Fast electric bikes and motorcycles are making a well-used East Bay pedestrian and bicycle trail feel less safe, according to a community-run survey.
Danville Safety Advocates, led by Danville resident and former Army colonel Alan Kalin, released a 150-page document last month about a stretch of the Iron Horse trail, a route that runs from the Tri-Valley to San Ramon, Danville, Pleasant Hill and other cities. Kalin’s unscientific survey of trail users over six weeks in August and September found that out of 1,064 responses nearly two-thirds — 62% — said they’d seen an e-bike cyclist speeding, 46% said they were passed too closely by one, and 80% felt unsafe around them.
“The concerns reflect a trail used by children, seniors, people with disabilities and mobility aids, parents with strollers, dog walkers, pedestrians, conventional bicyclists, and lawful e-bike riders,” the “Danville Iron Horse Trail Safety Report” said.
Kalin told The Oaklandside, Richmondside’s sister publication, that it’s been clear for years that the trail has become congested and that many trail users have become concerned for their safety.
“You see 12-year-olds on illegal bikes at 35 miles an hour,” he said. “ Do you know of any 12-year-olds with driver’s licenses?”
The report notes that Contra Costa County’s June 2020 Iron Horse Corridor Active Transportation Study found that the 10-foot-wide trail could create “uncomfortable conditions and conflicts among users traveling at different speeds” and recommended separating Iron Horse Trail users “by speed or mode, with separate space for faster.” Another study, by the city of Dublin in 2017, also identified conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists on the trail. East Bay Regional Park District 2020 to 2023 data cited in the report showed that pedestrians made up 57% of users, and cyclists 43% of users, on one section of trail (Love Lane), with pedestrians making up 69% of users and cyclists 31% of users on another trail section (Treat Boulevard in Walnut Creek).
Danville Safety Advocates are calling for a pilot on the Iron Horse trail similar to the 2023 two-year Briones Pilot Project, which limited some trails to biking and horseback riding only on some days of the week. That pilot led to the Briones Special Management Area, which set use restrictions for some trails.
Kalin said one of the big problems his group’s survey found was that e-bike riders were “boosting” legal bikes to go faster. The fastest bike allowed on trails in the East Bay is a Class II bike, which is supposed to top out at 20 miles per hour. The faster e-bike riders, he said, are causing havoc.
Kalin shared one example, which he said occurred on Oct. 1. An elementary school student rider collided with another student, Kalin said, sending him to the hospital. Kalin said he was riding his own bike when he noticed blood on the ground and rode to the scene. He said that the presence of an adult authority figure could have prevented that crash by telling the child that their bike was not allowed on the trail.
“You can have a conversation at a checkpoint with an e-bike rider,” he said. “Right now cyclists are going down and dogs are getting hit.”
Since Kalin’s survey was not randomized and did not follow scientific methods, the East Bay Regional Park District would need to lead its own study before drawing conclusions. The park district said it does not currently have a plan for one.
A state law defines an e-bike
There has been rising concern about an influx of fast electric bikes on trails in the East Bay, including among opponents of a proposed bike flow trail in Wildcat Canyon.
In 2023, the East Bay Regional Park District, which governs Iron Horse trail and multiple trails in Richmond and the East Bay, approved Class I e-bikes on 850 miles of the system’s 1,330 miles of trails and Class II bikes on the system’s paved trails. Class I e-bikes require pedaling, while Class II e-bikes also have throttles; both top out at 20 miles per hour. While Class II and III e-bikes, electric motorcycles and electric scooters are not allowed on unpaved trails, some trail users have observed them there.
A new law signed by Governor Gavin Newsom last month, Senate Bill 1167, sought to clarify the difference between e-bikes and e-motorcycles to help public agencies better manage safety. The law says a bike can’t be labeled an e-bike and used alongside pedaled bikes if its engine is over 750 watts and clarifies that the more powerful e-motos are for use on roadways.
Danville Town Manager Tai Williams reported last summer that the city’s data did not find a “current pattern of widespread injury” due to e-bikes but that “observed behavior — particularly among younger, less experienced riders operating higher-speed devices — reflects an emerging risk profile consistent with trends identified elsewhere.”
Williams said local bicycle advocacy groups, including Bike East Bay, which advocates for safe streets in Richmond, El Cerrito and other East Bay cities, have said Danville’s lack of protected bike lanes can push e-motorists there onto sidewalks and trails.
In a June 22 meeting of the park district’s Park Advisory Committee, a presentation by Bike East Bay, the Bicycle Trails Council of East Bay, and the California Mountain Biking Coalition found that a third of bike-related incidents on the Iron Trail in 2016 were due to e-bikes, more than double the 15% of incidents on the Contra Costa Canal Regional Trail that are e-bike-related. Their takeaway was that the difficulties with e-bikes weren’t primarily due to their speeding power, but to the lack of safe bike paths surrounding the Iron Trail.
Robert Prinz, a safe streets advocate with Bike East Bay, said at the meeting that it appeared that overcrowding on a limited trail network, “whether it’s a legal or illegal device,” led to conflicts. Prinz noted that San Ramon passed a bike plan in 2018 that recommended protected bikeways, whose construction might have reduced demand on the main Iron trail. But they haven’t yet been built.
More data was needed, he said, to make an informed determination about policies surrounding e-bikes on trails. He pointed to The Mineta Transportation Institute’s report about California e-bike safety, which found that many state collision reports don’t distinguish between conventional and electric bikes.
The report did include data on e-bike collisions in California, which rose from one in 2017 to 961 in 2024. Collisions involving the more widely used conventional bikes dropped from 12,493 to 10,372 in the same period.
New rules of the road
Have a concern about EBRPD bike safety?
East Bay Regional Park District visitors can report reckless cycling and other non-emergency trail violations to the district’s Police Department through the Park Watch Report system or by calling its non-emergency line at (510) 881-1833.
According to an East Bay Regional Park District presentation at the June meeting, the district’s public affairs team has built a communications campaign that seeks to remind e-bike riders to slow down on trails. Several of its Volunteer Trail Safety Patrol members have reached out directly to riders on trails, and the park district has shared visuals through its newsletter and social media posts showing the “nice” way to share a trail and encouraging riders to avoid speeding recklessly past pedestrians.
In an email message, park district spokesperson Jen Vanya said that its police department “encourages all visitors to practice courtesy and share our trails responsibly.” She said that cyclists have a particular responsibility to consider their speed and surroundings because they can easily approach other people on trails more “quickly than anticipated.”
Vanya said the district has issued six main safety recommendations for cyclists:
- Ride no faster than 15 mph and slow to 5 mph when passing;
- Announce your presence verbally and by using a bell;
- Yield to pedestrians and equestrians;
- Allow for “adequate space” when passing;
- Slow down at blind corners and other areas of limited visibility; and
- Stay on designated trails.
“Our primary message is that cyclists should ride at a speed that allows them to react safely to changing trail conditions,” she said. “Announcing your presence is important, but it does not replace the responsibility to slow down and yield.”
The park district’s Responsible Multi-Use Trail Rules and Biking Rules and Guidelines provide additional information about safe trail usage. Vanya said the district has a program called Borrow a Bike Bell in a couple of parks, including Briones Regional Park, that allows cyclists to borrow a bell to use in the park if they don’t have one.
Bike advocacy groups have created their own materials to promote safe riding alongside pedestrians and to teach people about e-bike and e-motorcycle classifications. The Rails to Trails Conservancy built a page laying out the pros and cons of allowing so-called micromobility devices on trails, while the Trails Are Common Ground organization has built identification guides that help trail users discern between the wide variety of electrified devices.
