Pearland, TX Mobility & Curb Rules: E-Bike Classes (2026)

Sec. 29-10 of the Pearland Code of Ordinances, titled "Motor assisted scooter, electric personal assistive mobility device, bicycle, and electric bicycle use," does not create its own Class 1, 2 or 3 distinctions for electric bicycles the way the state does. Instead, subsection (a) says flatly that "no person may operate a motor assisted scooter, electric personal assistive mobility device, bicycle, or electric bicycle on a roadway except as permitted by state law," meaning wherever and however Texas Transportation Code allows a given class of e-bike on the road, Pearland allows it too, and wherever state law restricts it, the city ordinance restricts it identically.

What the ordinance adds locally is a sidewalk-crossing rule: subsection (b) requires a rider on a sidewalk to come to a complete stop before crossing a roadway and to proceed only when it is safe, and while crossing the rider is treated as a pedestrian for both rights and duties. Subsection (c) imposes parental liability nearly identical to the skateboard rule in Sec. 29-7: a parent or legal guardian may not allow a child under the age of fifteen to violate the section, whether the child is operating the device or merely riding as a passenger, on any sidewalk, right-of-way, roadway, street, or highway.

The section was rewritten in its entirety by Ord. No. 1587-1, adopted June 9, 2025, replacing a narrower 2019 rule (Ord. No. 1587) that had prohibited minors from using motor-assisted scooters, pocket bikes and mini motorbikes; the current version instead folds electric bicycles and personal mobility devices into a single roadway/sidewalk framework governed primarily by state law.