Rules changing for e-bikes, e-scooters on King County's regional trails (2024)

As more people swap their old bicycles or cars for electric bikes, the 175-mile network of paved trails in King County may become less a place for a weekend adventure and more of an integral piece of the region’s commuter transportation network.

The Metropolitan King County Council last week passed the biggest update to county park rules since the 1980s. Aside from tweaks shortening the length of leashes dogs must be kept on and updating criteria the parks director uses to set fees, the changes include new rules allowing e-bikes and e-scooters on regional trails, as well as the approval of a study that could open up the trails to riding after dark.

When the changes take effect later this month, the county’s vast network of trails — from the celebrated 27-mile Burke-Gilman Trail to the little-known 3.6-mile East Plateau Trail — will be governed by the same rules the state, Seattle, and Snohomish and Pierce counties have for trails allowing e-bikes and e-scooters.

King County’s 215 miles of unpaved, backcountry trails will remain off-limits to such vehicles.

Council members and trail advocates say the new e-bike rule will unlock the network’s potential in the region’s growing multifaceted transportation system.

Eastside Councilmember Claudia Balducci said the pieces of a connected bike network don’t exist in the way they do for automobiles, from driveway to highway.

Opening up the trails to e-bikes could help change that.

“An analogy for the super highway is the graded, paved, separated trails” in King County, Balducci said. Expanding bikeways also empowers transit use, she said, since bikes can connect the “last mile” between transit station and home or work.

Her sentiment was echoed by trail advocates.

“Regional trails are transit infrastructure. Full stop. They are key pieces to expanding our transportation network,” said Katherine Hollis, executive director of Eastrail Partners, a nonprofit focused on completing the county’s 42-mile Eastrail Trail. “They’re already here. They’re being used. We need to work on how we make these trails for everyone.”

Kelli Refer, executive director of Move Redmond, said her advocacy group recently made a map showing how bicyclists and pedestrians can connect to Sound Transit’s recently completed light rail 2 Line, which she said showed “how obvious our trail system is to help people access light rail and other transit options on the Eastside.”

Electric bikes have technically been around since the 1890s. But modern e-bikes, equipped with rechargeable batteries and high-tech motors that allow riders to go upward of 20 mph for 25 to 75 miles, are a fairly new phenomenon becoming common in the world’s cities, especially in geographically challenging areas like Seattle with its steep inclines.

In the U.S., e-bikes accounted for 18% of all bikes sold in 2023, up from 2% in 2016, according to Bicycle Retailer and Industry News.

Their dominance is more pronounced in Europe, where e-bikes account for 57% of bike sales in the Netherlands, 48% in Germany and 28% in France, according to Bike Europe, an industry publication.

Some state and city lawmakers, and bike advocates, are trying to goad the American market with incentives. According to data from Portland State University’s Transportation Research and Education Center, more than 100 active or proposed incentive programs exist nationwide, offered by governments, utility companies, universities and employers.

Ten states have such programs, either actively doling out incentives or in the works after legislative approval. On Wednesday, Minnesota briefly launched its income-based rebate program offering up to $1,500 toward purchasing an e-bike, but shut it down due to technical issues for an indefinite time.

Washington legislators approved a rebate program in 2023 providing $300 off e-bikes, with an additional $900 off for people with low incomes, but it has yet to be launched. Hannah Weinberger, spokesperson with the state’s Active Transportation Division, said in an email that the program “will likely take several more months” before it’s ready, and encouraged people to buy an e-bike without the rebate if they could afford it.

The average price of an e-bike is between $2,000 and $3,000, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Studies have shown that e-bike owners drive less and bike more.

A study published in Transportation Research in 2017 described the results of a trial in the U.K., where participants were loaned e-bikes for six to eight weeks. They rode, on average, 15 to 20 miles a week, and reduced their car mileage by 20%.

Another study in the same publication from 2020 found that people increased their daily bicycle use from 1.5 to 6 miles, after buying an e-bike, and said the e-bike “has a strong potential to shift people from motorised to active transport.”

Many types of e-bikes

E-bike popularity has led to a raft of new federal and state rules, mainly focused on speed and safety. To meet federal regulations, bicycle manufacturers developed a three-tier classification system for e-bikes.

Class 1 limits speeds to 20 mph, and the motor only provides power when the rider is pedaling, also known as pedal assist.

Class 2 also keep speeds to 20 mph, but allows the use of a throttle, no pedaling necessary.

Class 3 have top speeds of 28 mph, but only by pedal assist. This class of bikes is intended for long-range bicyclists and is generally not meant to be used on urban trails. Most states limit these bikes to people 16 and older.

King County’s new rules restrict the type of e-bikes allowed on regional trails to classes 1 and 2, and speeds will be limited to 15 mph.

Federal law doesn’t allow e-scooters on trails built with federal dollars, so the vehicles won’t be allowed on parts of the 11-mile East Lake Sammamish Trail, and the still incomplete 16-mile Lake to Sound Trail between Renton and Des Moines. E-bikes, however, are allowed on those segments.

At Tuesday’s meeting, council members discussed an amendment from Balducci — whose district includes the Eastrail Trail and the 2 Line — that would expand the hours the county’s trails are open, currently set from a half-hour before sunrise to a half-hour after sunset.

The county will study expanding the hours, examining safety and legal constraints, as well as how much it would cost to light the trails for use after dark.

Balducci said the study’s results could influence the upcoming King County parks levy, a six-year levy that accounts for 80% of the county’s parks budget and is expected to be on the ballot for voter renewal in November 2025.

“There are a number of hurdles we’d have to overcome to expand trail hours,” she said. “When people get injured on our trails there’s a liability issue. The county can be hit up for a lot of money if trails are used for transportation and someone gets hurt.”

But Balducci said limiting the hours hobbles the trail network’s prospect as a commuter system.

“We routinely talk about trails as being roads or highways or even superhighways for nonmotorized means of transport,” she said at the meeting. “But for people who depend on this growing trail network to get to work, school or do trips with transit, this is not possible, especially when you think about the middle of winter when the sun rises around 8 a.m. and sets before 5. Our roads are open 24/7 and our trails are barely open eight hours during the winter.”