Electric bike food and delivery in Melbourne CBD

[Ivanerrol]

I have happened to notice the preponderance of bicycle delivery riders in the Melbourne CBD.

Most seem to be riding electric bicycles of the non Pedelec type - i.e. motor assisted without the need to pedal.
Indeed I have observed 99% of these riding up hills without pedaling traveling probably at more than 25kmh.

So, I.M.H.O. according to the Vic Roads website these are considered unlegal.
From Vic Roads:

A bicycle certified as a Pedalec restricts the top power assisted speed to 25 kilometres per hour and requires the rider to pedal to access the power.

A motorised bicycle is not classed as a bicycle if:

the motor is not an auxiliary source of power (a person must still be able to propel the bicycle via pedals without the motor operating).

Or am I interrupting the regulations incorrectly

What will happen when one of these bikes is eventually involved in a near or real fatality?
Will the authorities still seem to turn a blind eye?
The city is now full of apartment dwellers who seem to require this food and other goods delivery system.
Are there certain groups in the CBD openly flouting the law?

Or do the laws need altering?

Any thoughts?

[Ross]

Storm in a teacup really IMO. They are just riding ~15kg bicycles, not 2 tonne motored vehicles. A lot of fit roadies can ride 25km/h up hills (depending on gradient and distance of course).

[Trevtassie]

When they clean up a pensioner and it's realised that they aren't covered by any insurance at all, because "the gig economy" and they are "contractors" with no insurance riding an unlicenced motorcycle, the headlines in the Feral Hun won't be screaming "unregistered motorcycle" it'll be " unregistered bicycle death machines claim another helpless victim"

[find_bruce]

What you are missing is that there are 2 types of legal electric assist bicycles - (1) pedalecs, 250w, where the motor cuts out at 25 km/h & (2) electric motor up to 200w.

If they are exceeding 25km/h uphill without pedaling then the bike is certainly not legal. I have seen a totally illegal 1000w bike in my area capable of exceeding 50km/h on the flat.

As Ross says, it doesn't put them outside the scope of some riders & pedaling with a legal 200w assist is within the capabilities of a large number of riders, so it doesn't significantly increase the overall risk of a collision.

The legal risks are twofold. If you are riding a motorised bike that does not meet either of the legal criteria then what you have is a motorcycle. In NSW the fines add up to around $2,000 - unregistered, no licence, no motorcycle helmet & I believe the fines in Victoria are similar.

If as Trevtassie suggests they are involved in a collision, what is most likely to happen is what happened in Hollis v Vabu [2001] HCA 44 is the injured person will follow the money and sue the delivery company - foodora, deliveroo etc as well. The High Court found that a bicycle courier was an employee and the courier company was liable for the injuries. The fact that the employee was using a prohibited means to carry out an authorised task wont save the delivery company from liability.

[Mububban]

What you are missing is that there are 2 types of legal electric assist bicycles - (1) pedalecs, 250w, where the motor cuts out at 25 km/h & (2) electric motor up to 200w.

If they are exceeding 25km/h uphill without pedaling then the bike is certainly not legal.

Yep, I can confirm this from my 200W throttle controlled kit. If you don't pedal going up a hill, you don't go very fast at all. So if they're clocking 25kmh, that ain't the 200W I'm used to!!!

[Jmuzz]

There isn't really any way for police to catch them currently, they don't have any training certification in judging power by hillclimb etc and there aren't really any mini dynos getting around.

Police would really have to try and get them for some other offence (which isn't that hard, especially when the sort of person with an overpowered ebike tends to flaunt road rules too) and be really sure before confiscating the bike for testing.

I think eventually they will ban DIY ebikes and require certified designs which is what the 250W EN15194 Pedelecs are.

[uart]

There isn't really any way for police to catch them currently, they don't have any training certification in judging power by hillclimb etc and there aren't really any mini dynos getting around.

Even more so for pedelectrics in my experience. I had an extended loan of an (otherwise legal) ebike that just had the 25 km/hr speed limit removed (by halving the speed signal from the sensor). I rode it quite a lot and never got a second look from police (frequently being over 25 km/h when they passed). This wasn't some 1000W frankenbike or anything, so you still had to pedal pretty hard to go at high(ish) speeds. As long as you're pedaling I don't think it even registers as an E-bike to them.