Tagging access for e-bikes and powered personal transport

General talk Tagging general discussion
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Hello everyone,

I’d like to start a discussion about how OpenStreetMap should tag access for e-bikes and other powered personal transport devices (such as e-scooters and similar micromobility).

As these modes become more common, there’s growing interest in clearer and more consistent tagging—especially for paths, sidewalks, and trails where rules may differ from traditional bicycles. In the US, unlike some other countries, there is little legislation to prevent these devices from using footways. But I see that changing as the number of injuries and deaths continues to rise.

Of course, the goal is to have tags that work worldwide, not just in one country.

The goal of this thread is to:

Have tags that work worldwide, not just in one country

Share existing tagging practices and interpretations

Clarify common use cases (mapping, routing, analysis)

Identify gaps or ambiguities in current access tagging

Work toward a formal tagging proposal for wider review

Some guiding questions:

Should e-bikes be treated as a subset of bicycle=*, or as a distinct access mode?

Is it useful to distinguish between pedal-assist and throttle-powered devices?

How should non-bicycle powered personal transport be tagged?

Are there existing wiki pages or past discussions we should build on?

I’m not proposing a solution yet—this is meant to gather input and perspectives. If there’s interest, I’m happy to help synthesize the discussion into a draft proposal.

Looking forward to your thoughts.

2 Likes
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Discussed a while back at Feature Proposal - RFC - "scooter" type (electric) vehicles , “amazingly” :roll_eyes: with no real resolution.

#1 problem & sticking point is what are the things going to be called?, as terms just don’t translate :zany_face:

Currently <small_electric_vehicle> is popular in Germany, but not in English speaking places. Here, all e-things (bikes, scooters, skateboards, Segways etc) are officially called which does seem to make sense, but apparently isn’t popular in Europe?

Edit: fix formatting that dropped a description?

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I just did a quick search for how they are officially called in Greek, and it seems in Greece the legislation names all those e-vehicles as Light Personal Electric Vehicles (LPEV), while in Cyprus the legislation uses the term Personal Mobility Devices you mentioned, but only for e-scooters apparently.

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Could you merge this with the existing thread Fizzie linked? Having several discussions in parallel makes the discussion even more complicated.

I think we are already quite close to a solution with the current proposal.

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Great to get more data points from more countries (albeit from the EU which “should” have a rather common definition. Could you add this with the official terms to the proposal page?

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This has been settled already 5 years ago:

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I suppose a further problem—aside from pure nomenclature—is that different kinds of “electrically driven two-wheeled contraptions” are subject to very different legislation. Furthermore, the specifics of the legislation and the criteria differ between countries.

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Depends on jurisdiction. In most of the US, ebikes typically qualify as a bicycle, though higher powered examples may count as moped or motorcycle, and are not distinct from those other modes.