It's the ol' NYPD see-saw.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch dialed back traffic tickets against motorists as her officers swept the streets to dramatically ramp up criminal summonses against cyclists this spring, Streetsblog has found.
Cops gave out 13 percent fewer traffic tickets to drivers of cars, trucks and buses between April and June, compared to the previous three months, enforcement stats show — while criminal summonses against people on bikes surged during the same period.
Advocates for safe streets have seen enough.
"Mayor Adams has given his marching orders to the NYPD: crack down on people on bikes, while letting reckless drivers terrorize our neighborhoods and kill New Yorkers," said Transportation Alternatives Director of Advocacy Shawn Garcia. "Enforcement should be focused on the biggest, most-dangerous vehicles on the road: the cars and trucks weighing thousands of pounds that kill 250 New Yorkers every year."
NYPD issued more than 139,000 traffic tickets, also known as B summonses, to motorists in the second quarter of 2025, down from around 160,000 in the first three months of 2025, and around the same time Tisch upgraded many tickets for bikes to criminal, or C, summonses.
B summons for bikes, e-bikes and e-scooters were also down, however, only by 3 percent, from 6,918 in Q1 to 6,726 in Q2. But the latest bike numbers were the highest in any second quarter since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, and up 60 percent over the same time last year.
Traffic-related C summonses increased tenfold around the same time this spring, Gothamist reported, from around 600 pre-crackdown to nearly 6,000.
Streetsblog separately reviewed the C summons stats, but the NYPD often does not break down whether someone was riding an e-bike or driving a car, including for the most common violation, riding through a red light. However, given the police's stated focus on two-wheelers for the harsher penalties, and taking into account historic numbers, e-bikes and bikes plausibly account for most of that upswing.
The NYPD press office has repeatedly declined to comment and provide clearer data with just bike and e-bike criminal summonses.
Tisch launched a new policy on April 28 to issue cyclists and e-bike riders criminal court summonses instead of regular traffic tickets for six violations, including going through red lights, disobeying stop signs, riding the wrong way, riding recklessly, riding under the influence of drugs or alcohol, and riding on the sidewalk.
The top cop justified the "data" driven policy by saying she wanted to hold "out of control scooters and e-bikes" accountable, despite data showing that e-bike crashes injuring pedestrians were on the decline in the lead up to the crackdown were down. The number of pedestrians hurt in e-bike crashes dropped from 34 injuries last year to 18 this year. That's 0.6 percent out of the 2,992 total reported pedestrian injuries through April 30.
"Applying precious resources to people rolling through red lights or stops signs on e-bikes or e-scooters is ridiculous," said Eric McClure, executive director of StreetsPAC. "Drivers have been getting a free pass more than anybody else.
"If the NYPD has finite resources, which they always seem to be saying that’s the case, we need to focus the resources where it would save the most lives."
Tisch has claimed that because e-bike users don't have to carry a driver's license and can simply skip traffic court, they operate in a "consequence-free environment," but police never provided proof that cyclists and e-bike riders dodge court dates any more than drivers do.
The enforcement boost dragged cyclists to criminal summons court for the low-level offenses which previously they could pay a ticket for or dispute in a virtual court hearing.
It has prompted bizarre and dangerous cases like cops pulling a Taser, jumping in front of cyclists and then charging them with failing to yield, and charging them for legal riding behavior, such as going with the "Walk" sign. Drivers continued to be able break the law with just a ticket.
