Are e-bikes actually allowed on the Houston and Harris County trails?
A pesky question probably asked by someone who was lucky enough to receive a new set of wheels this holiday season: are e-bikes really allowed on the trails and bike paths in Houston and Harris County ?
The answer is a definite yes, according to David Fields, Houston’s chief transportation planner. This is despite signs prohibiting motorized vehicles on certain trails that could lead to confusion. As one of Houston’s newest e-bike riders, I kept wondering if the “no motor vehicle” line on a sign posted near the Keegans Bayou Trail was right for me. Other signs, like the one on the nearby Brays Bayou trail, prohibit all-terrain vehicles, but little else.
An electric bicycle looks a lot like a traditional bicycle, but it is also powered by an electric motor developing up to 750 watts which helps the bicycle reach speeds between 20 and 28 mph. Across the country, and seen on Houston’s cycle paths day by day, more and more people are abandoning their traditional car or bicycle for an electric bicycle.
The Houston area is home to a constantly expanding network of very comfortable cycle paths and the bayou greenway trails, which allow cyclists, pedestrians and anyone in between to traverse the area without having to deal with the chaos of traffic. What used to be (and honestly still is) a car-centric city continues to nod to other modes of transportation in this way, but the improvements are far from over.
Being such an emerging technology, I can’t tell if anyone else was so curious about traffic signs. But I think it’s safe to assume that someone on their first e-bike ride this week is asking the same question.
Cities cannot ban electric bicycles from the paths and trails intended for traditional bicycles, no matter NIMBY insists the contrary.
Jay R. Jordan / Chron staffCities, counties and other authorities cannot ban electric bikes from any paved road or path that is also intended for traditional bicycle use, according to the Texas Transportation Code. E-bikes can only be banned on natural dirt roads that don’t require any type of gravel or other material to be made, but any bans would have to be approved by a governing body like the Houston City Council or the County Commissioners Court. by Harris.
A governing body can impose speed limits for bicycles on trails and paths, but limiting the speed on Harris County trails has been a proven approach to regulating cyclists. In December 2020, then District 3 Commissioner Steve Radack put up 10mph limit signs along the trails in Terry Hershey Park, one of his last acts as commissioner after Tom Ramsey was elected to replace him. The signs aroused the indignation of some cyclists, who saw themselves as a scapegoat for safety concerns on the county’s narrowest trails.
Ramsey then ordered county staff to remove the speed limit signs and replace them with signs indicating how everyone on the trail can make it safer, according to Dug Begley of the Houston Chronicle. (Chron and the Houston Chronicle are both owned by Hearst but operate independently of each other.)
However, sidewalks are regulated differently. The transport code allows municipalities to ban bicycles and other modes of transport on sidewalks. Houston prohibits any type of bicycle on the sidewalks in a business district, especially in the city center. Although it is not an electric bicycle, electric scooters are also prohibited on city sidewalks.
If you haven’t found one hidden under your tree while on vacation, electric bikes can be rented from BCycle stations throughout Houston.