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Pleasanton commission hears bike-and-ped master-plan update and rising e‑bike safety concerns
Summary
Commissioners heard results from the bike-and-ped master-plan outreach, including a heat map showing high collision corridors and an outsized incident rate among teenagers; staff and the police liaison said regulatory and engineering follow-up is underway.
At its Jan. 28 meeting, the Pleasanton Planning Commission received an update on the Bicycle & Pedestrian Master Plan that staff and citizen volunteers have been updating through surveys, pop-up events and data analysis.
Commissioner Jane said the update included an extensive resident survey and a heat map identifying red zones of higher collisions, especially on corridors between downtown and Valley and on Santa Rita and Hopyard. She said overall incident rates compare favorably to similarly sized California cities, but collisions involving teenagers and younger riders are disproportionately frequent; the Bike & Ped committee ranked the city fourth highest in incidents for that age group.
Director Clark and staff said the traffic engineering team (led by Mike Tosano, named in the discussion) is running the master-plan update and will prioritize intersections and corridors with high collision rates when reviewing projects. The police liaison is engaged on e-bike safety; staff noted California and statewide discussions about regulating higher-powered e-bikes and potential age limits.
Commissioners and staff discussed practical next steps: using the heat-map data to flag project reviews, seeking a police or city-manager’s-office point of contact for community input, and arranging a brief presentation for the PCC (Pleasanton Unified School District) liaison or a police representative to explain enforcement and safety options. Commissioner Jago and others volunteered to represent planning interests on outreach.
The commission also discussed a specific pedestrian-safety concern at the Hopyard & Valley intersection near curbside Tesla chargers, where speakers said parked chargers create a blind corner and unsafe crossings. Commissioners asked Bike & Ped staff to evaluate the location as part of the master-plan and project-review work.
No formal policy change or new regulation was adopted at the meeting; staff said additional work and coordination with the police department, the school district and traffic engineering will follow.
