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. 

Gabriel Nacato, 17, was killed coming off the Brooklyn Bridge in Lower Manhattan last week. Authorities said he collided with an SUV outside the protected bike lane. He was riding an illegal e-bike gifted to him by his uncle. 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 20 deaths citywide related to e-bikes and e-scooters. That's up from 13 during the same period last year. That doesn't include those injured. Jean Kotler, 43, just got out of the ICU after she was hit last month by an e-bike that was going the wrong way through Central Park. 

"He swerved to avoid another bike 'cause he was going the wrong direction," Kotler's brother-in-law said.

"We owe New Yorkers streets that are safer to walk, safer to bike, safer to drive," Menin said. "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."

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

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani ended the practice of issuing criminal summonses to e-bike riders for minor infractions this year. He said he would review the proposals. 

"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," Mamdani said. 

"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 Class 3 e-bikes and e-scooters capable of going over 25 mph
• 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
• The council package also includes a resolution to support a bill in the state legislature that would require e-bikes to display license plates

"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. "It's about holding platforms accountable for how their businesses affect workers' safety and street safety."  

"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.   

"What we would also like to see in this package is more restrictions on this loophole gray area on illegal devices that are not street legal but still currently legal to sell and buy in New York City," Charlie Baker of Transportation Alternatives said.