DOT Launches Delivery Worker Training And Puts Apps On Notice

“C” ya later!

Delivery workers can now take the required e-bike safety training course that was a key element in the Mamdani administration’s announcement last month that it would stop hitting cyclists with criminal summonses for minor traffic infractions.

The deliveristas, who work as private contractors for major app companies like Uber Eats, Grubhub, DoorDash, and Instacart, will be required to take the course, but the app companies are required to verify that their workers have completed it. Also as part of the launch, the Department of Transportation is sending a letter to the app companies to remind them they must provide workers with safety equipment, including helmets and high-visibility vests.

The course covers traffic laws, how to cycle safely in the city, how to safely use e-bikes, and how to safely charge and store lithium-ion batteries. It takes 15 to 20 minutes to complete and is available in five languages: English, Spanish, French, Bengali, and Chinese. Delivery workers who take the course will receive a digital certificate of completion.

Though Mayor Mamdani touted the course when he announced the end of the so-called “C” summons enforcement effort against delivery workers and other cyclists, the course was mandated under a bill passed last year by the City Council — a bill by Council Member Gale Brewer (D-Upper West Side) against which the app companies lobbied heavily. The law also requires app companies to give workers a unique ID number which worker will display on their body and carry as an ID card with each worker’s name and photo, and provide them with safety equipment like helmets, bells, and reflective vests.

The letter that the Mamdani administration sent to the delivery app companies reveals strong support for the workers as vulnerable road users on bikes.

“Too many delivery workers have been seriously injured or killed while doing their jobs, with the New York City Department of Transportation estimating that over 25 delivery workers using a bike, e-bike, or moped have been killed in traffic crashes since 2021, with many others injured,” the letter states.

DOT Commissioner Mike Flynn said in a statement that “safety and dignity” should be the “top priority” for delivery cyclists in their dealings with exploitive app companies.

“We must empower delivery cyclists to make safe trips and know their rights on the job through education, while ensuring app companies are doing their part to keep New Yorkers safe through legislation,” said Flynn.

The announcement continues with the Mamdani administration’s move to shift the city from the previous administration’s practice of blaming individual delivery workers for reckless riding and instead holding the large tech companies profiting off them accountable.

On March 18, the Mamdani administration ended the criminal summons policy put in place by former Mayor Adams, which had cops giving criminal summonses to delivery workers and other cyclists who broke minor traffic laws. And in one of his administration’s first actions, the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Commissioner Sam Levine sent letters to all of the gig-economy apps warning that they must comply with the city’s worker protection laws.

And the administration is promising more bills to further strengthen delivery worker protections. Mamdani wants third-party delivery companies to provide trip-level data on deliveries, worker penalties and safety incidents to DOT, for the city to be able to establish safe delivery windows for the apps, for the city to be able to require more training for delivery workers who routinely engage in dangerous riding, and to require all two-wheeled workers to take training courses, like those on mopeds.