People who use electronic bicycles, scooters and motorcycles will have new regulations to pay attention to in Kansas City. The Kansas City Council passed new regulations for the vehicles at its meeting Thursday.
The legislation sorts the devices into three categories: e-bikes, scooters and other micro-mobility devices, and electronic motorcycles. It adds age requirements for use, sets speed limits and dictates where each type of vehicle is allowed.
The city will begin a 120-day education period before the rules go into effect. Mayor Quinton Lucas, who sponsored the ordinance, said he believes adding speed and age requirements to operate the vehicles will reduce crashes and injuries.
“E-bikes and scooters are here to stay. They give Kansas Citians, especially our young people, more freedom to get around,” Lucas said in a statement. “We are focused on safety, making sure a 12-year-old isn't going 28 miles an hour down a sidewalk, and that every family knows the rules before someone gets hurt.”
With this ordinance, Kansas City joins Overland Park, Olathe, Leawood, Shawnee, Prairie Village and Fairway in setting age limits and regulating where the electronic devices can be ridden.
E-bikes are bicycles that have a battery to give the bike a boost and go faster, usually with a pedal assist. Electric motorcycles are electronic versions of motorcycles that do not require pedaling and can reach much higher road regulation speeds.
E-bikes and scooters have been rising in popularity in recent years. That increased use has meant injuries are rising along with it.
A large study focused on pediatric patients found that of the more than 15,000 e-bike crashes between 2019 and 2023, only about 4% of them happened in 2019. Nearly 50% of all the crashes occurred in 2023. Another study found that the rate of e-bike and e-scooter injury-related emergency department visits increased 7.5 times among youth under 18 between 2023 and 2026.
Under the new rules, riders of any type of electronic vehicle who are under 18 must wear a helmet. Riders must be 16 or older to operate any vehicle capable of going 20 mph or faster. That includes class 3 e-bikes, which can go up to 28 mph. Riders using e-motos must be 16 or older and have a driver’s license.
E-bikes and scooters will now have a speed limit of 15 mph on sidewalks and 20 mph in bike lanes and on trails. E-motos will be treated like regular vehicles and won’t be allowed on sidewalks, bike lanes or trails.
If a rider is found in violation of these rules, they’ll earn a warning. A second violation will result in a citation that riders can waive by completing a safety class. A third violation will result in a citation and fee. The city will also require businesses that sell e-bikes to post the new rules.
Lucas said the ordinance was built with the input of advocates in the city. The Mid-America Regional Council convened area leaders from both sides of the state line to simplify regulations and create a model ordinance that would create similar rules for the devices across the metro. Transit advocacy group BikeWalkKC participated in that group.
But Rayan Makarem, policy director at BikeWalkKC, said on KCUR’s Up To Date that the group takes issue with some of the changes Kansas City made to the model ordinance the group worked on.
The biggest change the city made puts a speed limit on e-bikes in bike lanes and on trails. The model ordinance did not put a speed limit for e-bikes anywhere but the sidewalk. Makarem pointed out that class 3 e-bikes, which are popular with many adults in the metro, can reach speeds up to 28 mph.
“Passing this ordinance today will criminalize the regular use of an electric bicycle in a bike lane,” Makarem said. “Now you're encouraging people to once more be in the street. In certain cases you have to be because there's no bike lane, but if there is a bike lane, you have made it a problem. That can create another enforcement nightmare.”
BikeWalkKC also advocated against the helmet requirement for children 18 and younger. Makarem stressed that the organization wants everyone to ride with a helmet, but said the helmet requirement can create another set of issues with disproportionate or inadequate enforcement.
“It can create an additional financial burden on people using their bicycles,” Makarem said. “To require helmets without having a helmet program to remedy that and to provide kids with these safety gear is not the ideal situation.”
Ultimately, Makarem said BikeWalkKC accepts the city’s ordinance but will continue to advocate modification to “address these little gaps that have emerged.”
- Rayan Makarem, policy director at BikeWalkKC
