The National Parks Service allows electric bicycles to enter national parks

I want to ride a bike – I want to ride an electric bike?

Just like Freddie Mercury would have liked, you can now drive them (mainly) at your leisure in national parks.

In order to maximize the number of landscapes that visitors can see when visiting a national park, the National Parks Service has authorized e-bikes to appear inside the parks.

In a statement, the National Parks Service said that electric bikes would be allowed in all national parks with an area reserved for regular bikes. They will also have the same restrictions as regular bikes, so do not dream of nature tours with an electric motor.

"While more and more Americans are using electric bikes to enjoy the great outdoors, national parks should be mindful of the visitor's interest in using this new technology wherever it is safe and appropriate to do, "said P. Daniel Smith, deputy director of the National Parks Service. in a press release.

Electric bikes would be limited to models that only provide assistance when the pedal operator, and are capped at 750 watts or about a horsepower.

In the policy memorandum that authorizes electric bicycles in national parks, the Parks Service stated that one of the objectives of the introduction of motorcycles assisted is to promote less impactful means of travel in the parks because they allow visitors to travel further with less effort and less. can take the place of car transport in some places.

The press release and the policy memorandum do not mention a specific start date, but park superintendents have 30 days from the publication of the memorandum to insert the policy change into the compendium of their park. The memorandum was published on August 30th.

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