NYC Council holds marathon hearing on 23 bills to tighten rules for e-bikes, e-scooters, and mopeds

# What happened Sept. 30 to review 23 proposed bills intended to strengthen regulation of e-bikes, e-scooters, and mopeds. The hearing brought city agency officials, safe-streets advocates, delivery workers and members of the public to the table to address rising safety concerns after several high-profile crashes over the summer.

# Why the Council moved now Council Speaker Julie Menin said the purpose was twofold: to consider how legislation can make motorized two-wheelers safer and to assess how existing laws are being enforced. The hearing follows fatal collisions that involved illegal micromobility devices, including crashes on the Queensboro Bridge and in Lower Manhattan.

# The policy landscape

# What the bills would do (high-level)

• Outlaw or further restrict Class 3 e-bikes in the city.
• Regulate third-party delivery apps, including measures to require liability insurance and improve data monitoring.
• Create a trade-in or voucher program allowing owners of Class 3 or illegal devices to exchange them for legal Class 1 or 2 bikes or receive a voucher to buy a compliant device.

# Data and enforcement challenges presented at the hearing

# Points of contention

• Implementation cost and logistics: DOT told the Council a trade-in or voucher program would be resource-intensive and raised concerns about how to run it at scale.
• Enforcement vs. equity: Advocates and delivery workers raised alarms that stricter enforcement could lead to more police stops and profiling of delivery workers, many of whom are immigrants and form a large share of micromobility riders.

# Next steps Committee deliberations will continue as the Council weighs amendments, implementation questions and agency capacity. The hearing made clear the Council intends to balance device restrictions and app oversight with concerns about enforcement resources and the potential impact on delivery workers.

# Bottom line The City Council is considering a comprehensive set of changes to how e-bikes, e-scooters and mopeds are regulated in New York City. The proposals tackle illegal devices, platform accountability and device speed classes, but city agencies warned about practical hurdles — especially tracking private vehicles and running a trade-in program — while advocates warn stricter rules could increase policing of delivery workers.