NYC Council Considers 17 E-Bike Bills To Revamp Safety

The biggest piece of news came in the form of Mayor Mamdani’s issuing of cease-and-desist orders to 42 online retailers that sell illegal e-vehicles to New Yorkers. The mayor organized a press conference on August 5 to officially announce this measure, on the heels of the death of a New York teen on an illegal electric bike just two weeks prior. 

Back in May, there was an incident involving an illegal high-speed e-scooter on the Queensboro Bridge— resulting in the deaths of two New Yorkers— and a July accident in Central Park left a jogger in a days-long coma after being struck by an e-Bike. Data collected by the city shows that e-Bike collisions are up 31.7% this year in comparison to last year.

Increasing rates of incidents involving e-Bikes have been making headlines, and Mamdani’s office's first move takes aim at retailers that sell and stock illegally fast or powerful e-vehicles. The cease-and-desist order was sent to 42 major online retailers, including behemoths like Amazon, Target, Temu, Walmart, Wayfair, and others.

Legal electric bikes can travel at a maximum of 25 mph in New York City, but faster electric two-wheelers— often referred to as e-motos— can go double that speed, or more. It’s that extra pace and the heavy weight of these overpowered electric rides that make them so dangerous, and data has backed up the risk of having these e-motos on the streets. 

Mamdani explained that the cease-and-desist order “prevents manufacturers and retailers from misleading consumers about what they're purchasing and addresses what we see as the real problem: high-speed e-motos being marketed and sold as e-Bikes.” This is a head-on approach to solve the so-called “e-moto problem”, at least that’s what I’m calling it. These illegally fast electric motorcycles are dangerous for riders and pedestrians, plus conflating these prohibited bikes with legal electric bicycles can lead to backlash against the wider cycling community of law-abiding e-Bike users. 

The recent press conference and issuing of cease-and-desist orders coincide with the scheduling of a comprehensive New York City Council hearing at the end of September to examine e-Bike and e-scooter safety.

City Council Speaker Julie Menin revealed details about 17 bills that she plans to consider regarding e-mobility. This comes on the heels of a string of fatal crashes involving micromobility vehicles in New York City and recent rules like the 15 mph speed limit for e-Bikes introduced by former Mayor Eric Adams. The long list of proposed bills represents different approaches to micromobility safety, kicking off what is sure to be a lively debate— in his recent press conference, Mayor Mamdani emphasized that, “First and foremost we are looking at a wide variety of avenues of how to take action on this issue [of e-Bike safety].” The Council is casting a wide net, and I’ll be monitoring what filters through.

It’s a smorgasbord of proposed rule changes. For a closer look, Emily Smith at StreetsblogNYC wrote a great, comprehensive review of what we know about the 17 bills so far. For now, I’ll mention the main categories and pick out a few highlights.

There are a few bills that target the delivery app industry. Delivery services have skyrocketed in popularity over the past several years, and New Yorkers especially love their food delivery apps. Most of these trips are completed by “deliveristas” in the city, many on electric bikes. The city could require additional licenses or require businesses to keep records of their delivery workers.

On the docket is a handful of bills mandating data collection and research. The most interesting proposal to me is Intro. 78, which would require those third-party delivery apps to disclose driver data like delivery time and location. Council Member Gale A. Brewer explained that, “delivery workers make roughly 400,000 bike deliveries across New York City. The delivery apps know how every trip is assigned, routed, and timed, but the City does not”. This type of large-scale data-sharing could empower the City to better understand the deliverista landscape and how to improve safety for such a large group of e-Bike users.

There’s even a bill out there that calls to ban Class 3 e-Bikes altogether. NYC already has its own Class 3 rules, maxing out the speed at 25 mph rather than the normal 28 mph for Class 3 bikes specified in the widely adopted three-class system across the US. 

There’s no mention of Priscilla’s Law so far, which is good news for cycling advocates. This restrictive law requires all e-Bikes to be registered with the Department of Vehicles and have a license plate. And when asked directly about calls to introduce registration of all e-Bikes, Mamdani reiterated that he doesn’t believe registration would be helpful or an approach the City should move ahead with.