PRESS INQUIRIES
New York City Council Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Micromobility
Int. 606-2024 and Int. 1131-2024
Thank you, Chair Brooks-Powers and members of the committee for the opportunity to testify on micromobility and Intros 606 and 1131. The Partnership for New York City represents the city’s business leaders and largest employers. Our members employ about a half million people in the city and deliver approximately $236 billion in annual economic output. We work with government, labor, and the nonprofit sector to promote economic growth and maintain the city’s prominence as a global center of economic opportunity, upward mobility, and innovation.
The Partnership has long been a supporter of efforts to reduce traffic congestion, upgrade mass transit, and improve the quality of life in the city. We were an original advocate for and investor in CitiBike. We run a Transit Tech Lab that is dedicated to modernizing our regional transportation system through partnerships with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the city Department of Transportation, the Port Authority, and New Jersey Transit. We believe that safe and affordable micromobility options are essential to the city’s growth and economic well-being.
Today, however, the unrestrained proliferation of electric bicycles (e-bikes), electric scooters (e-scooters), mopeds, and similar motorized vehicles presents a serious threat to public safety and quality of life in our city. Criminals use these vehicles to perpetrate and escape from crime scenes, as we saw most recently with the tragic shooting of a business executive in Manhattan. Our member companies are deluged with complaints from employees and customers about thefts, injuries, and near misses from fast-moving electric vehicles whose riders ignore traffic signals.
In 2023, 328 pedestrians were injured and two were killed in crashes involving e-bikes and e-scooters, a significant increase from previous years; e-bike riders made up 75% of the 30 cyclists who died in 2023. This lawless conduct has become a major contributor to public safety concerns, especially among older New Yorkers.
The Partnership strongly urges the Council and the Administration to increase enforcement of state licensing requirements for mopeds and existing traffic laws for all vehicles. We support the efforts of the City Council and the Administration to implement creative strategies to address the dangers posed by these vehicles. The task force proposed in Int. 1131, sponsored by Majority Whip Brooks-Powers, is a solid idea for finding solutions that allow micromobility vehicles to operate safely in the city.
Most important, however, is for the Council to enact Int. 606, sponsored by Council Member Holden, to require bicycles with electric assist, e-scooters, and other legal motorized vehicles to be registered with the city Department of Transportation and display an identification plate on the vehicle. This is essential to enforce speed limits and other rules of the road for vehicles that are not required to be registered with the state Department of Motor Vehicles. Without this registration, it is impossible to enforce laws and hold cyclists responsible for behavior that constitutes one of the most serious detractions from the quality of life in our city.
We hope the Council will act on these bills quickly. Thank you.