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This post has been updated as of July 23, 2023.

Author’s comment: Thank you all for the recent feedback from readers. I apologize for creating a panic. The post has been updated to reflect current guidelines on e-bikes, which are the same as in previous years — but with an emphasis on the 5 mph speed limit throughout Black Rock City. Thank you all for taking this issue seriously.

The recent criticism of e-bikes at Burning Man has been incredibly pointed, and at times emotional. Despite many members of the community urging us to do so, we don’t want to ban e-bikes in Black Rock City — not just because outright bans feel draconian (not to mention the logistics of enforcement), but because we deeply believe in leaning on community values and expectations to improve everyone’s experience. Truth is, we hate bureaucracy as much as you do, and aren’t inclined to behave like an unnecessarily oppressive government entity. Rather, we’d prefer to share the bare facts with you all, and humbly ask for Participation and Communal Effort in service to Civic Responsibility.

This is a post in our 2023 Back to Black Rock City series — covering a spread of topics we hope get you excited as you prep to head back to the dust.

Black Rock City is best discovered at a pace that lets the best-kept secrets and unplanned surprises of the city (and there are oh-so-many!) reveal themselves. If you go too fast, you miss many of our ephemeral city’s hidden wonders and surprise encounters: whimsical treasures of the backstreets, understated art, spontaneous new friendships, popup events, and parties with secret entrances. Have you found Golden Guy Alley?

And WHO in their right mind would want to miss all that goodness? Are you really in Black Rock City so you can go zipping by, from one thing to the next? These are the deep questions we ask ourselves when we witness e-bike-riding Burners flying past without a care in the world for the serendipity and Immediacy that’s springing up all about. The 5 MPH speed limit in BRC exists both to keep us all safe and to help us savor all that our city has to offer.

Burning Man is and has always been a bike-centric culture, and BRC is a walking and bike-friendly community. Did you know, dear Burner, that Black Rock City has more bikes per capita than any city in the world? (BRC is currently under consideration as an official Bicycle Friendly Community through the League of American Bicyclists!) One of the things we love about our bike- and pedestrian-friendly city is its safety. Black Rock City participants can let their guards down and cherish the moment without being bowled over by a speeding idiot. Until now.

One of the newest trends to emerge in BRC in recent years is the proliferation of electric modes of transportation on our city streets and the open playa — most notably, electric bikes, or e-bikes. After the 2022 Black Rock City event, participants sent Burning Man Project an overwhelming volume of feedback about how their fellow Burners were operating e-bikes.

Concerns about excessive speed:

“The proliferation of e-bikes on playa seems to cause an issue with speeding — many riders are going fast and are a danger to pedestrians particularly at night.”

“The 5 mph speed for e-bikes needs to be enforced or else just don’t allow them — they go really fast and present a danger to everyone, especially at night.”

“E-bikes are not observing the 5 mph speed limit.”

E-bike drivers were dangerously inattentive:

“E-bikes should be flat out banned on the playa during the Burn — too dangerous, too many altered and inexperienced riders, accidents waiting to happen, or have happened.”

A risk to others:

“The e-bikes were really a hazard this year! People rode them at high speeds on the streets and into crowds around art pieces, without consideration for endangering others.”

A noticeable negative shift in BRC’s pedestrian- and bike-friendly culture:

“E-bikes are having a negative impact.”

“E-bikes suck and no one goes 5 mph, no one. I am tired of dodging these things like Neo — they cultivate literally the antithesis of immediacy.”

“We have gone from a wonderful bike-based, slow-moving community to a high-speed, electric motorcycle city — the entire vibe of the place was different this year [2022] due to this.”

THIS IS NOT OKAY. What’s more, many fellow Burners — e-bike drivers, and a high number of pedestrians and cyclists — were injured in 2022 because of e-bikes.

So what are we — and YOU, Black Rock citizen, going to do about e-bikes?

The 5 mph speed limit has been in place for decades; it exists for the safety of our community and the protection of our roads. It applies to everything that moves in BRC. Pedal bikes, mutant vehicles, staff vehicles, and any electric modes of transport, including e-bikes — are all subject to the 5 mph speed limit.

E-bikes in particular have made speeding more of an issue and much more common in recent years, because speeding on an e-bike is so easy.

Why does speed matter? Aside from the very obvious issue of safety in the crowded city streets and the busy parts of the open playa (near art pieces, the Man, the Temple, a passing parade, or anywhere crowds gather), you miss BRC if you move quickly or don’t stop. Don’t forget to explore the back streets!

The next part of the e-bike puzzle is that e-bikes are valuable and attractive to thieves. Even with high-quality locks available today, reports of stolen e-bikes in BRC are in sharp rise.

Before you invest in a new form of transportation for BRC, ask yourself: should I bring an e-bike to the playa? We acknowledge that e-bikes make the city accessible for folks who otherwise find it hard to get around BRC, so for some, the calculation may be “yes.”

If you decide to bring an e-bike to BRC, you agree to operate under these parameters:

Be forewarned: if you don’t abide by these basic guidelines, you may be pulled over by law enforcement or Black Rock Rangers, and your e-bike may get impounded.

This section has been updated as of July 23, 2023.

There have been guidelines regarding e-bikes in Black Rock City for many years. When this post was published, it initially did not accurately reflect the existing rules. The post has been updated to be accurate for 2023. As stated above, the primary aim for e-bike regulations for Black Rock City 2023 is to have riders slow down. Watch this space and our other channels after the 2023 event for any noteworthy changes for e-bike regulations for Black Rock City 2024 and beyond.

In Black Rock City, e-bikes must conform to the following definition of “electric bicycle:”

These guidelines were written before e-bike classes began to be recognized. If we need regulations for e-bikes in BRC in the future, we may re-address these guidelines. If you are buying a new e-bike, Class 1 is a good place to start.

Controlling speed in Black Rock City, e-bike or not, can be a challenge. In the wide-open playa, it can be tempting to go fast.

As a close-knit community, it’s our responsibility to work with each other to solve collective problems. And as you saw from the community-generated feedback in this post (just a smattering of the overwhelming amount of critical and concerned feedback we received about e-bikes after the 2022 event), e-bikes have become a problem in our city. Our hope is that the BRC community can hold itself accountable and do the right thing when it comes to any safety issue.

We have considered the various options, but we know it’s better to rely on the community rather than the organization to solve the problem. So before we create prohibitive e-bike rules in BRC, confiscate e-bikes at the Gate, require e-bike registration, or connect incidents of speeding to your camp performance (all potential solutions that have been asked of us to implement), let’s try this:

Let’s solve it together. Whether on an e-bike, pedal bike, one-wheel, unicycle, or mutant vehicle: don’t be a dick, slow down.

Charlie Dolman (aka Louder Charlie) oversees event operations in Black Rock City, including Emergency Services, Gate-Perimeter-Exodus, the Black Rock Rangers, BRC Department of Public Works, Community Services, the Cafe and Ice services, the Department of Mutant Vehicles, and on-the-ground Art operations. He also oversees the Special Recreation Permit Burning Man holds with the U.S. Federal Government during the event season. As part of this role, Charlie sits on the Black Rock City Operations Management Board, the Budget Committee and the Executive Committee. He also chairs the Event Operations Team and Event Leadership Team meetings.