Long Beach e-bike crackdown: Riders on boardwalk to face heftier fines

The Long Beach City Council last week increased fines for electric bicycle riders who illegally ride their vehicles on the boardwalk or sidewalk as a deterrent to what a spokesman called the top complaint from the public.

Long Beach City Council on July 16 increased the fines for violating traffic code from a minimum of $50 to a maximum of $500, up from a range of $2 to $250.

A city ordinance makes it illegal to ride vehicles, including "motorized" bicycles, bicycles and tricycles, on pedestrian thoroughfares but makes an exception for riding bicycles and tricycles on the boardwalk provided they are in the bike lane, powered by human exertion and traveling at "reasonable" speeds.

E-bikes, also known as pedal-assist bikes, can add motorized power to human pedaling and some models can power the bike without human pedaling.

"E-bikes on the boardwalk and elsewhere are probably the number one complaint we receive" from the public, city spokesman John McNally said Monday, adding that complaints have increased "over the last couple of years."

City manager Daniel Creighton said at the council meeting the change was intended to stop people from riding their e-bikes at high speeds on the boardwalk.

“One of the reasons that we first started looking at it [the traffic code] was e-bikes, to make sure that we were we were hitting that,” Creighton said. “The idea that a $2 fine would stop anybody from using an e-bike is absurd . . . [It's] not even worth the cop’s time to give the ticket.”

The city code generally prohibits using vehicles — including bicycles and tricycles — on “pedestrian ways” such as sidewalks, the boardwalk and the beach. The code does allow bicycles and tricycles to be ridden on the boardwalk in the center lane, which is designated and clearly marked as a bicycle lane but prohibits “motorized bicycle riding” and “motorized tricycle riding” on the boardwalk. 

In 2020, New York lawmakers legalized e-bikes in state traffic laws, dividing them into three classes.

Class 1 e-bikes can engage a motor to increase the power of pedaling but the motor doesn’t propel the bike on its own. Class 2 e-bikes can increase the power of human pedaling or propel the bike solely through the motor. The motors on Class 1 and 2 e-bikes can provide assistance for speeds of up to 20 mph. 

Class 3 e-bikes are legal only in New York City and can be powered solely by an electric motor at speeds of up to 25 mph.

It's unclear whether Long Beach’s code allow e-bikes on the boardwalk if they are human-powered without their motors engaged.

McNally said the city's corporation counsel interprets the code as classifying pedal-assist bikes as "motorized bikes" but did not elaborate on whether an e-bike could legally be operated on the boardwalk under human power.

"Officers are able to use their discretion," McNally said. 

The code also allows a potential 15-day jail sentence for violators.

On Monday afternoon, across from the boardwalk restaurant Riptides, three Special Police Officers in blue shirts from the Long Beach Police Department watched a steady flow of bicycles traveling down the bike lane to look for violators. Special Police Officer Fischer, who declined to give his first name, said he hadn't written a ticket Monday for e-bike violations.

"It's the high speed we're concerned about," Fischer said.

Identifying an e-bike can be a challenge, he said. "The biggest sign for us would be someone cruising at a reasonable speed and not pedaling." Another telltale sign, he said, is that electric motors make a different sound than a human-powered bike does when it's coasting. 

The city police department will ask for its own e-bikes in next year’s budget, acting Police Commissioner Richard DePalma said at the July meeting. 

“There are challenges enforcing e-bike regulations on the boardwalk,” DePalma said. “I have a cop on foot and it's hard to catch these bikes.”

Adding e-bikes to the police force’s gear will allow police to “catch up with these people,” DePalma said. The police department has set up checkpoints on the boardwalk to try to stop people from using e-bikes, he said. 

City officials did not provide requested statistics about tickets issued or accidents involving e-bikes. 

Councilman Roy Lester said raising the $2 minimum was reasonable but increasing the top fine from $250 to $500 is not.

“Our solution should be enforcement,” Lester said. “That’s the way it’s going to stop — enforcement, not doubling the fine.”

DePalma said, “It's a combination of both enforcement and fines.”

City spokesman McNally said Friday that the amount of a fine, within the range set in the code, is determined by the judge.

Nearby Atlantic Beach doesn’t allow bikes of any kind on its boardwalk but New York State allows Class 1 and Class 2 pedal-assist bikes on the boardwalk at Jones Beach, according to state parks department rules.

Jacob Spilberg, owner of Long Beach Board Rentals, an online bicycle rental business that delivers rental bikes to customers, said e-bikes are a problem that need to be addressed.

One problem with e-bikes, which he does not rent or store, is that they don’t alert pedestrians that they’re coming with visual cues the way a human-powered bike does, he said.

“These kids are traveling really fast, one hand on the bars, the other hand on the phone and no helmet,” Spilberg said. “And there’s elderly people stepping up the ramp onto the boardwalk and if they look to the left, by the time they look to the right it could be too late.”

Spilberg said stepping up enforcement was important but “the bigger question is can you catch them to deliver the fine? …It doesn’t matter how big you make it if you can’t issue the ticket.”