Albert Koehl is an environmental lawyer, a co-ordinator of the advocacy group Community Bikeways, and the author of Wheeling Through Toronto: A History of the Bicycle and its Riders.
Toronto City Council recently asked Queen’s Park for the authority to license food delivery apps, which engage thousands of couriers on e-bikes. The companies could be obliged to properly train their riders – who are currently treated as “independent contractors."DENIS BALIBOUSE/Reuters
During a typical evening rush hour in downtown Toronto, with cars locked bumper to bumper, the fastest-moving vehicles are often the electric bikes. With speeds of up to 50 kilometres an hour, they can weave through the construction-clogged streets, making them the vehicle of choice for many commuters and the surging number of food-delivery couriers.
But the rise of e-bikes is also sparking complaints from pedestrians about behaviour such as riding on sidewalks, and even from some cyclists unnerved by speeding e-bikes.
Powerful e-bikes, some weighing even more than 100 kilograms, navigate a blurry legal line between traditional bicycles whose riders don’t require a driver’s licence, registration or insurance, and motorcycles (“motor vehicles”) that do. Can we tame problematic e-bikes and associated risks, without diminishing the desirable increase of e-bikes in our cities to reduce harmful tailpipe emissions and traffic congestion?
The patchwork of rules for e-bikes across Canada and the United States is evidence of the regulatory challenge. The confusion begins with the word “bike,” which is used for everything from a child’s bicycle in a schoolyard to a motorcycle roaring down the street. While all electric bikes by definition have a motor, there is such a range of e-bikes (and micromobility devices) that fitting them into a workable definition isn’t easy, at least when the objective is to determine which two-wheelers should be governed by rules for bicycles and which by more onerous rules for motor vehicles, consistent with their greater danger.
A new regulatory proposal for e-bikes is in the works for Ontario.Yader Guzman/The Globe and Mail
Existing definitions generally distinguish between e-bikes on which the motor plays a supportive role (“pedelecs”) and others where pedalling is optional or unnecessary. Getting the rules right is important to the continuing growth of cycling. Indeed, the potential market for e-bikes remains largely untapped, with an appeal based on their greater geographic range, the ability to easily climb hills, and the efficiency in delivering goods.
In April this year, British Columbia updated its Motor Vehicle Act by establishing a new definition whereby e-bikes with a limited power output rating (250 or 500 watts, depending on the rider’s age) and a speed capability of no more than 32 km/h fall outside motor-vehicle licensing and related rules. The definition also restricts the use of a throttle, which functions like a car’s gas pedal, to draw electric power.
In the past, the main constraint on cyclists’ speed on public roads was the strength of the rider’s legs. With the increase in speed offered by electric motors, a new approach became necessary, sometimes addressed at the manufacturing stage with motors that cut out when a specific speed is reached. These speed limiters (which also exist for cars and trucks), when installed by reputable manufacturers, cannot be modified easily. These limiters differ from the standard approach to cars, which are manufactured and marketed for speeds that far exceed legal limits, leaving governments with the expensive (and usually futile) task of enforcing limits or to (re)design roads to discourage excess speed.
Lawmakers in Ontario have been slower to catch up, although a new regulatory proposal for e-bikes is in the works. The existing Ontario law relies on a federal definition, repealed in 2021 (but not replaced), that limits motor power and vehicle weight. Some retailers take advantage of the apparent void by relying exclusively on the provincial requirement for operable pedals, attaching largely ornamental pedals on powerful e-bikes, then claiming that no driver’s licence is needed. In a 2014 case, a court decided that a moped was a motor vehicle because the rider, whose licence was under suspension for drunk driving, was on a vehicle with inoperable pedals, one of them stored under his seat.
In the past, the main constraint on cyclists’ speed on public roads was the strength of the rider’s legs.Sarah Palmer/The Globe and Mail
Toronto, for example, further elaborates on provincial laws by specifying which types of e-bikes are allowed in which bikeways. These bylaws are meant to ensure that riders of all ages and abilities, including prospective riders, feel safe in bikeways. Mopeds that are limited to a 32-km/h capability are allowed on paint-only bike lanes (where passing other cyclists is easier), but are prohibited in cycle tracks demarcated by protections such as cement curbstones. E-bikes that require some muscular power are allowed in all bikeways, including off-road trails, provided they weigh less than 40 kg. The same rule applies to cargo e-bikes that are popular with parents to carry young children. The complexity ensures that enforcement is largely non-existent.
Food couriers are an easily identified target for pedestrians’ ire and lawmakers’ attention – perhaps ironic given that the same couriers were hailed as heroes early in the pandemic. Some couriers roll along sidewalks on their way to pick up orders at restaurants, sometimes directly beside bike lanes. It’s unclear if this conduct is due to indifference or ignorance of the law – or time pressures created by their jobs. Consumers want their meals to arrive fast and hot. On dangerous arterials with no bike lanes, food couriers who ride on sidewalks with little foot traffic might be pardoned for prioritizing their own safety.
Electric kick scooters, which don’t resemble bikes except for their two tiny wheels, have also been drawn into the e-bike debate under the broader term “micromobility.” These scooters, on which the rider stands on a platform, require no physical exertion. The e-scooter’s greatest advantages are also its greatest risks to other road users: nimble operation, portability and speed. Some riders weave between pedestrians on sidewalks, then park them willy-nilly, posing a particular hazard for visually impaired individuals. Advocates for the blind call these e-scooters a “silent menace.”
Toronto, with bike lanes on only 4 per cent of its roads, continues to lag leaders such as Vancouver and Montreal.COLE BURSTON/The Canadian Press
Hamilton and Ottawa are among cities participating in an Ontario electric kick scooter pilot, which prescribes a maximum speed of 24 km/h. Some models have a speed capacity of 40 km/h or more – ideal for the person in a hurry, provided they don’t hit a pothole. Toronto declined to take part in the pilot, despite aggressive lobbying by corporations pushing rental services, but the scooters are nonetheless common in the city. In Montreal, the city initially allowed the scooters, but later banned them citing reckless use and careless parking. Some proponents suggest that governments would do better to focus on the danger of cars, but the argument misses the point that pedestrians are entitled to treat sidewalks as a refuge. Cities are wise to be cautious before allowing the scooters, given unproven claims about tech capacity to keep them off sidewalks.
In charting a way forward for e-bikes, governments need to develop balanced solutions that require safe e-bikes and safe conduct while encouraging further growth in use.
First, governments need to regulate the food-delivery apps. In fact, Toronto City Council recently asked Queen’s Park for the authority to license these companies, which engage thousands of couriers on e-bikes. The companies could be obliged to properly train their riders – who are currently treated as “independent contractors” – offer safe charging stations and ensure that riders’ e-bikes, and potentially flammable electric batteries, are in good working order and meet applicable rules. The companies could likewise be required to provide secure overnight parking, thus reducing stress on GO’s Toronto region trains, which are often inundated with e-bikes when couriers, many of whom can’t afford to live in the city, go home. In short, costs that are foisted upon lowly paid couriers and the public should be shifted to corporate owners. Indeed, the companies’ licences should include a phase-out of delivery by car – to be replaced by e-bikes – given the absurdity of transporting 500-gram burgers in 1,500-kg cars.
Second, provinces must put funded cycling education in schools, as is already happening in British Columbia. The education-in-schools approach is far superior to tiresome calls for bike licensing, which is ineffective and typically devoid of cycling instruction. Children would learn valuable lifelong skills, while cycling and related clean modes of transportation would get a boost in legitimacy. These initiatives should be buttressed with funded programs for adults who want to learn to ride a bike. Adult education should extend to motorists, many of whom were tested for their driver’s licence long before bike lanes or e-bikes even existed.
Third, governments should standardize e-bike definitions, ideally at the federal level, or at least with federal co-ordination of the provinces. A key goal is to implement a system that allows for the easy identification of e-bikes that require a driver’s licence, and facilitate enforcement against false claims by retailers. And all levels of government would do well to assess electric-vehicle subsidies in terms of the payback in greenhouse-gas reductions. Low-powered e-bikes may well be the best investment of public dollars.
Along with these changes, cities must redouble their efforts to build cycling infrastructure. Toronto, with bike lanes on only 4 per cent of its roads, continues to lag leaders such as Vancouver and Montreal. The busiest bike lanes must also be widened to allow for safe passing.
By taking these actions, we can reduce gridlock, cut harmful emissions and make our roads safer for everyone.