The superintendent of Acadia National Park is considering stricter controls on e-bikes following a skyrocketing surge in the motorized bikes on the park’s historic carriage roads and a flood of complaints from locals and tourists alike.
Two ebike riders cruise the carriage roads in Acadia National Park in this 2025 photo. The heavy-duty frames and fat tires are features of e-bikes often used in the park. The park superintendent is concerned the heavy bikes in general are eroding the carriage roads.
Critics argue that fast-moving groups on rented e-bikes are shattering the peace of the carriage roads and endangering other users, including horseback riders, hikers, runners, and traditional bicyclists. While most agree that e-bikes expand mobility and access for visitors who struggle with standard bicycles, many riders reportedly violate basic rules and trail etiquette.
“In our experience, so many of the e-bikers we encounter pay no attention to road etiquette or safety,” said Robin Miller Johnson, 69, a retired registered nurse from Waterville, Maine, who rides a regular bike and hikes the park during her annual two-week vacations. “They stop in the middle of trails and intersections to check maps, ride four abreast, and weave all over the road, making it tough for walkers and other riders.”
Motorized bikes conflict with history of Acadia’s carriage roads
The debate over controls on e-bikes touches on the central identity of the park. Conservationist John D. Rockefeller Jr. funded the construction of Acadia’s 45 miles of carriage roads and 16 bridges, donating them with the explicit desire to keep them free of automobiles and motorized vehicles to preserve a peaceful environment for carriages, horses, and pedestrians.
According to the new book An Exaltation of Parks: John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s Crusade to Save America’s Wonderlands by Steve Kemp, Rockefeller even advocated for a covenant prohibiting motors for a minimum of 25 years. (PLEASE NOTE: See sidebar about Amazon.com links)
How would Rockefeller feel about modern e-bikes dominating the gravel paths?
“I thought the whole thing with carriage roads was to have no motorized vehicles on them. A motor on a bicycle is still motorized,” said Edd Hamor, a Bar Harbor native who has ridden traditional bicycles on the carriage roads since the 1980s. “Rockefeller would be flipping in his grave right now.” Still, Hamor noted he doesn’t have an overarching issue with the bikes themselves, provided they aren’t abused.
E-bikes officially gained approval across national parks in 2019 under a Department of the Interior order. Following a lawsuit from conservation groups, a federal judge ruled that the National Park Service (NPS) had bypassed required environmental impact assessments, though temporary approval remained intact while the policy was reviewed.
On the carriage roads, Acadia allows only Class 1 e-bikes, which require pedaling to assist the motor. Class 1 e-bikes don’t have a throttle and the motor stops at 20 mph.
E-bikes now make up 50 to 60 percent of bikes on carriage roads
Today, e-bikes account for an estimated 50 to 60 percent of all bikes on the carriage roads—up from single digits—and roughly 93 percent of them are rentals, according to park officials. New controls on e-bikes might not limit their numbers.
Rental companies distribute e-bikes, give safety instructions and hand out maps at the Hulls Cove Visitor Center in Acadia National Park. The visitor center provides easy access to the carriage roads for hoards of rented e-bikes and offers 300 spaces of free day parking for people.
The influx has brought friction and a call for stricter controls on e-bikes. Lisa Walker of Bar Harbor told the Acadia National Park Advisory Commission in September that an e-bike nearly ran over her while she was walking her dog. “It was scary,” she said, suggesting that e-bikes be restricted to specific hours or sections to preserve safety.
Equestrians have also felt squeezed out.
A lover of horses, Rockefeller might be saddened that at least one equestrian, Jean Protzuk MacDonald of Hermon, said she has generally avoided riding her quarter horse, Frosty Dancer Dude, on the carriage roads the past five years because of increased e-bikes.
Jean Protzuk MacDonald with her quarterhorse, Frosty Dancer Dude. In recent years, she has generally avoided riding her horse on the carriage roads in Acadia because of an increase in e-bikes on the roads. That would likely sadden John D. Rockefeller Jr., an accomplished horseman who financed the carriage roads. Protzuk MacDonald rides her horse in the Land & Garden Preserve, which prohibits bikes on its carriage roads. (Photo provided)
Protzuk MacDonald hikes in the park and rides her horse on the 12 miles of carriage roads in the Land & Garden Preserve, also built by Rockefeller. The preserve bans bikes, and she still sees bikes using those roads.
In September, she and her husband camped at Wildwood Stables in the park and took the park’s carriage roads to join with those in the Land & Garden Preserve. She soon encountered two side-by-side e-bikes coming around a corner at them.
A young man on one of the e-bikes “was disrespectful” when she asked them to ride single file. He argued with her when she attempted to educate him about safety and an NPS rule to yield the right of way to horses.
Furthermore, Acadia Superintendent Kevin Schneider noted that e-bikes, which weigh up to twice as much as standard bicycles, are accelerating the wear and tear on carriage road surfaces, driving up maintenance and resurfacing costs. A 2025 research report by Worcester Polytechnic Institute also recommended lowering the uniform bike speed limit from 20 mph to 15 mph, noting that most cyclists currently exceed the limit.
Supporters of e-bikes say they make carriage roads more accessible
Proponents emphasize that e-bikes are a vital equity and accessibility tool.
Jennifer Buda, a writer from Lansing, MI, is shown during a break from an e-bike tour on the carriage roads of Acadia National Park. An ardent hiker and biker who doesn’t drive a car, she rents e-bikes because they allow her to travel great distances and see a lot of places in Acadia and other parks that otherwise might be out of reach or require a lot more time. On a tour with two other people and a guide, she covered 30 miles on the carriage roads on Oct. 4 in 4 hours, including stops and breaks. (Photo provided)
Robin Seidman, a 70-year-old retiree from Concord, New Hampshire, spent decades conquering Acadia’s hills on a traditional bike before long-haul COVID made an e-bike necessary. She views bad behavior, not the technology, as the true culprit. “It is respect for the park that is missing,” she said.
Jennifer Buda, 38, a writer from Lansing, MI took a 30-mile e-bike tour with a guide and two other riders on the carriage roads in early October. She said e-bikes allow people to travel long distances and see places and scenery that otherwise might be unattainable or require a lot more time.
“I’ve definitely dealt with inconsiderate road bikers who weren’t on e-bikes at all,” she told us. “So I feel like the arguments get muddled when it’s really inconsiderate bike riders, period, not the e-bikes themselves as an issue, and hope people see the value in e-bikes as an accessibility device instead.”
Wilton Graves, owner of Island Time E-Bikes in Southwest Harbor, defended Class 1 e-bikes—which require pedaling. The motors also cut off at 20 mph and there is no throttle. “It’s not a motorcycle in any way,” he said.
E-bikes sit outside a van operated by Island Time E-Bike in the Hulls Cove Visitor Center parking lot. Many e-bikes access the carriage roads via the parking lot.
Acadia searches for long-term solutions to e-bike conflict
Park leadership believes better management is the key. Currently, the park relies on short-term Commercial Use Authorization (CUA) permits issued to multiple rental businesses. Superintendent Schneider said transitioning to a long-term concessions contract could give the park tighter oversight and more leverage to mandate safety training.
Tom Patterson with his non-motorized cyclocross bike on the Eagle Lake Carriage Road. In mid-September, Patterson needed to swerve around oncoming riders six to eight different times, including at least some e-bikes, as they headed toward him on their far left on a carriage road. Rules require riders to keep to the right. Patterson supports Class 1 e-bikes on the carriage roads because they only work by pedaling. (Photo provided)
Eric Stiles, president and CEO of the Friends of Acadia, said there are costs associated with issuing permits to individual rental companies.
“If they are dropping off in Hulls Cove, that creates additional constraints, additional uses, additional work for the staff at the national park,” Stiles said.
More education might help riders understand the need for more controls on e-bikes. Stiles said that a concessions contract would raise significantly more revenues than individual permits and agreed that enhanced oversight is critical. “There is a tremendous opportunity for us to engage in better education of folks on e-bikes,” he said, suggesting mandatory instructional videos.
George Crist and his wife, Sara, both of Hancock, are shown during a recent hike on the carriage roads in Acadia National Park. Crist, who works remotely in IT, says e-bikes are ruining the park. He said “waves and waves” of e-bikes make it seem like hiking on an interstate highway. (Photo provided)
John D. Rockefeller Jr. constructed two gatehouses to keep motorized vehicles off the carriage roads in Acadia National Park including the Jordan Pond Gatehouse, shown in this photo, built in 1932. It has elaborate exposed timber frames on the upper level and a pitched gable roof.