Petaluma, CA Mobility & Curb Rules: E-Bike Classes (2026)

Petaluma's local ordinance predates California's later three-tier Class 1/2/3 e-bike system and instead uses a single, single-threshold definition. 020 defines an 'electric-assisted bicycle or push scooter' as any electric transportation device with a motor that cannot propel the vehicle faster than 20 miles per hour. 72, including riding within designated bike lanes, direction-of-travel rules, and the ban on riding atop the Payran Street flood wall. The city council adopted the chapter (Ordinance 2080 NCS, 1999) on findings that these devices give mobility to residents who cannot or will not ride a pedal-only bicycle or drive, while cutting traffic congestion, air pollution and noise; the findings also note that the Petaluma Police Department itself deploys electric-assisted bicycles on patrol.

Because state law (the Vehicle Code's Class 1, 2 and 3 e-bike categories, which came later and carry their own speed and pedal-assist distinctions) can override a conflicting local classification, riders operating a device that falls into a higher state class than Petaluma's flat 20-mph local definition should follow the state category and any state riding restrictions that apply to it; Petaluma's ordinance does not purport to create separate class-based riding zones of its own.