Big Apple mayoral candidate Andrew Cuomo has proposed legislation to register e-bikes with special city plates — and then hold food delivery apps liable for accidents in a bid to curb reckless driving and deadly crashes.
E-bikes caused 75% of bicycle-related deaths in 2023 and more than 7,200 injuries, including nearly 500 pedestrian injuries, according to the city Department of Transportation.
“There’s virtually no rules and no regulations regarding e-bike use in New York City and too many New Yorkers are getting hurt, and even killed,” Cuomo, the ex-governor making a comeback bid for City Hall, said.
“Enough is enough and we need to pass sensible laws that protect both pedestrians and riders alike and crack down on financial incentives that encourage this reckless behavior in the first place.”
The mayoral hopeful’s safety plan calls for legislation requiring the city to register all e-bikes and e-scooters with the city Department of Transportation.
DOT would require city identification plates on all registered vehicles to boost enforcement.
Cuomo also said current industry payment rules encourage e-bike and scooter delivery workers to drive recklessly to meet delivery deadlines to customers.
His plan would require the city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection to revise its payment regulations to eliminate incentives for speeding and recklessness.
Based on the DCWP regulations, a delivery worker is paid only for the time that they have accepted a trip, and until it is completed in the app. Therefore, a worker is incentivized to accept more trips — and travel longer distances and faster — because it maximizes their pay.
The food delivery platforms have all of the data on trips and are able to establish the length of time the platform believes it should take to travel the distance. In practice, it encourages e-bike delivery workers to travel well above the speed limit and often recklessly to meet the deadline for scheduled deliveries.
In addition, his e-bike safety plan would hold food delivery apps liable for damages caused by their drivers while making deliveries and require platforms to record registration numbers when assigning delivery jobs to drivers.
Legislation is pending in the City Council to address e-bike and e-scooter safety.
Cuomo’s plan mirrors one Queens Councilman Robert Holden introduced last year that would require license plates and registration for electric bikes and scooters — after 47 people were killed in e-bike crashes over the prior five years.
It’s the second plank of Cuomo’s public safety plan.
On Sunday, he proposed hiring an additional 5,000 police officers to boost the NYPD force by 15%.
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