Nantucket Public Schools Grapple With E-Bike Rules As Student Usage Soars

E-bikes have emerged as a significant issue facing the Nantucket Public School system this September, with at least three accidents requiring students to be sent to the hospital within the first few weeks of the new school year.

The number of students using e-bikes on campus has increased dramatically, and the school lacks the personnel and time to enforce rules that are supposed to regulate e-bike usage.

“We have seen a sharp increase in our e-bike usage across campus, as well as, unfortunately, inappropriate and dangerous operation of said e-bikes, including young people popping wheelies and riding two to a bike in our parking lots, our fields, and on our sidewalks,” Superintendent Elizabeth Hallett said.

Hallett said that the schools’ handbooks have language requiring e-bikes to be walked on campus, parked away from school buildings, and registered with the school. They also require students to take safety classes. But often, in part because of staffing limitations, the handbooks can’t be enforced.

“We still do not have the ability to enforce these rules with so many students who are currently using e-bikes,” Hallett said. “We just don't have the adult capacity for supervision…that's my big dilemma that I'm going to be working on.”

In an attempt to reduce crashes and improve safety, the e-bike parking locations for the middle and high schools are being relocated farther away from where most students will be walking.

Hallett worries, however, that without further intervention, crashes could continue to pile up, a problem exacerbated by the Nantucket Police Department's inability to help enforce e-bike safety near the schools.

“We know that the Nantucket Police Department has its own set of rules and regulations, but there isn't anything yet, legally, that they can follow to help us enforce, which is really frustrating as a school district, and I'm just fearful there will be more and more accidents,” Hallett said. “We continue to hear every day or to see in the Nantucket Current that there are more accidents happening, and I just fear for the safety of our kids.”

At the 2023 Annual Town Meeting, island voters rejected Bruce Mandel's citizen petition to ban electric bikes, scooters, and other motorized devices from Nantucket's bike paths. Numerous attendees criticized the potential ban and the concept of forcing e-bike users onto busy roads such as Milestone Road and Fairgrounds Road.

During this year’s Annual Town Meeting, voters passed a general bylaw amendment to limit the speed of e-bikes and similar vehicles to 20 mph on town bike paths and sidewalks. The bylaw also requires that when e-bike riders come within 10 feet of a pedestrian or other cyclist, “the rider shall reduce speed and pass with caution and not in excess of 5 mph more than the pedestrian.”

It’s unclear whether the police have ever enforced that bylaw since its passage in May.