Johnson County has decided to allow certain electric bikes on its paved trails
After a six-month experiment, the Johnson County Park & Recreation District has decided to allow certain kinds of electric bikes on all of its paved trails.
Overland Park may soon begin allowing e-bikes, too, at least during an 18-month test period.
The county decision, made by the park system’s governing board on Feb. 19, allows Class 1 and Class 3 pedal-assist e-bikes on paved trails. Class 1 bikes can reach speeds of up to 20 miles an hour, and Class 3 bikes can go as fast as 28 miles an hour. Both require the rider to pedal while a motor helps power the rear wheel.
Advocates of electric bikes say they can promote fitness, fun and family togetherness for riders who don’t have the stamina — at least initially — to go long distances or pedal up hills. They also could make bicycling more feasible for running errands and commuting.
Still not allowed on county trails are throttle-operated Class 2 e-bikes, which do not require any additional pedaling by the rider to move. Motorized scooters and Segways also are prohibited..
For the six months ending on Jan. 15, the county allowed the e-bikes on a trial basis and monitored how they were working. During that time, the county received 17 email comments, of which only three were against e-bikes. Twenty-seven people completed an online survey, with 81% in favor of e-bikes, 11% against and 7% unsure.
Those results, and the fact that Olathe and some other cities already allow pedal-assist e-bikes, prompted the district to allow them permanently.
“It’s a non-issue,” Bill Maasen, the county’s superintendent of parks and golf courses, said in a press release. “If there are interactions in a negative way on our trails regarding bikes, it’s not the bike, it’s the user.”
In early February, an Overland Park City Council committee heard a proposal to begin an 18-month trial period for pedal-assist e-bikes. The city staff will ask the committee in April to approve the pilot program, a spokeswoman said, and that approval would allow the trial period to begin this spring.
With e-bikes becoming more popular, a Kansas City area-wide association of parks and recreation directors is recommending that local governments adopt similar regulations because many recreational trails are interconnected.
The group is recommending that the two kinds of pedal-assist bikes be allowed on trails but with a maximum speed limit of 20 miles an hour. Scooters would be prohibited unless approved on a case-by-case basis for people with disabilities.
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Johnson County has decided to allow certain electric bikes on its paved trails."