Monday’s Headlines: E-Bike Regulations Edition
Today is a big day for the future of e-bikes in Big Apple, as city leaders on both sides of City Hall advance proposals to regulate the speed of e-bikes and app companies whose workers rely on them.
First, the Department of Transportation will hold a much-anticipated public hearing on Mayor Adams’s controversial rule proposal to cap e-bike speed-limits at 15 mph in the five boroughs.
The policy has received hundreds of comments on its website, including from experts like former DOT policy chief Michael Replogle, who told Streetsblog that the restriction would roll back decades of gains to grow cycling as a mode of transportation.
The hearing starts at 10 a.m. You can tune in here, or file a written comment until 5 p.m.
At the exact same time, Speaker Adrienne Adams’s City Council will vote on a set of bills to improve working conditions for workers for grocery delivery apps like Instacart, expanding the city’s 2021 delivery minimum wage law to cover groceries.
The legislation comes in response to Streetsblog’s coverage the “Instacart loophole” that allowed grocery delivery companies to skirt the $20 minimum wage.
To refresh your memory on the Instacart loophole, why not watch our award-winning video:
Meanwhile, the future of Mayor Adams’s “Department of Sustainable Delivery” remains unclear. So far, Hizzoner has only proposed dozens of new cops within DOT to enforce traffic rules. A draft bill for further accountability of the app companies profiting off delivery workers’s labor, meanwhile, is collecting dust on the speaker’s desk.
– by Kevin Duggan
In other news:
- H/T (to us) — Streetsblog’s reporting was all over Zohran Mamdani’s latest video:
- State Sen. Stephan Chan had a lot of tough talk about the city’s “free-for-all chaotic landscape” after a hit-and-run driver killed two pedestrian on Third Avenue on Friday — but nothing about the strip’s notoriously dangerous design. (NY Post)
- An NYPD chase ended with its 15-year-old robbery suspect getting struck and killed just over the Nassau County line by a menace in a Lexus with 53 speeding tickets since 2020. (Daily News)
- Important and urgent fixes are coming to the pedestrian and bike entrances to the Queensboro Bridge. (NYC DOT via X)
- PATH train are experiencing their own little “summer of hell” across the river. (Gothamist)
- DOT’s brand new concrete recycling facility will close due to complaints from neighbors about dust from the plant. (Gothamist)
- A 79-year-old driver crashed into two cars and a light pole in Co-Op City, killing another driver and injuring seven other individuals. (Daily News)
- A teen e-scooter rider succumbed to injuries sustained after a driver struck him on Staten Island last month. (amNY)
- The Department of Investigation is looking into NYPD bigs John Chell and Kaz Daughtry bringing their security details to their golf outing with President Trump. (Daily News)
- It’s time to bid adieu to the E. 10th Street pedestrian bridge. (EV Grieve)
- An MTA bus driver crashed into a light pole on Flushing Main Street, injuring eight. (WABC-TV)
- The City Council passed public bathroom and water fountain benchmarks without any teeth. (Gothamist)
- And finally, Knicks star Josh Hart is asking all the right questions:
Streetsblog has migrated to a new comment system. New commenters can register directly in the comments section of any article. Returning commenters: your previous comments and display name have been preserved, but you'll need to reclaim your account by clicking "Forgot your password?" on the sign-in form, entering your email, and following the verification link to set a new password — this is required because passwords could not be carried over during the migration. For questions, contact tips@streetsblog.org.
