Long Beach, on Long Island, has become the latest community to tighten the rules on where e-bikes and electric scooters can be ridden. The crackdown arrives just as the area heads into what is shaping up to be a busy summer season, when the seafront draws far heavier crowds.
The Long Beach Boardwalk is a popular destination for cyclists, especially as summer approaches and the weather begins to warm up. Even through the winter months, the boardwalk has regularly drawn people out on their bicycles, a number that typically swells once the season turns.
Now the local rules are changing for a specific category of riders. The Long Beach City Council has approved a new ordinance that effectively bans e-bikes and e-scooters from the boardwalk, as well as from many of the sidewalks across the city. The measure singles out electric-powered models rather than pedal cycles.
For some who use the boardwalk, the change cannot come soon enough. One resident said that every time they are up there, they are almost run over by a bike, pointing to riders heading in the wrong direction and weaving in and out of foot traffic. Those near misses have fed the push for clearer limits.
Importantly, the new rule does not shut bicycles out altogether. The city is not banning regular bicycles, and riders can still use them on the boardwalk as long as they stay within the designated center lane set aside for that purpose. The distinction is between human-powered cycles and the faster electric machines.
The timing is no accident, with officials acting before the summer rush rather than during it. As the warmer weather pulls more cyclists, walkers and visitors onto the boardwalk, the council is betting that drawing a firm line on e-bikes and e-scooters now will ease the crowding and the safety worries that residents have raised.