The mayor’s office has delivered a document to the City Council proposing that third-party delivery companies like Grubhub and UberEATS be responsible for safety issues concerning micromobility devices, like the e-bikes used by most of their workers. The proposal includes language ensuring that these companies’ drivers are using safe bikes and batteries, as well as a safety training course to make sure they follow traffic rules. An ID system would also be implemented as well, with each driver being assigned a number and a card showing the information of the business they work for. As far as enforcement, the proposal would establish penalties for companies that don’t comply, in the form of fines that could vary in amount depending on the violation. “It will build on the work our administration has already done to curb deadly e-bike fires and raise wages for delivery workers, creating a safer, stronger industry for all,” a mayor’s spokesperson told amNewYork.
The rapid spread of e-bikes over the past few years in American cities has presented a slew of new safety issues, namely fires and collisions. The FDNY reported 18 deaths from 268 fires started by lithium-ion e-bike batteries in 2023, which can catch fire when they are not even charging, fed by a process called thermal runaway that causes them to spread faster than blazes fed by other sources. In 2024, only six deaths were reported from fewer fires, as the city implemented safety measures. These include the construction of outdoor battery-charging stations, banning the sale of uncertified bikes and batteries, and a public awareness campaign on the proper handling and disposal of batteries.
The mayor’s measure is also a response to how e-bikes are used in the streets, as collisions with pedestrians are on the rise. Emergency room doctors claim that they are seeing increased injuries and even deaths from collisions, as Daniel Murphy, M.D., chief of emergency medicine at St. Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx told amNewYork in June that the problem is getting “exponentially worse.”
Last year, City Councilman Bob Holden proposed Priscilla’s Law, an e-bike safety bill named after a woman who died after being hit by an e-bike that ran a red light on Canal Street in Manhattan. “Priscilla Loke should be alive today, but reckless e-bike riders flout traffic regulations with impunity,” Holden said last year when announcing the proposed legislation, “underscoring the urgent need for the council to pass Priscilla’s Law and for Albany to implement effective regulations on these devices.” The law would register the vehicles with the Department of Transportation in much the same way that motorcycles and cars are, including visible plates on the vehicles.
The mayor’s recent proposal has received praise from the advocacy group Transportation Alternatives, which promotes the use of public transit. “The same-day app delivery industry is in a race to the bottom where the main winners are a couple of Silicon Valley CEOs, and it’s past time to seriously regulate the industry,” said Ben Furnas, the group’s executive director.
The proposal is not technically legislation, which would have to be introduced by a member of the City Council, according to the legislative body’s spokesperson, Mara Davis. “An idea for a bill is not the same as a bill. If legislation on this is introduced by a member, it will go through the council’s legislative process.”
