t enhance, electrical bikes could be added to the banned shortlist. It’s possible a case of some dangerous apples ruining it for everyone, nevertheless it nonetheless underscores the significance of protected driving round pedestrians.

Extra school campuses banning e-bikes and e-scooters

This Fall when college students returned to campus, many schools and universities introduced that their e-bikes and e-scooters weren’t welcome again with them.

The problem is just like that dealing with NYC, with fears of fires associated to poor-quality batteries. In contrast to in NYC although, the place steps had been taken to control that solely batteries with correct security certifications could be allowed, many campuses introduced outright bans on e-bikes.

The problem was significantly troubling as a result of for a lot of college students, e-bikes and e-scooters are their solely type of transportation. Automobiles might be costly to retailer on campus resulting from restricted parking permits, and lots of younger adults have embraced car-free life enabled by electrical bikes.

Regardless of the rising variety of bans, electrical bicycles have continued to develop right into a foremost type of transportation all over the world. 

As we head into 2024, the variety of riders is just anticipated to develop even increased. With extra e-bikes on the roads than ever earlier than and no signal of the pattern stopping, maybe we needs to be asking how we will higher and extra safely incorporate e-bikes into our cities, communities, and campuses, as a substitute of merely making an attempt to ban them.