E-Bikes will pose a safety risk faster than they can help us get a clean environment in the absence of regulations. Electric bikes are becoming a familiar sight on its roads, driven by rising fuel prices, expanding food-delivery services and the Punjab government's ambition to promote cleaner, more sustainable transport.

The city is embracing electric bikes much faster than it is preparing for their safe integration into public life. While policymakers celebrate cleaner transport, little attention has been paid to the people most at risk from this transformation - pedestrians, schoolchildren, older citizens and persons with disabilities.

Anyone who regularly walks through Gulberg, Liberty, DHA, Johar Town, Anarkali or the Mall Road has witnessed the problem. Electric bikes, many operated by delivery riders racing against digital timers, frequently mount footpaths to bypass traffic, ignore pedestrian crossings and weave through crowded commercial areas. What was once the domain of motorcycles is now being replicated by quieter, faster electric........

© The Express Tribune