Critics Outraged as Mayor Advances App Delivery Rules Following Weeks of Crackdowns on Workers

Papers! Papers!

The Adams administration proposed new rules that officials say will hold delivery app accountable and rein in allegedly unsafe practices by their e-bike-riding workers — but which advocates and at least one of the companies says will once again expose a mostly immigrant workforce to devastating repercussions.

The new rules published on Monday by the Department of Transportation [PDF] will require businesses to issue each worker a unique identification number that would be kept on a roster. The apps would also require workers to complete a safety course and log what types of mobility devices they use. The companies would be fined if they fail to provide equipment such as a helmet and reflective tires to their workers.

The set of changes would allow DOT to better keep tabs on the companies, City Hall said. But it would also, thanks to roster and ID requirement for "bicycle operators," expose vulnerable immigrant workers to federal agents, which have been cracking down on non-criminal immigrants, a rep for one of the app firms said.

"The mayor’s proposal singles out this 35,000 immigrant workforce for heightened surveillance and control," Uber spokesperson Josh Gold said in a statement. "It would require these workers to display visible ID numbers at all times, mandate rosters containing their personal information be made available to the NYPD, and expose them to police scrutiny — even in the absence of any violation."

Gold's concern follows the mayor's well-documented cooperation with the Trump administration on immigration. And it follows a grim announcement last week from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that his government would work with app companies to root out undocumented immigrants.

The union representing thousands of delivery workers said it supported the idea of "holding app-based delivery companies accountable," but issued a statement condemning the new rule proposal.

"Workers Justice Project and Los Deliveristas Unidos ... envision a city where delivery workers are protected, not punished," the groups said in a statement that called for five changes in current city policy that have been unveiled in the weeks preceding Monday's announcement:

• "Stop criminalizing delivery workers. End NYPD crackdowns and harmful enforcement policies that treat workers as the problem.
• Pass just cause protections to stop unfair deactivations and lockouts used as punishment without due process.
• Regulate billion-dollar app companiesthat profit from unsafe conditions and put both workers and the public at risk.
• End NYPD-ICE collaboration and pass the New York for All Act to protect immigrant workers from criminalization and deportation.
• Invest in protected bike lanes and redesign dangerous streets, especially in neighborhoods where delivery workers ride every day."

"We need real, lasting solutions that prioritize safety, dignity, and accountability," the statement continued. "Our city must invest in infrastructure, safeguard workers’ rights, and hold corporations accountable for the unsafe systems they profit from."

For now, City Hall is touting the new rules as simply a matter of safety — both for the public and for the workers.

"In the absence of legislation to address these public safety concerns, we are stepping up to help safeguard the lives of these delivery workers and everyday New Yorkers endangered by unsafe delivery conditions,” Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro said in a press release.

Under the proposal, businesses would have to maintain a roster of every bicycle operator's name, home address and start and end dates of their work. The rider would be required to wear a vest with the business's name and his or her ID number.

The rules will also ban mopeds for commercial purposes.

The rules represent a fallback position for the Adams administration, which announced last year that it would create a Department of Sustainable Delivery to regulate the tech companies that have unleashed tens of thousands of delivery workers with virtually no regulation.

The new arrivals to the street scene have drawn ire from New Yorkers from community board members all the way up to the highest echelons of society, but claims of "Wild West" conditions do not bear out in crash stats, as cars still account for almost all traffic deaths and injuries. And delivery workers continue to be among the biggest victims even as City Hall depicts them as victimizers.

The Adams administration began circulating draft legislation for the Council earlier this year which would include some of the ideas announced on Monday, but would have gone further by requiring app companies to keep track of crashes and incidents that occur on the job. City Hall also wanted DOT to be able to set a minimum timeframe workers get to complete trips and curb incentives encouraging riders to go fast and break traffic laws.

A framework that experts have cited as a potential model is the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which licenses some of the same companies for ride-hail services, such as Uber, and would give the city leverage to withhold permits from companies if they don't follow the rules.

But the Council declined to take up the mayor's measure. As a result, the mayor has acted alone. First, Adams's Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch unleashed the NYPD to dole out criminal summonses to e-bike riders and cyclists, a move that prompted a surge in court cases for low-level offenses like running red lights or riding on the sidewalk.

Then, Mastro advanced a controversial 15 mile-per-hour speed limit for all e-bikes. And last month, City Hall announced the first step: it would hire 45 "peace officers" to crack down on delivery workers.

Advocates for delivery workers have urged the city to focus on regulating apps making bank, rather than punitive enforcement hitting the lowest rung of workers on the street.

DOT will hold a virtual public hearing on the rule on Tuesday, Sep. 2, 2025 at 10 a.m. Tune in via Zoom here.