Riverside Did Not Ban E-Bikes on the Santa Ana River Trail
On 22 September the council sent the ordinance back to committee. The draft would have closed city trails, including the Santa Ana River Trail. Councilmember Sean Mill said that was never the intent. Police reported more than 200 calls from 1 January through 1 July, and 22 crashes, with no class split. No return date was set.
By SickEBike desk
The short answer
Riverside did not ban e-bikes on the Santa Ana River Trail. On 22 September 2026 the council unanimously sent the draft back to committee. The draft would have closed city trails, including that one. Police reported more than 200 calls from 1 January through 1 July and 22 crashes, with no Class 1, 2, or 3 split. No return date was set. A sent-back draft is not a rule.
Riverside did not adopt an e-bike ban. On Tuesday 22 September 2026 the City Council unanimously sent a draft ordinance back to the Safety, Wellness and Youth Committee. The Raincross Gazette, Micaela Ricaforte, 24 September, updated 27 September, says the draft as written would have banned electric bikes from city trails, including the Santa Ana River Trail, prohibited e-bikes, scooters, and similar devices in city parks, and required riders to walk those devices through city-owned or city-operated parking lots. The Riverside Record, 23 September, says the same night’s action was to hold off on amending the code, and that Councilmember Philip Falcone was absent. Councilmember Sean Mill, who worked on the draft with Councilmember Chuck Conder, said a trail ban on the Santa Ana River Trail was never the intent. No date was announced for the committee or for a return to the full council. A sent-back draft is not a rule.
Gazette, 24 September 2026. Record, 23 September. Where they disagree, both sentences stay.
| Gazette | Record | |
|---|---|---|
| The vote | Unanimous. Back to committee. Not adopted. | Unanimous. Falcone absent. Further review by the committee. |
| Trails | Would have banned e-bikes on city trails, including the Santa Ana River Trail. | Would have prohibited e-bikes on any trail, including that one. Mill said that language was not supposed to be in the proposal. |
| Parks | Prohibited e-bikes, scooters, and similar devices in city parks. | Prohibited in parks. |
| Parking lots | Walk the devices through city-owned or operated lots. | Prohibited from all city-owned parking lots. Those are not the same sentence. |
| Other conduct in the draft | Unsafe riding: against traffic, failing to yield, stunts. Off-highway electric motorcycles barred from public areas. Parents or guardians could be held responsible for a minor’s violation. | Lights and reflectors at night would have been required. The Record’s complaint figure is more than 200 documented complaints of unsafe riding this year. |
| The numbers | More than 200 e-bike-related calls to dispatch and 311 from 1 January through 1 July, and 22 e-bike-related crashes. Lt. Chad Chinchilla said the 22 did not include a more recent collision that killed two riders. | The Record’s 200 is complaints, not the Gazette’s dispatch-and-311 calls. Do not add them. |
| Class data | Councilmember Luis Hernandez asked how many of the 22 were Class 1, 2, or 3. The department did not have the split. He suggested barring riders under 18 from Class 3. A suggestion is not a vote. | Not a class table. |
| Next | Mill chairs the committee. Members asked staff to revisit Sycamore Canyon Wilderness Park and roads through Fairmount Park. No date. | No adoption. |
Twenty-two crashes, and no class on any of them
The only crash count in the Gazette is 22, for 1 January through 1 July, plus a fatal collision of two riders that Chinchilla said was not inside the 22. Twenty-two plus that crash is not a number the department gave. More than 200 calls in that same window is the other figure, and it is calls, not crashes. The Record’s “more than 200 documented complaints” may be the same pile or a different one. The stories do not say. Hernandez asked for a Class 1, 2, and 3 split and was told it would take a file-by-file review. A ban written before that review would have closed the Santa Ana River Trail to every electric bike, including a Class 1. Mill’s quote is that this was a miscommunication with the Police Department and the City Attorney’s Office, and that it was not supposed to be in the draft.
“It was never our intent at any time to ban the e-bikes from use in the Santa Ana River Trail.” Councilmember Sean Mill, in the Gazette. The draft still contained the ban. The council did not pass it.
What a rider can treat as law tonight
Not this ordinance. It was not adopted. Conder told the Gazette that sidewalk riding and damage to park fields are what got him started. Those complaints are not a new municipal code section until one is voted. A suggestion to bar riders under 18 from Class 3 is Hernandez’s comment, not an age rule. Off-highway motorcycles were in the draft’s public-area ban. That line also failed to become law that night. The class chart still tells a Class 1 bike from a machine with no pedals. It does not close a Riverside trail. The Texas page is what a statute looks like when a paved path and a natural-surface path are actually written down. Riverside has not written the exception, because it has not written the rule.
No video of the 22 September meeting was filed on this page. The next fact that would change it is a committee date, or a draft that says in plain text whether the Santa Ana River Trail is in or out. Until then the trail is not closed by this vote. Corrections go to the desk.
Questions people ask
Are e-bikes banned on the Santa Ana River Trail in Riverside?+
Not by the 22 September 2026 vote. The council sent the draft back to committee. Councilmember Sean Mill said a river-trail ban was never the intent. No return date was announced.
How many e-bike crashes did Riverside police report?+
The Gazette says 22 e-bike-related crashes from 1 January through 1 July, and more than 200 calls to dispatch and 311. The 22 did not include a later fatal collision. The department had no class split.
Did Riverside set a Class 3 age rule?+
No. Councilmember Luis Hernandez suggested barring riders under 18 from Class 3. The ordinance was not adopted, so the suggestion is not a rule.
Keep riding
What Is a Class 1, 2, and 3 E-Bike?
Class 1 is pedal-assist to 20. Class 2 adds a throttle to 20. Class 3 is pedal-assist to 28. A Tuttio is none of these. The sticker is not the trail.
SEP 23, 2026
Texas Law Already Split the E-Bike From the 50 mph Machine
Section 664.001 is pedals, fewer than 750 watts, and 28 mph or less. Fifty fails that. A city may set a path speed and may close a natural-surface trail. The Cooldown post names no trail. Austin’s memo does.
OCT 5, 2026
Centennial’s Class 3 Rule Is Already in Effect. The Fine Is Not a Number
The city published Ordinance 2026-O-13 on 20 August 2026 and said it was effective immediately. Class 3 e-bikes and electric motorcycles are off sidewalks and trails. The Gazette adds a definition: no pedals, or over 750 watts, or faster than 28 under motor power. It also says some trails can be designated for Class 3. The city page does not.
OCT 5, 2026