Photo: William Ward.

City Plans Crackdown on E-Bikes Used for Deliveries

From the Washington Post:

Cheap, electric bicycles have made life a lot easier for New York City’s legions of restaurant delivery workers, but the party may be over in the New Year.

City officials are promising a crackdown on e-bikes, which may be loved by environmentalists and the largely poor, immigrant workforce that relies on them, but are loathed by many drivers and pedestrians who think they are a menace.

Under city law, the bikes are legal to own and sell, but riding them on the street can lead to a fine of up to $500. Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this fall that starting in 2018, businesses that have employees use the bikes are also subject to a fine of $100 for a first offense and $200 for each subsequent offense.

“Electric bikes are illegal to operate on city streets and those at the top of the food chain need to be held accountable,” city spokesman Austin Finan said. “Instead of merely targeting riders, we’re going after businesses that look the other way and leave their workers to shoulder the fine.”

Click here to continue reading at the Washington Post.

7 Comments

  • Almost was hit

    If electric bikes followed traffic laws and traffic direction and didn’t zip down sidewalks at high speed then they wouldn’t be so dangerous for pedestrians.

  • Blah blah blah

    The city parading around like they care about safety. Just another easy way to make a few bucks. Money, money, money. Why not hold people accountable by making them volunteer to promote bicycle safety or something relevant? Because they just want money.

  • jdf007

    The Washington Post article makes this into one bizarre story. Not only is this an article about what happens when you become a sanctuary city, but this whole cry fest is filed under “race, ethnicity and immigration for The Associated Press” which is the authors specialty!
    The electric bicycle, that the snippet and comments here are referring to, seems to be the least important part of the article!

  • dr5emet

    yes, the bikes are a bit of a nuisance, but really, the city picks on the little easy targets and then says they are doing something big.
    not so.
    they need to do alot more

  • The kangeroo

    They travel on the sidewalk pretty fast and if they hit somebody he will suffer.Neither they or regular bikes should do so.The issue is simple.