I’ve been thinking about this for about a week now. I think it’s short sighted. Look at places like, Garibaldi Park, Joffrey Lakes and other hiking only places where it’s permit only. Those places would get overrun without a permit system. I don’t subscribe to "we need growth" to be healthy view point. Many years ago hikers said we riders were causing more wear and tear to the trail system as it existed then because we could ride more distance in a given time than a hiker. And that was correct. We do. And various trail organizations were created in response to perform maintenance and build new trails. The work is almost all performed by volunteers. Or paid crews funded by the trail organizations with some tax money at times as well. Now if we increase the distance we ride in a given amount of time, or a person has enough time to ride a short distance where they wouldn’t normally ride due to time constraints etc etc. which volunteer group takes up the slack and burden of increased trail work? There’s no doubt in my mind that most e-bikers would contribute the same as they did when they rode bikes. But the question I have is: do we really want or need the growth promised by motorized bikes?
June 28, 2023, 3:23 p.m. - Andy Eunson
I’ve been thinking about this for about a week now. I think it’s short sighted. Look at places like, Garibaldi Park, Joffrey Lakes and other hiking only places where it’s permit only. Those places would get overrun without a permit system. I don’t subscribe to "we need growth" to be healthy view point. Many years ago hikers said we riders were causing more wear and tear to the trail system as it existed then because we could ride more distance in a given time than a hiker. And that was correct. We do. And various trail organizations were created in response to perform maintenance and build new trails. The work is almost all performed by volunteers. Or paid crews funded by the trail organizations with some tax money at times as well. Now if we increase the distance we ride in a given amount of time, or a person has enough time to ride a short distance where they wouldn’t normally ride due to time constraints etc etc. which volunteer group takes up the slack and burden of increased trail work? There’s no doubt in my mind that most e-bikers would contribute the same as they did when they rode bikes. But the question I have is: do we really want or need the growth promised by motorized bikes?