E-Bike Legalization Requires Action In Albany, NYC Official Says

NEW YORK CITY HALL — Mayor Bill de Blasio's administration is punting to Albany when it comes to legalizing electric bikes and scooters.

The City Council is considering legislation that would make the increasingly popular vehicles legal to ride on city streets. But they're still illegal under state law, meaning the city must wait for action at the state level before turning them loose, city Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg said Wednesday.

"Should state action provide the ability for localities to authorize these devices, we'd be open to a conversation with the Council about whether to allow them here in New York City," Trottenberg told lawmakers at a hearing on the bills.

Such action could come this spring. A proposal in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's state budget would let local governments legalize electric bikes and scooters and establish state traffic rules governing them.

But Trottenberg said the city still has concerns about scooters and throttle-powered e-bikes, safety being chief among them. Legalizing the vehicles would also likely increase demand for dedicated bike lanes, she said.

"More widespread use of both e-bikes and e-scooters would change the experience on our streets, including for conventional bike users," Trottenberg said.

The city is also still evaluating how shared e-scooter programs work in other cities, the commissioner said.

City lawmakers have pushed for legalization partially as a response to de Blasio's crackdown on the throttle-powered bikes, which some say has harmed the delivery workers who rely on them. The city has meanwhile embraced so-called pedal-assist bikes, which provide a motorized boost when the rider pedals.

Scooter-sharing companies such as Bird and Lime have also reportedly sought to set up shop in New York. Supporters say the presence of scooters would catch the Big Apple up to other cities where they are widely used.

Two bills introduced last month would make it legal under city law to use e-bikes with top speeds of 20 MPH and electric scooters with top speeds of 15 MPH. Other measures before the Council would set up a scooter-sharing pilot program; require the city to track e-bike and scooter crashes; and require the city to set up a program helping cyclists convert throttle-powered bikes to the pedal-assist variety.

Such a conversion program would be complicated to run, and it appears no other jurisdictions have ever had one, Trottenberg said.

Some Council members stuck by their push for legalization on Wednesday, arguing it would expand transportation options for New Yorkers and lighten the burden for delivery workers.

"It's time that we do everything we can to finally bring these bikes out of the shadows," Councilman Rafael Espinal (D-Brooklyn) said. "I do believe we're behind on this conversation. There is, I don't believe, any more added threat to a e-bike than to a regular bike."

But one councilman, Carlos Menchaca of Brooklyn, has reservations about legalizing e-scooters, which he cast as "toys" that have a "terrible" public safety record.

"It’s frustrating to watch advocacy on behalf of delivery workers being co-opted by tech companies so that we can legalize throttle e-scooters while paying to remove throttles from e-bikes," Menchaca, a Democrat, said in a statement. "This is not only weirdly hypocritical, it represents a double standard."

Lime, a company that offers shared scooters and bikes, said that it serves lots of low-income people. Some 61 percent of its dockless bike riders in the city earn $50,000 a year or less, according to testimony from Phil Jones, Lime's senior director for the East Coast.

Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated Councilman Carlos Menchaca's position on legalizing e-bikes. He has reservations about legalizing e-scooters, not e-bikes.

(Lead image: An e-bike is seen on Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. Photo by Noah Manskar/Patch)