Chill Out, They're on an E-Bike - The Source

Check out a site like Next Door and you’d be convinced that Bend’s streets are a hellscape of overzealous teens on e-bikes, hopping curbs, doing tricks and generally causing mayhem — all before they commit the most grievous of sins: leaving the e-bikes on a street corner where none have stood before.

At least, that’s the vibe we caught after reading the myriad comments that came in from Peter Madsen’s “review” of the new Veo e-bikes, “Veo: a (Near) Crash Course in Responsible E-Bike Ridesharing.” To some, it appears that leaving an e-bike in a residential location is akin to reckless endangerment, and riding one in even a slightly willy-nilly fashion should be enough to get the cops out.

In the first month, some 3,700 riders rode over 35,000 miles on the new e-bikes. That’s a lot of distance that could have been covered in a much larger vehicle, further snarling the traffic that Bendites so love to discuss.

As the story detailed, the speed and ease of use do make the new ridesharing bikes a temptation for someone who likes to go fast and hop curbs — but they also do something that is another hot topic of conversation on community forums: They cut down on traffic. In the first month, some 3,700 riders rode over 35,000 miles on the new e-bikes. That’s a lot of distance that could have been covered in a much larger vehicle, further snarling the traffic that Bendites so love to discuss.

What is ironic is that people love to parallel the bad behavior of e-bike riders with the bad behavior of drivers, as if the two things were one and the same. But the riders pushing 35,000 miles on an e-bike are putting less strain on the roads and creating less traffic — and oh, they’re also not really putting others in danger. Make an ill-advised move on a rideshare bike, and the worst of the damage is likely to happen to yourself. Make a dumb move in a large vehicle and people can get killed.

Still, it appears that when it comes to other people on e-bikes — and especially the ridesharing variety — people want perfection, even while drivers have the potential to be much worse.

Every day, like it or not, more people move to Bend, putting a strain on our roads and adding more traffic at our stoplights. The ugliness that has been brewing at the Oregon legislature this past week, as it convenes in a special session to address funding for the Oregon Department of Transportation, is just one signal that traffic issues, road infrastructure and maintenance are thorny problems that may get worse before they get better.

As much as some might want to spend the new gas tax funds in ODOT’s funding package on a drawbridge that closes off Bend to outsiders, that’s going to have to take a back seat to basic items such as plowing the roads in winter and maintaining the infrastructure we have. Without a way to keep Bend from growing, as so many would prefer, we have to find ways to work with what we have — and one of those ways is to beef up the alternative forms of transportation.

Bend’s Transportation GO! Bond, which voters approved in 2020, is largely aimed at doing just that. We are seeing the results of that in places such as Wilson Avenue and Olney Avenue right now — and even while some complain about the restrictions those projects are putting on cars, projects such as those are also slowly beginning to encourage more people on two wheels to skip the traffic and parking headaches and enjoy another way to get around town. The rising popularity of personal and ridesharing e-bikes is accelerating that progress.

Those e-bikes might look slightly annoying left on a street corner, but they represent one less trip in a car that might have stood in your way on your way to work. And thanks to a local team that picks them up, they won’t be there for long.

This article appears in the Source September 4, 2025.