E-bike tours with guides could be coming to Juneau at the beginning of summer.
iRide Alaska has applied for an approval from the city of Douglas to make use of its West Douglas Pioneer Road for E-bike tours. The permit request states that the firm will offer three tours a day, every day of the week, from May 1 through October. 30.
Reuben Willis, one of the co-owners of iRide Alaska, spoke at the Juneau Assembly Lands, Housing and Economic Development Committee meeting on Friday. The mayor told him that the tours on e-bikes would allow the company to offer additional activities for tourists and help generate sales tax for the city.
“We believe this is an win-win situation,” Willis said.
The cost of tours would be $149.95 for each person added and a small amount could be donated directly to city officials. iRide Alaska pays a $3 user fee per person to the city each time they transport tourists on the Rainforest Trail. Willis suggested they could adopt similar rules on West Douglas Pioneer Road. West Douglas Pioneer Road.
This additional money is welcome The additional funding would be appreciated, added Juneau Lands and Resources Manager Dan Bleidorn. In the meeting, he stated that maintenance for the road owned by the city costs between from $10,000 to $20,000.
In spring, Bleidorn explained, the dirt road can be used for biking, hiking and harvesting firewood. In winter, the Nordic Ski Club grooms the road in winter. The city also allows for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game to study bats at the city as well as also the U.S. Geological Survey to examine nearby streams.
“This isn’t actually an actual trail, it’s not an actual road, but more of a the driveway to properties in the city ,” Bleidorn stated.
The nature of the trail or a road, it could determine the success or failure of the plans of iRide Alaska’s tour tours on e-bikes. Christopher Mertl, chair of the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee and Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee, has said that e-bikes aren on Juneau trails due to them being classified as motorized.
span style=”font-weight 400 ;”>”The Parks Service, the Forest Service, everybody is trying to figure out how this grey mode of transportation is a good fit,” Mertl said. “I am just trying to provide some caution before jumping in the pool , knowing that could have implications that go beyond this single proposal in front of us. .”
The committee on lands referred an application for a permit to entire Assembly. The Assembly’s next session is on the Monday of February. 27.
