Petition asks Albuquerque City Council to pump the brakes on e-bikes in the Bosque
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Albuquerque City Council is pushing to allow e-bikes in the Bosque, along with other unpaved open spaces around the city; but some want to pump the brakes on this move, saying without careful thought it could make trails more dangerous.
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News 13 spoke with one woman who has gathered hundreds of signatures to table the ordinance. Terry Storch, a longtime Albuquerque resident, said the public didn’t have enough time to weigh in on this issue.
“I come out to open spaces three or four times a week, I would say,” Storch said, “I hike with friends in the open spaces on the east side like Elena Gallegos and then also at the volcanoes over on the west side so yeah, I’m familiar with most of the open spaces.”
However, a proposed ordinance working its way through city council caught her attention. “What that will do is it will open up all trails in all of Albuquerque’s open spaces, so paved and unpaved single-track trails, to all three classes of e-bikes,” Storch said. At least, open spaces that don’t share their jurisdiction with another agency.
Sponsored by City Councilor Brook Bassan, the ordinance defines e-bikes in terms of their three classifications within the law and also creates a 20-mile-per-hour speed limit for those e-bikes. It says it would help those with disabilities and others access these trails.
However, Storch wants lawmakers to pump the brakes. “What I and some others are hoping to do is to have that tabled so that there is sufficient time to notify the public about this so that there can be robust public input; because that hasn’t happened yet. And so that there can be careful planning so that it is safe for all the users.”
“So it’s safe for disabled and older users who might be using e-bikes, so it’s safer for hikers, so it’s safer for horse people, parents with kids in strollers, kids on little bikes,” Storch said, because not all open space trails are the same.
“Especially here in the Bosque and over in Elena Gallegos, you can see many trails twist, turn, go up and down and line of sight is very difficult. When you have a fast e-bike that can go 20 miles an hour and that weighs 50 pounds—that’s an average—that can be dangerous so planning means safety for everyone,” Storch said.
She’s been making the rounds at trailheads with her petition for the past six weeks and says she has gathered hundreds of signatures. She says not only does she fear for people’s safety on trails, but warns there aren’t resources to enforce a speed limit.
“I feel that our parks and recreation department that does a marvelous job is gonna be behind the eight ball scrambling to keep up with this,” Storch said. “Because when this passes, it will be greenlight, everybody can be there; and that’s not a good way to plan something like this that a lot of people care about.”
Patrick Martin, a board member with BikeABQ, said they support allowing certain types of e-bikes on paved bike trails to help commuters use better routes; however, did not comment on whether e-bikes should be allowed on unpaved trails. “Our reaction to this really is that certainly the way the law is written right now for electric bikes is not the best way it could be,” Martin says.
KRQE News 13 reached out to Councilor Bassan to discuss this ordinance but did not hear back.
KRQE News 13 also reached out to the city’s Parks and Recreation Department about this ordinance. They responded in a statement:
The Parks & Recreation Department (PRD) is working closely with City Council on the ordinance and has evaluated other cities’ e-bike programs and taken public input. We continue to evaluate best practices and listen to the community as the ordinance moves through the legislative process.
Emily Moore, marketing and communications coordinator, Albuquerque Parks and Recreation Department
Albuquerque City Council is back in session on August 5.
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