Speaker Julie Menin and Council Members to Launch Sweeping Review of E-Bike and E-Scooter Safety

Hearing to include over a dozen legislative proposals and oversight of existing laws as Council plans comprehensive action to improve safety for pedestrians and riders

NEW YORK, NY - Today, the New York City Council announced it will hold a comprehensive hearing on September 30 to examine e-bike and e-scooter safety, hear a broad range of potential legislative solutions, and conduct oversight of the City's enforcement of existing laws.

The hearing comes as concerns continue to grow over the rise of illegal, high-speed e-bikes and e-scooters and a series of recent crashes that have injured and killed pedestrians, riders, and other New Yorkers. The Council will hear testimony from city agencies, transportation and public safety experts, advocates, workers, and members of the public as it evaluates a wide range of approaches to improving safety on New York City's streets.

The hearing will be led by City Council Speaker Julie Menin, alongside Majority Leader Shaun Abreu (chair of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure), Council Member Harvey Epstein (chair of the Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection), and Council Member Oswald Feliz (chair of the Committee on Public Safety).

Speaker Menin held a press conference with colleagues outside City Hall to make the announcement and posted a video online.

"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," said Speaker Julie Menin. "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."

Over the past decade, the number of e-bike related incidents have skyrocketed, with data showing that e-bike collisions are up 31.7% this year in comparison to last. In May of this year, an incident involving an illegal high-speed e-scooter on the Queensboro Bridge resulted in the deaths of two New Yorkers. Last month, an accident in Central Park left a jogger in a days-long coma after being struck by an e-bike driver traveling the wrong way. There have been over 500 collisions involving e-bikes in 2026 alone.

The upcoming hearing is a part of a broad effort by the Council to conduct a comprehensive investigative process, engage affected stakeholders and advocacy groups, and identify effective legislative solutions that will keep New Yorkers safe and improve transportation across the city.

The initial list of bills under consideration includes, but is not limited to, the following:

• Introduction 950, sponsored by Council Member Lynn Schulman: Require delivery services that facilitate or arrange for the delivery of goods in the City to obtain a business license from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. By bringing delivery platforms under a licensing framework, the bill would provide the City with stronger oversight and enforcement tools to hold companies accountable for complying with applicable laws.
• Introduction 244, sponsored by Council Member Crystal Hudson: Prohibit the sale and rental of class three bicycles with electric assist establishing civil penalties up to $2,000.
• Introduction 124, sponsored by Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers: Establish a task force to study options for making street design and infrastructure safer for pedestrians, motorists, cyclists, and operators of electric bicycles, also known as e-bikes.
• Introduction 78, sponsored by Council Member Gale Brewer: Require 3rd-party apps to submit data on their drivers' ID numbers, delivery time, location, etc.
• Introduction 110, sponsored by Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers: Expand the City's commercial bicycle safety laws to include other delivery devices that are used for commercial purposes including bicycles, electric bicycles, mopeds and motorcycles.
• Introduction 787, sponsored by Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers: Require the NYPD to publicly report where it has conducted targeted traffic enforcement, why those locations were selected, what types of violations were issued-including those involving e-bikes and e-scooters-and how enforcement affected safety compared with similar periods when no targeted enforcement occurred.
• Introduction 389, sponsored by Council Member Lincoln Restler: Require all third-party food delivery services to verify that the mopeds used by their food delivery workers are properly registered prior to their use.
• Resolution 44, sponsored by Council Member Gale Brewer: Resolution calling for increasing penalties for leaving the scene on an e-scooter, and adding e-bikes.
• Introduction 95, sponsored by Council Member Gale Brewer: Require the department of consumer and worker protection in coordination with the department of transportation to develop and distribute materials related to the operation of mopeds.

Additional bills, which will be introduced in the coming weeks, include:

• additional insurance requirements for third-party delivery applications;
• trade-in incentives for unsafe devices;
• stronger consumer protections;
• expanded enforcement;
• and infrastructure changes to slow high-speed riding.

"Every New Yorker deserves to cross the street without fear, every rider deserves to know the device they purchase is safe to use, and every delivery worker deserves to make a living without being pushed to ride dangerously," said Majority Leader Shaun Abreu, chair of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. "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."

"New Yorkers deserve to go about their lives without fear of unsafe, high-speed devices," said Council Member Crystal Hudson. "My bill, Ride Safe, Ride Right, is a common-sense, bipartisan bill that will ensure everyone is riding at safer speeds without cracking down on the hard-working delivery workers who keep New Yorkers fed every single day. Every e-bike and scooter sold in our city must be a safe one. This bill will bring us closer to a city that's safer for drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists alike."

"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," said Council Member Gale A. Brewer. "Intro. 78 closes that gap by giving us the tools to better understand how algorithmic deadlines, routing, and platform expectations impact worker and street safety. Better data leads to better policy, greater accountability for the companies that profit from this work, and safer streets for delivery workers and all New Yorkers."

"I am proud to stand with Speaker Menin in convening a comprehensive hearing on e-bike and e-scooter safety in September," said Council Member Harvey Epstein. "We need to come up with a comprehensive plan that protects New Yorkers safety and support a critical transportation mode. It is time to work collaboratively on solutions that ensure the safety of every New Yorker."

"New Yorkers deserve to know that companies operating delivery platforms in our city are following clear rules and can be held accountable when they don't," said Council Member Lynn Schulman. "As delivery services have expanded far beyond restaurants, our laws need to keep pace. My legislation would require delivery services to be licensed by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, giving the City stronger oversight of this rapidly growing industry. I want to thank Speaker Julie Menin for making this issue a priority and look forward to advancing this bill as part of the Council's broader effort to improve e-bike and e-scooter safety."

"The recent death of a 17-year-old New Yorker is a tragic reminder that the rapid growth of e-bikes has outpaced the laws designed to keep New Yorkers safe. As crashes and fatalities continue to rise, we have a responsibility to make sure our laws reflect the realities on our streets today," said Council Member Virginia Maloney. "I've championed a 15 mph speed limit because clear, enforceable standards are the foundation of public safety. Combined with registration requirements, stronger accountability for repeat dangerous operators, and a review of safer street design, this package gives the City the tools to prevent future tragedies and better protect everyone who uses our streets."

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