Electric bikes are becoming a more common way to get around the Monterey Bay, offering riders a faster and less strenuous alternative to traditional bicycles.
But as more people take to local roads and coastal trails, transportation planners are trying to sort out a problem that can be difficult to see: not everything being called an e-bike is actually a legal e-bike.
On the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail, electric bikes weave between pedestrians, runners and traditional cyclists. The growing number of riders has raised questions about speed and safety, particularly when faster bikes share paths with people on foot.
But Janneke Strauss, a senior transportation planner with the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC), says some of the public concern about e-bike speed is actually about a different kind of vehicle.
“Most public concern about e-bikes is actually concern about electric motorcycles that are not legal e-bikes,” Strauss said.
California recognizes three classes of legal e-bikes:
- Class 1 bikes provide pedal assistance up to 20 miles per hour.
- Class 2 bikes can also travel up to 20 miles per hour, but have a throttle that allows riders to move without pedaling.
- Class 3 bikes provide pedal assistance up to 28 miles per hour and riders must be at least 16 years old.
Legal e-bikes can also be modified to exceed their permitted speeds. Strauss said that when a bike is modified to go faster than allowed, it’s no longer considered a legal e-bike and falls under motorcycle requirements.
The distinction can be difficult for consumers and law enforcement to make.
Claire Gallogly, a principal transportation planner for the city of Santa Cruz, says the city sees the same problem.
“We have the three legal classes of e-bikes…and then we do have the out of class, illegal e-motos,” Gallogly said.
California requires certain e-bikes to have labels identifying their class, but Gallogly said law enforcement officers still can have difficulty determining what kind of electric vehicle someone is riding.
She said officers often encounter illegal electric motorcycles after stopping someone for another violation, such as running a red light, traveling in the wrong direction or riding recklessly. If the vehicle is found to be an illegal, out-of-class e-moto, police can impound it.
Even separating illegal e-motos from legal e-bikes doesn't eliminate every safety concern.
Strauss said conflicts can still happen when faster bicycles pass pedestrians on multi-use paths, including the Monterey Bay Coastal Recreation Trail.
Her advice is straightforward: whether they're riding an e-bike or a traditional bicycle, cyclists should yield to pedestrians and pass at a safe speed.
Why choose an e-bike?
At Epicenter Cycling in Monterey, manager Dave Koesel has watched the region’s cycling culture grow alongside its infrastructure.
The independently-owned bike shop opened its Monterey location in 2020, during a pandemic surge in demand for outdoor recreation. The store is about a block and a half from the Recreation Trail, putting it close to both vehicle and bicycle traffic.
Koesel credits much of the region's cycling culture to infrastructure that was preserved or developed over time.
He points to the Recreation Trail and the Fort Ord National Monument as major advantages for people who want to ride.
“We're blessed with the infrastructure for bikes here,” he said.
But he says the Monterey Bay area still has limitations.
Traveling out of the Monterey Peninsula, for example, requires navigation through narrow highways, and periods of heavy traffic can create congestion that increases tension among drivers and other road users both on the highway and in town.
Still, Koesel sees e-bikes as an opportunity. Their speed and relative comfort make cycling practical for people who might not otherwise consider two-wheels—including families, older adults and people using bicycles for everyday transportation rather than recreation.
“E-bicycles can be for replacing your car for short trips,” Koesel said.
Some cargo e-bikes can even carry multiple children.
And when traffic backs up, cyclists have another option.
“There's never a traffic jam on the recreation trail,” Koesel said.
Learn before hitting the road
Transportation planners say education is another major piece to getting more riders safely onto e-bikes.
Strauss said bicycle safety education in schools is one area where Monterey County is working to expand its efforts. The TAMC is funding e-bike education in middle and high schools.
Santa Cruz is a few steps farther a long. Gallogly says the city recently launched a pilot program with Santa Cruz City Schools, Ecology Action and the police department focused on e-bike safety for middle school students.
The program combines classroom instruction with hands-on riding practice and guided group rides near participating schools.
Students learn about rules of the road and safety, then practice handling an e-bike and understanding that the heavier bikes can take longer to stop. They also practice riding in traffic on lower-speed, lower-volume routes.
Santa Cruz also has a signage campaign called “Cruz Kind,” encouraging e-bike riders to pass carefully, slow down around other users, use their bells, and ride courteously.
Gallogly said the city is working with police to enforce laws against illegal e-motos because, she says, enforcement, education and infrastructure are all needed.
Building for more
Santa Cruz doesn't just want more people riding bikes, the city has set ambitious climate and transportation goals that rely on it.
The city's climate action plan calls for 23% of trips to be made by bicycle by 2030 and 30% by 2035, Gallogly said, and e-bikes are an important tool for reaching those goals.
“We really do need to lean in and say yes to e-bikes,” she said.
Saying yes means building bike lanes, traffic-calmed residential streets, multi-use paths and safe bicycle parking for the growing number of people who want to ride.
She also said education and encouragement programs need to accompany that infrastructure so new riders have the tools to navigate it safely.
The goal, she said, is to create a transportation network that works for people from about eight years old to 80 years old.
“As long as you have people who are saying they don't feel safe or they don't feel like there's a mode for them, we're not going to be able to achieve mode shifts,” Gallogly said.
Another challenge is that Monterey Bay is divided among cities and jurisdictions with their own policies.
Strauss said fragmented rules can be confusing for riders who may cross several jurisdictions during a single trip.
The TAMC has adopted a plan that recommends creating a regional task force to review crashes, propose safety improvements and coordinate policies. That approach could help expand e-bike safety education into communities including Carmel, Monterey and Pacific Grove.
Officials are also watching legislation at the state level that could change how e-bikes are regulated. One example is AB 1778, a Marin County pilot that allows jurisdictions to prohibit riders under 16 from using Class 2 e-bikes and to require helmets for Class 2 riders.
Gallogly said policy changes at the manufacturer level could have an especially large impact because they would shift some responsibility away from the individual consumers.
“The average person isn't going to know, what is a Class 1? what is a Class 2, what is a Class 3?” she said, adding consumers want to trust that vehicles being sold as e-bikes actually meet the requirements for use on public roads.
The question is no longer whether e-bikes belong on Monterey Bay’s roads and trails but how the region can improve its transportation system to accommodate everyone.
