It seems all manner of e-bikes are popping up across Santa Cruz County more and more—on trails, in streets, outside schools and grocery stores. Sometimes, the e-bikes are even carrying two passengers at a time as they zip down the roadway.
The electrified two-wheelers are more popular than ever and are giving thousands of local residents a new way to exercise, explore and, perhaps most importantly, commute around town without falling prey to the county’s notoriously hellish traffic.
But with anything new and widely available, e-bikes have presented some challenges. Stories continue to surface about local residents having dangerously close encounters with e-bikes along public sidewalks and some in the community are voicing concerns about safety protocols and methods for ensuring each rider has basic competencies before hitting the streets.
Matt Miller is a program manager with Ecology Action where he has worked to promote the usage of bicycles as a safe, viable, convenient and clean transportation option.
Miller has been using and studying e-bikes for years and recently joined Talk of the Bay for an in-depth discussion about the county’s hottest transportation topic. We’ll ask Miller what he’s seeing in terms of local trends on the ground, what the rules of the road are, what sorts of models are legal/illegal and much, much more.
Photo: A standard BMC e-bike with a yellow pannier. Credit: Matt Miller
