RIVER FALLS — After River Falls City Council members clarified a few final questions, they unanimously passed the electric bicycle and scooter ordinance at the July 14 meeting.

As described in the article from the June 24 meeting, the ordinance would lay out the following definitions:

Class 1 electric bicycles would be welcomed on any sidewalk that allows bicycle use; Class 2 and 3 electric bikes would be prohibited from use on city sidewalks. Electric scooters could be used on sidewalks and bike paths that allow bicycle use. City documents define electric bicycle classes as follows:

• Class 1 Electric Bicycle means an electric bicycle equipped with a motor that provides assistance only when the rider is pedaling and that ceases to provide assistance when the bicycle reaches the speed of 20 miles per hour.
• Class 2 Electric Bicycle means an electric bicycle that may be powered solely by the motor and is not capable of providing assistance when the bicycle reaches the speed of 20 miles per hour.
• Class 3 Electric Bicycle means an electric bicycle equipped with a motor that provides assistance only when the rider is pedaling and that ceases to provide assistance when the bicycle reaches the speed of 28 miles per hour.

By law, each electric bicycle would require a sticker to identify what class they are.

Council member Sean Downing asked if there will be signage considerations as plans are made for bike path and pedestrian safety.

“Appropriate signage would be covered in the plan. I don’t know that there’s a specific plan for where or which signs will be placed in what locations,” City Administrator Scot Simpson said. “Whenever we do construction projects through the plan or through the grant that we’ve applied for, we’ve considered the impact for multi-modal uses for all of our right-of-ways.”

There are plans for safety islands as well as modifications to bump outs up for consideration.
“I think we could do some more work on education for folks,” Simpson said of pedestrian safety. “We haven’t done any kind of massive education, but now with the new ordinance change, it will give us an opportunity to consider all of those things.”

City Attorney Chris Gierhart said the officers will likely give out warnings at first, with first cited offenses resulting in a forfeiture of $5-500 and second offenses and beyond landing a forfeiture of $10-1,000. The citations would also tack on court costs, similar to when a citation for speeding is given.

Police Chief Gordon Young said the focus will first be on education rather than giving out citations after each violation.