The City of Parkville has legalized the use of electric bicycles on trails in city parks.
The unanimous vote for final approval came at the Tuesday, Dec. 3 meeting of the board of aldermen, but not until after some discussion about what the legalization does and does not mean.
Alderman Dave Rittman was concerned the electric bikes could be abandoned in the city parks, on sidewalks or anywhere in the city. He cited problems municipalities have had with motorized rental scooters, which could end up ‘littering the trails.’
Aldermen noted that electric bicycles are a separate vehicle from rental scooters, but alderman Doug Wylie had a hypothetical situation for the board. He said legalization of electric bikes could pave the way for motorized scooters, such as those seen in downtown Kansas City.
“By permitting everything to be used in the parks, everything could be abused in the parks,”he said.
Wylie admitted that a situation where someone from another municipality may dump an electric bike or scooter in Parkville would be a random incident, he felt it warranted discussion.
Director of public works Alysen Abel said the subject was brought up by BikeWalk KC — a non-profit entity seeking to expand transportation options around the metro area — which had presented dockless electric bikes to the Community Land and Recreation Board (CLARB). After discussions, CLARB voted unanimously to recommend approval of an ordinance allowing use of electric bikes in old town district parks and trails at its November meeting.
The legalization potentially starts a process, but does not include a service contract with BikeWalk KC or any other provider. Further discussions would be held before any service contract could be approved.
Abel said most providers have staff that locate dockless vehicles at the end of each day and return them to their proper starting locations to charge.
Alderman Marc Sportsman said the electric bicycles are pricey, and he doubts service providers or private owners would allow them to pile up unattended.
He said he hopes this legalization could assist Park University students to use electric bikes to safely travel in the city.
The next steps, Abel said, would be to allow BikeWalk KC and other potential providers to present their product to the board of aldermen and research how other cities integrated small motorized vehicles into their city parks and trails.