The city Department of Transportation's long-awaited e-bike trade-in program rolled out Thursday, when the first delivery workers were able to swap out their uncertified bikes or illegal mopeds for a safe battery-powered bicycle.
The trade event included the first 30 of 400 total e-bikes up for trade as part of the program, which aims to cycle out unregulated devices and their fire-prone batteries that have sparked deadly blazes across the city in recent years.
"This is not just about protecting delivery workers. It’s about protecting them, their families, their neighbors, and all New Yorkers from deadly fires," said DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez of a program that will be run out of an agency lot in Washington Heights.
The program offers delivery workers a free bike with two batteries, and the city is working with Whizz after dropping Fly e-bikes, an embattled firm that recently had to admit it had faked its safety certification (but you knew that as a Streetsblog reader).
Delivery workers with an e-bike that does not have a UL-certified battery or a moped that isn't street legal were able to apply for the swap by sending in a picture of their device, and completing an online safety course.
Rodriguez also called on the riders to go no faster than 15 miles per hour, in line with controversial dual proposals by Mayor Adams and the City Council from last week to lower the speed limit for e-bikes.
"I want to be clear, as part of this course, we expect that all these delivery workers will ride at 15 miles per hour as is the decision that Mayor Adams and the city has made to reduce the speed limit of e-bikes at 15 mph," Rodriguez said.
The Whizz bikes can go 20 miles per hour, but they have a speedometer, according to DOT spokesman Vin Barone.
The $2-million program was created by a 2023 bill by Manhattan Council Member Keith Powers (also proposed previously by Streetsblog).
"For too long we’ve been forced to rely on unsafe bikes and on uncertified batteries, risking our lives and the lives of our families just to make a living," said William Medina, a delivery worker and a leading organizer with Los Deliveristas Unidos. "It is not just about replacing bikes, it’s about protecting lives and affirming that we matter."
The program still only covers a small fraction of the roughly 80,000 delivery workers in the city, and one recipient of a new e-bike urged officials to expand the initiative.
"They should be doing another program for everyone," Santiago Ramirez told Streetsblog (amNY and The City also covered the event). "The trade is a good thing for the future for everyone."
DOT has received 400 applications, but has opened a waiting list in case people don't follow through, Barone said. The agency plans to give out the remaining e-e-bikes in the coming weeks. Anyone looking to join the wait list can do so until June 30, at 9 p.m. at on.nyc.gov/ebiketradein.
— Kevin Duggan
In other news from a slow day (unless you were at Citi Field):
- Speaking of e-bikes, Mayor Adams and his increasingly militaristic police commissioner went to Staten Island to celebrate the destruction of lots of illegal mopeds, but also, according to Gothamist, some electric bikes. The otherwise excellent Liam Quigley didn't ask, so we did: Why is the NYPD destroying e-bikes (as well as a Citi Bike), which are legal without licenses or registration? Unfortunately, Jessica Tisch's mouthpieces went silent. (As an aside, amNY did not mention any e-bikes.)
- Speaking of Tisch, she really needs to fire Chief John Chell. (The City)
- Nothing to see here? Mayor Adams helped a casino linked to President Trump. (NY Post)
- NIMBYs killed a popular Chinatown outdoor eatery. (Gothamist)
- ArchPaper scooped us on a story we love: the 34th Avenue open street, aka Paseo Park, could get much better.
- Now do New York City: In a positive development out of Washington, Sean Duffy wants to tackle road violence in Long Island. (NY Post)
- Theft is the highest form of complement? WNYC totally ripped off our Albany correspondent Amy Sohn's "super speeder" bill story. But the more the merrier, I suppose.
