The public comment period on proposed changes to Mass. Department of Conservation and Recreation rules as it pertains to electric bicycles remains open until Wednesday July 24 at 5pm.

302 CMR 11.00: Parkways, Traffic, and Pedestrian Rules and 302 CMR 12.00: Parks and Recreation Rules, would prohibit usage of electric bicycles on all natural surface trails, improved trails that are less than 8’ wide and on dirt roads that are not open to vehicular traffic.

Read below for why we think this issue is important at this juncture and for instructions and a sample e-mail script to provide your comments.

Meet Dina Gorelik, a rising senior at Newton North High School and a MassBike summer intern. She is the founder and officer of the Newton North Bike Club and is helping us out with a multitude of media projects at MassBike HQ! Here from Dina and her story about why she rides:

On Friday, July 19th, at 1:30 p.m., Transportation Secretary and CEO Stephanie Pollack will join Highway Administrator Jonathan Gulliver, Senate President Karen Spilka and state and local officials from Natick and Framingham at a ground breaking event for the Framingham-Natick-Cochituate Rail Trail. MassDOT officials will also be releasing their Bicycle and Pedestrian Plans.

MassBike is all about getting more butts on bikes. And with the percentage of bike ridership throughout the commonwealth in the single digits, we need more people choosing to bike. So we are excited about a new type of rider out on our roads, paths, and trails -- the person on an e-bike with an electric motor.

There are plenty of riders out there who rely on electric-assist who otherwise wouldn’t bike. Maybe they’re recovering from an injury, or have aging legs, or want to keep up with their friends, or they need to travel longer distances, or have to ride over those damn hills, or need to get to work without being sweaty, or want to enjoy the woods while battling health issues.

This emerging ridership is a good development, as e-bikes bring the same benefits we all know from “analog” biking; improving physical and mental health, forging a connection to the advocacy community, and getting folks out into open space. And, as each bike on the road is one less car out there, e-bikes help tackle the two biggest issues facing the commonwealth: our environmental crisis with greenhouse gas emissions and congestion on the roads.

A victory for bicyclists on Beacon Hill - Mass. State Representatives voted 155-2 to pass a bill banning motorists from using handheld cellphones and electronic devices behind the wheel. MassBike is thrilled with the forward motion of this bill.

On Thursday, in partnership with Mass. lawmakers, we hosted an electric bicycle (e-bike) informational briefing and demo day at the Massachusetts State House to encourage people to try an e-bike while learning about our efforts to pass sensible legislation about this developing technology. Representative Jonathan Hecht, Representative Dylan Fernandes, and Senator Sal DiDomenico have sponsored An Act relative to electric bicycles (S.2071/H.3014) to differentiate e-bikes and motorized bicycles.

MassBike recently submitted the following letter of support to the office of Governor Charlie Baker in support of widening the Somerville Community Path extension as part of the Green Line Extension (GLX) project in Somerville to meet the MassDOT and FHWA standard of 11 to 14 feet in width, where the current design calls for a 10’ width.

Happy May - National Bike Month is here! Which means... it's almost Bay State Bike Week! Each year in May, Massachusetts bike riders of all kinds come together to celebrate the joy of bicycling. The annual statewide bike week returns May 11th - 19th!

I’ve been thinking a lot about a recent public statement posted on the City of Springfield’s official Facebook feed, in reference to groups of youths on dirt bikes and bicycles riding illegally on the streets. The City uses phrases like "miscreant" and "negative individuals" to describe the riders, instead of calling the riders what they are, which are kids riding bikes. This is followed by the Police Commissioner freely using words like "aggressive plan of attack" to "crackdown" and "eradicate this issue."

At the 2019 National Bike Summit, with the guidance of the League of American Bicyclists, we worked alongside other Massachusetts bicycle advocates (and advocates from around the country!) to ask our senators to support enhancements to the Transportation Alternatives (TA) program that would make it easier for local governments and agencies to fund and implement projects to make biking better.

Last week, Senator Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Senator Ben Cardin (D-Md.) introduced a bill that would make more ideas for biking infrastructure a reality. The bill would help communities like yours build better bicycling and walking infrastructure, like trails, pedestrian and bike bridges, and other projects that connect us with where we want to go.