A new study by researchers at the University of British Columbia is highlighting the needs of future city-building when it comes to promoting green methods of transportation 鈥� particularly e-bikes 鈥� and keeping pedestrians and others feeling safe.

Research published earlier this week from UBC鈥檚 civil engineering department looked at various aspects of e-bikes in Vancouver, including people鈥檚 comfort walking alongside e-bikes and how speed of electric compares to those of the regular peddling variety.

鈥淚 expected more discomfort around electric devices than we actually found,鈥� study lead Alex Bigazzi said in a phone interview Thursday (June 2).

鈥淕oing into it, I expected there would be more vehicle types the public would not be okay sharing paths with.鈥�

Based off a conducted survey, the researchers determined that most Vancouverites are generally comfortable with e-bikes and, in fact, thought they were more common on roadways than actual data suggests. There were also gaps in people鈥檚 assumptions of how fast e-bikes can go compared to reality.

鈥淲e were thinking that the percentage of e-bikes was going to be very high, but actually what we saw was that only 4.2 per cent of the vehicles were electric bicycles,鈥� said study researcher Amir Hassanpour. He added that was three-times less common than what survey respondents thought.

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On average, those surveyed also thought e-bikes were going 4 km/h faster than data acquired by the researchers through cameras and pneumatic road tube sensors through the city.

The team of researchers summarized their findings in a 105-page report for the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority, which they hope will be useful for cities to use in future architect and design projects, specifically with new multi-use paths.

Researchers also looked at how those pathways need to meet different kinds of mobility 鈥� from wheelchairs to peddle bikes and faster mopeds and e-bikes.

Moped-style sit down bikes are categorized as limited-power motorcycles and have a different set of regulations than e-bikes, and should not be in multi-use paths and bike paths, Bigazzi said. According to ICBC, Mopeds must be registered, licensed and insured for road use.

While the survey concluded that e-bikes are less disruptive than researchers originally thought, Bigazzi and Hassanpour endorse one path for pedestrians, and another for conventional bikes and e-bikes.

Bigazzi said UBC鈥檚 Research on Active Transportation Lab will conduct a follow-up study next year.

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