Large groups of young e-bike riders are taking over Denver streets on weekends. Council members have been raising it since summer

Groups of e-bike and e-motorcycle riders, many of them kids, have been taking over Denver streets on weekends, and residents say they're frustrated, Denver7 reported on Oct. 26.

According to Denver7:

• A video posted to social media on Saturday, Oct. 24, shows an officer tackling a rider after a group of dozens blocked the intersection of 17th Street and Chestnut Place near Union Station. Neither RTD police nor Denver police would confirm whether that rider faces charges.
• The same day, a viewer's video showed a group on South Broadway, some riders popping wheelies in traffic. The viewer estimated more than 200 riders.
• A Denver police spokesperson said officers got three separate calls about reckless e-bike riders on South Broadway that day, but no one was contacted or arrested.

Why it matters: these rides put riders, drivers and pedestrians at risk, and they fall into gaps between traffic enforcement, park rules and the rules for rental scooters.

What our records add

Council members have been raising similar complaints for months, mostly about parks and trails.

"There is not the staffing." On Aug. 3, Council member Amanda Sawyer said she called out a downtown park bill so she could vote no, citing problems in her district's parks. She said teenagers were riding e-bikes through parks and tearing up grass, that a young child at a playground in Robinson Park was nearly hit in June, and that park rangers had told residents there wasn't the staffing to enforce the rules or the budget for signs (video at 35:42).

Scooters and age limits. On July 15, at the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Council member Kevin Flynn described "nonstop" complaints about e-bikes and scooters on park trails and questioned whether the city has any way to enforce its age requirement for rental scooter riders (video at 1:12:06). The city plans to start enforcing its scooter rules against Veo on Nov. 1; see our story.

How many rangers? At a Sept. 14 Council meeting on a new parks operations building, a Council member said the city has only around 50 park rangers, and a parks official said about 30 of them work out of the downtown Park Avenue facility (video at 50:52). At the Sept. 24 budget hearing, a member asked parks leaders for ranger counts over the past few years and by district, and staff said they would provide them (video at 39:50).

Reckless riding on sidewalks. Opening a Sept. 2 committee briefing on the scooter program, a presenter called reckless riding, especially on sidewalks, a challenge that has remained since scooters first arrived in Denver (video at 2:50).

What we didn't find. Our transcript search did not turn up a Council discussion of large group "takeover" rides on city streets, and no ordinance aimed at them is pending in our records.

What's next

• Nov. 9: the Council's final vote on the 2027 budget, which sets staffing for police and park rangers.
• Residents can report reckless driving to Denver police's non-emergency line and park problems to Denver 311.
• Search what your Council member has said about e-bikes and scooters with our transcript search.