NYC lawmakers undertaking "comprehensive review" of e-bike safety with 17 new bills, public hearing

New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin announced more than a dozen new bills focused on e-bike safety Tuesday. 

Menin is calling it a comprehensive legislative review of e-bike and e-scooter safety. 

In total, 17 bills will be introduced in the City Council next month to increase safety regulations around e-bikes and e-scooters, while also strengthening enforcement of existing laws. The City Council plans to hold a hearing on the bills on Sept. 30. 

A 17-year-old cyclist was killed coming off the Brooklyn Bridge in Lower Manhattan last week. Authorities said he collided with an SUV outside the protected bike lane. In May, an illegal e-scooter was involved in a crash on the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge that left two people dead.

So far this year, there have been 11 e-bike deaths citywide. That's up from eight during the same period last year. 

"Some of the legislation will seek to outright reduce the number of fatalities, whether it is prohibiting the sale and rental of certain e-bikes or mandating that businesses provide deliveristas with safety equipment on the job," Menin said. 

"I think my first focus, frankly, is that which is already illegal. How to ensure that no consumer is duped into believing that that is an appropriate way to be moving around the city, because it is hard for New Yorkers to keep up with what is legal or illegal if they're able to buy it online," New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. 

The Department of Transportation says overall traffic fatalities are near historic lows, with pedestrian deaths at their lowest point since 2020. 

"Every New Yorker deserves to move around our city freely and safely, regardless of how they get around. But too many people have been seriously injured or killed in crashes involving illegal, high-speed e-bikes, e-motos, and e-scooters. We already have laws on the books, yet they are not being adequately enforced — and we must also examine what additional legislative solutions are needed to keep New Yorkers safe," Menin said. "The City Council will bring together pedestrians, cyclists, deliveristas, transportation experts, advocates, and enforcement agencies to conduct a comprehensive review of every available option to make our streets safer."  

The legislative package would, among other proposals: 

• Require delivery services to be licensed
• Ban the sale and rental of certain e-bikes and e-scooters
• Set up a street safety task force
• Require apps to provide data on their delivery drivers
• Expand existing bike safety laws 
• Require NYPD disclosure of e-bike enforcement operations
• Require food delivery services to verify the vehicles used are properly registered
• Boost penalties for leaving the scene on an e-bike or e-scooter

"This legislative package will draw clear lines, helping ensure the companies who profit from dangerous speeds are held accountable, the fast, illegal devices come off our streets, and the legal ones are safer," City Councilmember Shaun Abreu said.   

"Every day, 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," City Councilmember Gale Brewer said.   

"We need to come up with a comprehensive plan that protects New Yorkers' safety and supports a critical transportation mode. It is time to work collaboratively on solutions that ensure the safety of every New Yorker," City Councilmember Harvey Epstein said.