City Council Legalizes E-Bikes, E-Scooters For NYC Streets

NEW YORK, NY — The New York City Council voted Thursday to legalize e-bikes and e-scooters for use on city streets following the state's decision to give local lawmakers control to regulate the vehicles earlier this year.

Bills passed the council Thursday that allow New Yorkers to use e-bikes with top speeds of 25 miles-per-hour and e-scooters with top speeds of 20 miles-per-hour. A third bill instructing the city Department of Transportation to develop a shared e-scooter pilot program akin to Citi Bike also passed the council.

Bronx City Councilman Fernando Cabrera, who sponsored the bills, said the package will revolutionize the way New Yorkers move around the city, encourage environmentally-friendly travel and reduce car congestion on city streets.

"Today we're moving forward to meet the transit needs of more New Yorkers: People living in transit deserts, people who can't afford public transit fare, people who support their families by delivering restaurant meals and people with disabilities who need more options," Cabrera said during a council transportation committee on Thurdsday.

E-bikes are currently widely used among food delivery workers in New York City, and laws prohibiting their use adversely affect working class and immigrant residents of New York City, Brooklyn Councilman Carlos Menchaca said. Menchaca said that it took a global pandemic for New Yorkers to recognize delivery workers as essential to New York and criticized Mayor Bill de Blasio's decision to crack down on e-bikes for years.

In January, de Blasio defended the city's crackdown on e-bike usage launched in 2017. The mayor said that cracking down on the vehicles was a matter of "common sense" instead of citing data to back up the strict enforcement.

"They go on sidewalks, they go the wrong way down the street, they go too fast," de Blasio said of throttle bikers in January. "I keep coming back with something that is bluntly, in my view, better than data: it is common sense."

On Thursday, the mayor softened his stance on the e-bikes while still defending the 2017 crackdown when asked about the council's bills during his daily press briefing. De Blasio said that he will "absolutely sign the bills" after discussing the issue with the council. Regarding the crackdown, de Blasio insisted the city was just following laws set by the state.

"It was something out in the open, part of our city, but by State law, it was illegal and we're not in a position to ignore State law. And there were real safety concerns," de Blasio said Thursday.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo lifted bans on e-bikes and e-scooters in April as part of the state's fiscal year 2021 budget. The state's provision puts the power in the hands of municipalities to decide if they want to legalize the vehicles for local use. In 2019, Cuomo vetoed a state legislature bill to legalize e-bikes and e-scooters citing flawed safety measures.

Some council members voiced concerns about lumping e-scooters in with e-bikes, citing concerns with users riding the scooters on sidewalks and the short lifespans of the vehicles. Legalizing e-bikes will make life easier for immigrant workers, but the e-scooter bill is largely driven by profits for private companies, Councilmember Menchaca said.

A spokesperson for Lime, one of many companies involved in the e-scooter business, said that e-scooters represent one of the safety ways to traverse New York City.

"Scooters and bikes are the safest and healthiest options to get around in the post-COVID world and we applaud the City Council for taking this important step. New Yorkers have demanded access to scooters for years because they offer a sustainable, affordable and easy way to make short trips and they are proven to significantly replace car trips," Lime spokesperson Phil Jones said in a statement.

Bills passed by the City Council on Thursday also reduce the fines for e-bikes that do not fit the legalization criteria from $500 to $250, Council Speaker Corey Johnson said. Enforcement on users of e-bikes that don't fit the city's criteria — top speeds less than 25 miles-per-hour — will also be limited to riders who are acting dangerously or threatening the safety of other people, Johnson said.