The E-Bike Rider Experience

June 24, 2009

An open letter to

Hon. James J. Bradley

Minister of Transportation of Ontario

Dear Mr. Bradley,

This letter is being written to you on behalf of E-bike riders across Ontario who have been earnestly participating in the E-Bike pilot by purchasing and actually using E-bikes. (more…)

Notes from today’s meeting.

The purpose of the meeting was for the ministry to get feedback from various stakeholders with regard to the e-bike pilot.   The meeting started with a presentation by Teepu Khawja  of the MTO summarizing the current status of the pilot project, a comparison of MTO regulation with other jursidictions and a summary of issues identified during the pilot.  It was also explained that this was the second of three consultations, the first of which occurred during the hearings on the amendments to the Highway Traffic Act.  There will also be opportunities for the general public to comment directly.  I will pass this on when I get the details.

Not as anticipated, the MTO did not present any proposed regulatory solutions to the issues but was just looking to see what the stakeholders had to say so they could formulate solutions.  Each of the invitees was given a chance to comment on their top one or two issues.  Everyone got to speak as long as necessary but generally kept it short so the meeting ended at the specified time (in time for lunch).

In no particular order here are various tidbits from the discussion:

• There were no compelling arguments made by anyone that could be considered showstoppers either in favour of e-bikes or against.
• I think there was general consensus that referring to scooter-style e-bikes as bicycles is just causing semantic arguments that are not productive (e.g. ‘a bicycle must be pedaled’).  This still doesn’t solve the problem of where they should be placed on the road since their speed, power level (but not weight) is similar to a pedaled bicycle.
• It was noted that for the most part there was very little factual information (e.g. number of riders, accident statistics) that would substantiate or refute the safety of e-bikes.
• There were several suggestions that e-bikes should be licensed and insured without a rationale for why this should be so.  Unfortunately, the conversation never got to the point of discussing regulatory strategies that the MTO might apply.
• A woman from the Fire Marshall’s office reported on a case where an e-bike had spontaneously caught fire (not even plugged in and no signs of vandalism), suggesting that battery or other design aspects of e-bike need to be regulated.

Following the meeting, four vendor representatives and myself, let the MTO staff pick, poke, weigh and ride our e-bikes.   This included two Veloteq Cougars and two bicycle style (one or possibly both were fold-ups with lithium batteries).  Larry Davidowitz, who I travelled with supplied one of the Cougars (the other was mine).  Svend from Mobility Unlimitied was also on hand.   My apologies for forgetting the names of the two other gentlemen demoing the fold-ups.

My apologies for not being more detailed.   The MTO promised to forward a copy of their presentation.  When I get this I will pass it on.

Warren