Thanks to Share the Road Essex County, we recently learned that e-bikes are not allowed on pathways in Windsor, Ontario. While they are allowed on the road and in bike lanes (as in Michigan), city bylaws prohibit them from paved paths and park trails.
This could affect e-bike use on the Gordie Howe International Bridge’s multi-use pathway — or at least on the pathways connecting to the bridge plaza.
Interestingly enough, e-scooters are not restricted from paths, whereas e-cargo bikes are not allowed on any road, bike lane, or path.
We reached out to City of Windsor officials and shared our concerns about how this differs from the rules on our side of the border. We passed along resources on our regulations, recommendations (e.g. MTGA e-bike Toolkit) and experiences with these devices on our trails.
They have been having some discussions about potential changes at both the municipal and provincial levels.
The City may take the following short-term actions…
Traffic By-law Updates: To address emerging safety and regulatory challenges posed by micromobility devices, the City could consider targeted by-law updates to ensure it accurately reflects which micromobility devices are permitted and prohibited, including specific provisions for regulating e-bikes on multi-use paths, where they are currently prohibited.
It’s good to see Windsor considering the positive impacts of these powered devices.
Increasing the safe and lawful use of micromobility modes of transportation, such as ebikes and e-scooters can help the city reduce its community greenhouse gas emissions by replacing short car trips with low carbon alternatives.
We will track this and report back on their updates. There are undoubtably a good number of Detroit e-bike users wanting to explore the pathways in Windsor, including the one on the bridge.
