Interesting discussion from ON / TO about rules regarding e-bikes vs scooters and their place on the road / bike lane / pathways... Don't let dimwitted rules push e-bikes off the roadsTerence Corcoran, National Post · Oct. 29, 2011

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/dimwitted+rules+push+bikes+roads/5626449/st...

I love my e-bike and I'm here to defend it. Save the E-Bike! - the real, the genuine and the only e-bike - is a campaign I hope my fellow opinion mongers here at the National Post will join.

More directly, this is an appeal to Peter Kuitenbrouwer and Chris Selley, who recently wrote columns on e-bikes, to take a fresh look at the issue, refine their views and sign up for a rational and consistent e-bike policy for Toronto. If we do not do this, one of the greatest two-wheel transportation concepts since the invention of the bicycle could be lost to this great city.

The true e-bike is one with working muscle-powered pedals and an electric battery assist. Thanks to dimwitted policy from the provincial government, the e-bike is being driven off the market in Ontario. The province has created such confusion that both Mr. Kuitenbrouwer and Mr. Selley took positions that came down solidly in favour of two opposite policy options that are both wrong.

The Kuitenbrouwer policy: Ban all e-bikes from bicycle lanes and force bikers and their aggressive speeding machines to be licensed as the equivalent of motorcycles that must drive on regular roadways. "Pedal a bicycle or go slug it out in traffic with cars," he wrote in a recent column.

The Selley policy: Leave the e-bikes alone. Let them use bike lanes. The problem isn't the e-bikes, it's the e-bikers. "Cyclists and e-cyclists alike do stupid things out there. But let's hate the sinner, not his ride."

I will now drive down the middle of this debate on my e-bike, the Schwinn I-Zip Electric Bike, purchased about four years ago from Canadian Tire for an end-of-season bargain price of about $350.

It has an excellent gearing system. If I want, I can pedal the I-Zip from a standing start to typical bike speeds; it's heavy, so the start-up is slow by Tour de France standards. Alternatively, since my knees are a wreck, I usually turn on the battery, turn the right handlebar power grip, and gently power the bike forward.

At any speed, I can pedal my I-Zip or engage the electric power assist, or do both. As anybody with bad knees can tell you, pedalling uphill is a killer. My I-Zip takes me up hills painlessly and with great ease. Coasting down to the Lake Shore from midtown is always a pleasure. With my I-Zip, so is the ride back up.

The I-Zip looks like a bicycle and rides like a bicycle, although purists still scoff at the idea. Cycle enthusiasts believe riding should be work by definition. They view bicycles as machines to crank up their cardio-vascular systems. To them, a bicycle with power is a contradiction. "What's the point?"

One point is fun, enjoyment. Bicycles, after all, originated as leisure vehicles. The point is being able to enjoy them without the pain. For older people, e-bikes can open up the pleasure of cycling that age might have taken away.

The first problem with the Kuitenbrouwer/Selley positions is that they are not talking about e-bikes. Both their columns were accompanied by pictures of e-scooters, and both columns consistently referred to e-bikes and e-scooters as if they were one and the same. But e-scooters are not e-bikes, a distinction that is carefully made by lawmakers in Europe and the United States. It is a distinction that Toronto's scooter retailers consistently obscure and fail to make.

Thanks to bungled provincial rules, electric scooters are treated as bicycles, even though their pedals are awkwardly placed and rarely used. Like bicycles, they require nothing more than the cash to buy the scooter. "No pollution, no gas, no licence, no insurance, no tickets, no parking fees, no noise, no brainer," touts one retailer. Drive anywhere - on the street, middle of lanes, in bike lanes. How did the province come to this policy? Whatever its origins, the effect has been to create a surge of interest in electric scooters and to squelch interest in genuine e-bikes.

The City of Toronto has an opposite and equally dumb rule. In the city's view, e-bikes and e-scooters are the same. All motor-powered vehicles are banned from park pathways. And only "muscle-powered vehicles" are allowed in bike paths on city streets.

Smarter rules exist elsewhere. In Europe, where e-biking (as opposed to e-scootering) is more advanced, rules allow e-bikes on bike lanes but force e-scooters out into regular traffic.

Jeff McGuane, president of the Cycling Sports Group of Dorel Industries of Montreal - which makes Schwinn, Cannondale and other e-bike models - says "strict regulations" differentiate e-bikes from e-scooters in Europe. E-bikes must be pedal-operated (e-scooters are not) and the power assist from the battery is limited to certain speeds and wattage. Rules may vary, but a typical German rule would prevent the use of e-bikes that exceed 30 kilometres an hour or have wattage exceeding 450. Escooters are treated as motorcycles.

The market for e-bikes this year in Europe is about one million, 30 million worldwide, mostly in China. Mr. McGuane says it may be three or four years before North America picks up the trend.

In the United States, federal rules and regulation in states such as Oregon have clear e-bike standards that are well ahead of Ontario's mindless policy. Oregon describes an "electric assisted bicycle" as one with "fully operational pedals for human propulsion and an electric motor" limited to a maximum 1,000 watts. Top speed is limited to 20 miles per hour. The City of Portland, using state definitions, allows e-bikes to use the city's extensive bike-lane infrastructure. In Minnesota, the City of Minneapolis has similar e-bike allowances.

At Schwinn, e-bikes are seen as a future wave. My I-Zip (450 watts, top speed about 20 km/h, range 25 kilometres) isn't available any more at Canadian Tire. Best Buy offers a similar model in the United States, but not in Canada. Mr. McGuane, however, sees a boom coming. More than 10% of all bicycles sold through specialty retailers in Germany and the Netherlands are genuine e-bikes. Schwinn has models in the U.S. priced from $799 to $2,800, with a new Cannondale state-of-the art model boasting a "Bosch power system" that calibrates pedal power and motor output.

But will they ever make it to Toronto? My speculation is that genuine e-bikes were pushed out of the city by a dumb regulation that allowed e-scooters on the road as bicycles. That gave scooter retailers a market advantage at the expense of e-bikes. The policy should be changed and made clear: e-scooters licensed on the road as motorcycles, e-bikes allowed in bike lanes as bicycles.

tcorcoran@nationalpost.com