It seems to me that the one year trial of allowing electric bikes on the Discovery Trail is just about up. It is time for the discussion of what works or doesn’t.

I often walk on the trail, usually for several miles. My experience has me concerned. The electric bikes (and now scooters, too) go very fast and take up a good deal of the path width. As a walker I find we are forced to step off the trail for our own safety. Repeatedly.

Is the trail for exercise, enjoying the views, and conversing with companions or is it meant as a thoroughfare for electric wheeled vehicles? It seems that the two are less than compatible. These ebikes are wide and heavy and go fast and are often under the control of people not necessarily acquainted with them or rules of road. There are blind curves, particularly toward Beard’s Hollow and I worry about dogs on leashes investigating away from their owner, baby prams and older walkers.

If the trail were wider, a middle line could be helpful — walkers on one side coming and going, bikes of all kinds on the other, coming and going. I have seen this work other places with regular bikes. Perhaps there could be certain hours for walkers and others for ebikes. I worry about a tragic accident the trail.

I personally would like to see ebikes only on the road. They are practically a motor vehicle now. I do realize not everyone agrees.

MARION OMAN

Long Beach