uReport

City of Bloomington, Indiana

open #214347

Trails:

Other: Dear Tim Street, I submitted u-reports several times (see below), but you did not answer my question clearly. https://bloomington.in.gov/crm/tickets/view?ticket_id=214196 https://bloomington.in.gov/crm/tickets/view?ticket_id=214197 Let me try again. "Is it illegal to drive this kind of e-motorbikes on the park trails?" I think that all motorized vehicles are prohibited on park trails by city ordinances. I am not talking about on the streets. If so, why we should wait for the review at the October meeting of the Transportation Commission. You also said that "Even with a new ordinance, regulating this type of behavior as it happens will be difficult." It seems that you don't realize the seriousness of this. Even with a new ordinance, if the City does not take this seriously, what is the point of these all new ordinances? Please put a police officer between 4-7 pm on the Jackson Creek trails to issue the citations and warnings to these kids. It is just a matter of time before somebody seriously get injured or worse. PLEASE.

Assigned to
Tim Street

History

9/22/2026 13:33:10 Tim Street commented on this case.

The answer to your question is "it depends." The City's legal definition of bicycle includes e-bikes and similar devices that can travel up to 20MPH. We allow state defined Class I, II, and III eBikes on trails at a maximum speed of 20mph. There has been a recent proliferation of new kinds of eBikes that can go much faster than this and these devices are basically undefined by state or local code. So there may be a park policy in effect about behavior, but there isn't a city ordinance underpinning any kind of enforcement. That is what we are working on with City Council. Additionally, enforcement in the moment is hard -- as you suggested, it would be very hard to dedicate a police offer to trail patrol for three hours. However, if a better ordinance is written to allow for impoundment or fines based on behavior, and these could apply to the parent or guardian of a minor engaging in that behavior, it will give us a lot of options for both education and enforcement.

Sent notification to Tim Street, Anonymous
https://bloomington.in.gov/crm/tickets/view?ticket_id=214347 Tim Street commented on this case. The answer to your question is "it depends." The City's legal definition of bicycle includes e-bikes and similar devices that can travel up to 20MPH. We allow state defined Class I, II, and III eBikes on trails at a maximum speed of 20mph. There has been a recent proliferation of new kinds of eBikes that can go much faster than this and these devices are basically undefined by state or local code. So there may be a park policy in effect about behavior, but there isn't a city ordinance underpinning any kind of enforcement. That is what we are working on with City Council. Additionally, enforcement in the moment is hard -- as you suggested, it would be very hard to dedicate a police offer to trail patrol for three hours. However, if a better ordinance is written to allow for impoundment or fines based on behavior, and these could apply to the parent or guardian of a minor engaging in that behavior, it will give us a lot of options for both education and enforcement.

9/21/2026 18:42:13 Anonymous assigned this case to Tim Street

Sent notification to Tim Street, Anonymous
https://bloomington.in.gov/crm/tickets/view?ticket_id=214347 Anonymous assigned this case to Tim Street You can use the link to follow progress on this case.

9/21/2026 18:42:13 Opened by Anonymous

2001 E Ashwood LN

CityBloomington
StateIN
Zip47401
Latitude39.129577636719
Longitude-86.51244354248
Neighborhood AssociationAshwood
TownshipPerry

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