City Council Mulls Bills to Address E-Bike Speeding and Safety Concerns

The New York City Council held a marathon hearing on September 30 on 21 bills and two resolutions that aim to reduce the threat that fast-moving e-bikes, and other unregulated micromobility devices pose to pedestrians.

Options on the table from different bills range from laws calling for tougher enforcement of speed limit laws, stronger licensing and enforcement mechanisms, tighter regulation of delivery companies, and installing monitors that would slow bikers that leave asphalt streets and ride down concrete sidewalks.

Calls for enforcement grew after a stand-up scooter and a high-speed pedal bicyclist were killed in a head-on collision, while riding across the Queensboro Bridge bike lane on May 29. Footage of the collision never surfaced, but the scooter was able to reach speeds of over 50 mph. While the bicycle was only pedal-powered, it was a lightweight racing variety.

E-bike collisions have increased by 30 percent this year, according to the City Council, often with fatal results. Seventeen people have been killed while riding e-bikes so far this year.

In one devastating recent incident, on September 18, a 15-year-old girl riding an e-bike piloted by her friend was killed after they were struck by a truck turning onto 1st Avenue. More recently, a 50 year-old woman driving a JOCO delivery bike was killed when she was struck by a dump truck on West 34th Street.

Gabriel Nacato, 17, was killed in July when his high-speed e-bike—one banned by the city—crashed into an SUV on Centre Street, right in front of the David Dinkins Municipal Building in Lower Manhattan. There have also been 11 deaths of people on stand-up scooters

“Motorized micro-mobility devices have become commonplace on our streets, with electric bicycles, electric scooters, and other devices becoming an integral part of New York City,” Council Speaker Julie Menin said in opening remarks. They’ve created new modes of commuting, expanded access to jobs, and have become an essential tool for thousands of working New Yorkers.”

“But, with these opportunities comes a serious responsibility to ensure that our streets remain safe for everyone,” she added. “Over the years, we have heard repeatedly from pedestrians who are afraid to walk on crowded sidewalks, have been forced left and right, left and right, and left again...literally to feel safe crossing the street.”

City Council Majority Leader Shaun Abreu, who represents part of the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights, used the hearing to elaborate on his “20 mph is plenty” legislative philosophy when it comes to regulating e-bikes. Currently the city says e-bikes must have a top speed of only 15 MPH.

E-bikes with speeds that exceed this threshold, of which are currently many in New York City, are widely recognized by as posing the most serious threat to the life of pedestrians and e-bikers alike.

Gabriel Nacato, 17, was killed in July when his high-speed e-bike—one banned by the city—crashed into an SUV on Centre Street, right in front of the David Dinkins Municipal Building in Lower Manhattan. There have also been 11 deaths of people on stand-up scooters

Abreu then noted that he has proposed a package of bills that would “facilitate an equitable transition to slower, safer devices for those who need them.” These safer devices are roughly categorized as “Class 1” and “Class 2” e-bikes, rather than “Class 3” e-bikes, which are those that can hit particularly deadly speeds.

Abreu’s legislative agenda would crack down on “false advertising” by e-bike retailers, provide vouchers that allow delivery workers to trade faster illegal bikes in for slower bikes, and push for the creation of “sidewalk detection” technology that would automatically slow down e-bikes that could pose a threat to nearby pedestrians.

But Abreu was criticized by Andrew Fine, an attorney with the E-Vehicle Safety Alliance. “This is absolutely shameful @shaunAbrue has fillibusted this hearing and alienated the victims of E-bike crashes. Shame! Disabled seniors cannot wait over 4 hours+ to ‘possibly’ testify.”

And Ligia Guallpa, executive director of the Workers’ Justice Project, took issue objected to a bill that would allow the NYPD and DOT to seize e-bikes or scooters if they are illegally fast. “To address a workplace safety issue, we don’t deploy the cops,” said Guallpa, according to Gothamist. “This bill will only intensify e-bike confiscation, racial profiling, massive deactivations, without addressing the infrastructure, the regulation, the lack of worker protections that workers need.”

Council Member Gale Brewer, who represents a district on the Upper West Side, used her speaking slot at the hearing to demand accountability and transparency from delivery companies—the algorithms of which can pressure e-bikers to transport their wares at unsafe speeds, advocates say. One of her bills would impose liability insurance for these apps.

“The delivery apps know how these trips are assigned, routed, and timed,” Brewer said. “The city does not.”

A bill she has introduced would “close that gap,” she continued, and would give lawmakers “information about the vehicle types and deadlines imposed by the apps.”

Another one of Brewer’s bills would place moped registration and insurance information at the point of sale, mandating that sellers inform riders of these vehicles of how to register their vehicles with the DMV, for example.

Priscilla’s Law, another proposed bill that would create a separate registration system for e-bikes, failed to earn broader City Council support last year.

The DOT believes that they do not have the ability to create such a system locally, which they say must be done via state legislation up in Albany, where a bill is currently pending.

Councilmember Phil Wong called legislation to protect pedestrians “long overdue.” Speaking at a rally called by the E-Vehicle Safety Alliance on the steps of City Hall before the hearing began, he said, “We’re looking for enforcement. And we need accountability.”

He noted that because police do not respond to bike-pedestrian accidents, there’s no data to illustrate the scope of the problem. “If there is no data there’s no problem,” in the eyes of city officials, he continued.

“If you get hit and you can’t identify the driver,” one protestor queried. “Where do you send the bill?”

“Citi bikes need plates, education for riders and age verification,” another said at the rally.

Victim Renee Baruch at the pre-hearing rally noted that her “face was ruined,” and required four separate surgeries at the pre-hearing rally. She didn’t even see the bike that hit her.