Judging from his public comments and his own propaganda video, it doesn't appear that Mayor Adams knows the difference between an e-bike and a moped.
And this matters because the mayor and the NYPD are engaged in a multi-front war against all forms of micromobility — bicycles, electric bikes, mopeds, stand-up electric scooters, "dirt bikes," all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles — some of which are completely legal yet nonetheless have ended up under Mayor Adams's rhetoric and his steamrollers.
So what's going on? Experts say Adams's conflation of the term "e-bike" when he means "moped," "scooter" when means "moped" and "moped" when he means whatever device bothers him at any given moment is an entirely intentional attempt to confuse the public.
"The fact that the mayor and the NYPD can't tell the difference between a moped and an e-bike [creates] confusion and lack of understanding [that] leads to constant harassment, unfair criminalization and a pattern of trying to scapegoat deliveristas to avoid addressing the real issues affecting e-bike riders, which is the fact that we need to redesign our streets to adapt to the new reality," Ligia Guallpa, the executive director of the Worker's Justice Project, which helps delivery workers navigate these changing policies, told Streetsblog.
That confusion on the streets and in the mayor's speeches is especially alarming right now, as the mayor has empowered cops to give criminal summonses to cyclists in lieu of traffic tickets, a policy that began on April 28. Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch had said that only e-bike riders would be targeted, and only for six traffic violations, such as running a red light. It turns out that regular cyclists have gotten tickets for a wider variety of transgressions.
The mayor has also proposed a 15-mile-per-hour speed limit for e-bikes, the very devices he constantly confuses with their heavier, faster counterpart: the moped, which are already regulated by state law.
"We have a city that’s attempting to regulate electric micromobility without really understanding what the bikes are on the road," said Guallpa.
What's going on?
The cycling crackdown and the proposed e-bike speed limit earned Hizzoner wide criticism from street safety advocates as a one-dimensional effort in the face of a multi-faceted problem involving a wide variety of micro-mobility vehicles, yes, but also road design, regulation of app-based delivery companies, cars, trucks, congestion and even racial dynamics.
But the mayor doubled-down on his initiatives in the face of criticisms, speaking frequently about "chaos" on the streets caused by e-bike riders.
He even started putting out his own propaganda videos on social media.
In one post, the mayor complains about “noisy and illegal mopeds, scooters, and ATVs.” But in the video itself, random (and obviously curated) New Yorkers are asked about "e-bikes and ATVs" while the footage itself shows mopeds being destroyed as a part of the mayor’s ghost vehicle initiative.
But blurring the line between e-bikes and mopeds seems to be the point:
Ben Furnas, the executive director of Transportation Alternatives, said that safe streets policy can't be built on the lie that a pedal-assist e-bike like a Citi Bike (top speed now 15 miles per hour) and a moped (top speed 40 miles per hour) are the same.
“It’s important not to conflate two different types of transportation," he said. "Mopeds are heavier and more dangerous motor vehicles — very different than a lighter-weight e-bike. The mayor's misleading rhetoric is concerning, especially as his administration escalates his war on biking."
Nonetheless, on Monday, at a press conference about the NYPD’s quality-of-life initiative that is spearheading the criminal summons escalation, the mayor claimed he has implemented a 15-mile-per-hour speed limit for mopeds, which is not true.
“We brought down the speed limit of our mopeds and many who are talking about safe streets were upset with us for doing that,” Adams told Streetsblog.
That followed a similar rhetorical filigree last Tuesday, when he again confused e-bikes with mopeds.
"At town halls, we hear it all the time, the legal and illegal mopeds and scooters are moving too fast in bike lanes, on sidewalks," he said. "For the entire crackdown, the call was clear, we did just that. We lowered the speed limit to 15-miles-per-hour because it’s important to do, it’s about public safety.” (The proposed 15-mile-per-hour speed limit is only for e-bikes, not for mopeds, which are subject to the same speed limits as cars.)
The NYPD also often confuses the two vehicle types — which is especially alarming because cops are the tool that the mayor is using for his crackdown.
Earlier this year the administration invited reporters to the 33rd Precinct to learn about a "crackdown" on illegal mopeds. In B-roll of the sting released by NYPD, officers were shown cutting locks from e-bikes and even regular bikes, not mopeds. The department declined to clarify why it was removing bikes as part of what was supposed to be a moped crackdown.
And on X, the 114th Precinct posted a photo of a moped rider holding up a “Bike Smart” pamphlet from the Department of Transportation, which is meant to be shared with cyclists. The pamphlet, if followed by a moped rider, would be encouraging illegal behavior, considering mopeds are not even allowed in bike lanes. The NYPD also declined to comment on the incident.
What's the truth?
Mopeds, also called “limited-use motorcycles” in the vehicle and traffic code, are regulated more strictly than e-bikes. Whether they are gas or electric, they already require a driver's license to operate, need a license plate and registration from the DMV, and are not allowed in bike lanes. Instead, they share the road with cars and follow the marked speed limit, which in most places is 25 miles per hour.
E-bikes on the other hand are classified as bicycles and therefore can use most of the city’s bike infrastructure, like protected bike lanes. There are three different types of e-bikes that were all legalized by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo in 2020. Class-1 e-bikes are pedal assist and do not have a throttle, Class-2 e-bikes have pedals but also a throttle, and Class-3 e-bikes are the same as Class-2 except they can go 25 miles per hour instead of 20. E-scooters are ridden standing up and can only go up to 15 miles per hour.
But the mayor consistently equates the two, especially when he talks about the recent crackdown on bikes.
And he does it in a particularly slapdash manner:
