March 30, 2026
Member for Nanango Deb Frecklington has urged people to have their say about proposed e-bike legislation after local rail trail users expressed concerns.
In a post on Facebook, Brisbane Valley Rail Trail Users Association president Paul Heymans said the new laws would hurt tourism, and regional communities would pay the price.
“The Queensland Government’s new e‑bike legislation was written for crowded city footpaths, not for a 161km regional tourism asset like the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail,” Mr Heymans said.
“And unless these rules are fixed, the impact on BVRT tourism will be severe.”
Paul said 50 per cent of the traffic on the Brisbane Valley Rail Trail was people riding e-bikes.
He said applying a 10 km/h speed limit designed for suburban footpaths to a long-distance rail was “absurd”.
It would slow multi‑day tourism to a crawl, discourage interstate and international visitors, make guided tours and group rides unviable and reduce the appeal of the BVRT for recreational riders.
“No one travels to regional Queensland to ride at walking pace,” Mr Heymans said.
A requirement to have a Class C learner’s licence would kill tourism by shutting out overseas and interstate tourists, older riders and people with mobility needs, he said.
And banning Under 16s would crush family tourism.
“Families are the lifeblood of BVRT tourism,” Mr Heymans said.
“A blanket ban on under‑16s riding e‑bikes means fewer family holidays, fewer overnight stays and less spending in the small towns that depend on trail visitors.”
Mr Heymans is not the only voice which has been raised against the legislation.
Bicycle Queensland has urged residents to take action by writing to their local State MP or Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg.
And the South Burnett Rail Trail Users Association has been amplifying the concerns expressed by Bicycle Queensland: “The rule changes around speed limits on shared paths and licensing have the potential to seriously curtail e-bike usage on rail trails, affecting business across the cycling community.”
Mrs Frecklington said it was “important that community concerns were properly heard and considered”.
“The Parliamentary Committee examining the Bill is now inviting submissions from anyone who wishes to comment on any aspect of the proposed laws,” she said.
“Lodging a submission ensures those views are formally included as part of the committee’s review and assessment.”
The closing date for written submissions is 10:00am on Friday, April 10.
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After riding our push bikes on the trail Benarkin to Linville, having numerous e-bikes flying past us with no courtesy whatsoever, there needs to be some limits!
How to control this, I have no idea, except ban all motorised bikes on these trails.
I love riding my ebike on the rail trails. I need to pedal to move so my bike is for assistance covering kilometres and getting up hills.
Mountain bike riders travel faster than me under their own power.
Please research further before making rules.
Sadly, the problem is not the bikes. The bikes cannot move at all without a person using them. The problem is people abuse them, just like they do cars.
I’ve had an elderly male pushbike rider whizz past me on the footpath at Kingaroy, barely missing me, then turn and abuse me for walking on the footpath!
I’ve also had another elderly male rider, seeing me on the path near IGA, leave the path and ride on the edge of the road so I could walk unhindered…
There is the problem. It’s the PEOPLE and their attitudes, not the bikes.
Twice I’ve just been missed or “felt the breeze” of people on e-scooters… and they are QUIET. If I’d just moved a couple of inches to the left, I’d have been hit.
Why don’t they have bells to use to warn people? Would they use them? Chances are no.
Some will say education, but that doesn’t work.
Well-mannered, responsible riders will continue to be so, and self-entitled *I own the footpath* (it IS called a footpath, the clue is in the name) riders will remain so.
Note, growing up in the 70s in NSW, riding on the footpath was forbidden. A policeman came to my school to make sure we all understood. Imagine my surprise when I found out up here it’s up to Councils to decide (yes, I did ask the police).
It’s not allowed at Crows Nest because there are “bicycle riders MUST dismount” signs all over the place. Maybe we should have those here, before someone gets killed because in a contest between an elderly pedestrian and an e-bike, I know who would lose.
If you compare speeds, an average walking speed is 4ks an hour and an average bike speed is 20kph, FIVE times as fast.
That’s like allowing a car capable of going 500ks an hour loose on the highway (and, yes, there is one… the Koenigsegg Jesko Absolut, 1600hp and 499kph.)