By Steven Cohen, Ph.D., Director of the M.S. in Sustainability Management program, School of Professional Studies
Anyone crossing a street, walking on a sidewalk, or driving a car in New York City has noticed the exponential increase in e-bikes and scooters on the streets and sidewalks of the city. They pass red lights, ride the wrong way on one-way streets, drive on sidewalks, and follow no discernable rules of the road. These new electric motor vehicles are an excellent alternative to the internal combustion engine, have a lower environmental impact, and are an inexpensive way to get from place to place. They are a terrific addition to the city’s transportation system. But they must be regulated and required to follow the same laws as other motor vehicles.
Recently, the New York City Council took up a bill to require license plates on these motor vehicles. Since the state doesn’t require these plates, it would be up to the city to administer them. In a recent report in the Gothamist, Michelle Bocanegra observed that:
“Adams administration officials pushed back against a bill seeking to license electric bicycles and motorized scooters during a contentious Council hearing on Wednesday, citing its potential to bring more enforcement against delivery workers in pursuit of traffic safety. The bill sponsored by Councilmember Bob Holden and backed by dozens of his colleagues would require e-bikes and other motorized micromobility vehicles not subject to state licensing laws to be licensed and registered on the city level… Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said the administration agreed with the bill's logic, but raised concerns about potential unintended consequences. Delivery workers would bear the brunt of enforcement, he argued, echoing advocates' worries. He also warned that a city-level licensing authority for these vehicles would weigh heavily on the agency’s resources — essentially creating a micro DMV in the city's Department of Transportation.”
The Transportation Commissioner tried to argue against the safety issue raised by licensing advocates by arguing that more pedestrians were killed by larger vehicles than these smaller vehicles. In another piece on the City Council debate in the NY Daily News, Evan Simko-Bednarski reported that:
“Ydanis Rodriguez, the city’s transportation commissioner, said that while his department took seriously the need to enforce traffic rules on e-bikes, “reckless driving by motor vehicle drivers remains, by far, the biggest threat to pedestrian safety.” “So far this year, 105 pedestrians were killed by car or [a] large vehicle, compared to only six killed in crashes with e-bikes, mopeds and standup e-scooters combined…”
Of course, his selection of fatalities as the metric of focus is the heart of the problem with the Commissioner’s perspective. It makes sense that people will die more often when a car or truck hits them than when they are struck by an e-bike or scooter. Bikes and scooters are smaller and lighter than trucks and cars, and so the impact of an accident will differ. One wonders if anyone has collected data on non-fatal injuries from these smaller vehicles. The number of non-fatal injuries from e-bikes is likely to be far greater than fatalities. New Yorkers walk a lot. When I cross streets these days, I look around, over and over, to make sure some bike isn’t speeding down the street, passing traffic lights or riding against traffic. I don’t worry about death but worry about injury. E-bikes are a relatively new and attractive technology. But like many new technologies, they bring unanticipated negative impacts. One of those impacts, fires caused by defective e-bike batteries, has already been subject to regulation that appears to be working. According to the Underwriters Laboratory’s website:
“In 2023, New York City enacted Local Law 39, requiring any company selling, leasing, or distributing micromobility devices, such as electric bikes or electric scooters, to meet safety standards published by UL Standards & Engagement that help to reduce the risk of fire… Deaths and injuries from e-bike fires had been on the rise in NYC since 2021, when the Fire Department of the City of New York responded to 104 lithium-ion battery fires that resulted in 79 injuries and four deaths. In 2022, micromobility-related fires nearly doubled to 200, resulting in six fatalities; and in 2023 the number continued to rise with 268 battery fires that resulted in 18 fatalities and 150 additional injuries… Since the law took effect in September of [2023]… the rate of injuries and deaths from e-bike fires has started to slow. As of September 30, there have been three deaths and 84 injuries from these devices, compared to 14 deaths and 114 injuries during the same period in 2023.”
The city has worked successfully to enforce these rules and also engaged in both public education and a program that swapped charged batteries for batteries needing a charge, reducing the need for home charging. This demonstrates that we can regulate new technologies if we have the will and devote resources to education, compliance, and enforcement. The FDNY aggressively pushed for battery regulation. Now, the City Council is pushing for safety regulation. Both are needed.
The most ridiculous argument against licensing these vehicles was made by Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who was concerned about the impact on undocumented workers and poor people who need to use e-bikes. It seems to me that subsidies and other incentives could be provided to facilitate compliance with new rules. Since most of the people who die from e-bike accidents appear to the e-bike drivers, enhanced regulation is in everyone’s interest.
We are in a radically anti-regulatory era. Businesses in the next several years will be released from rules that protect the public from danger but are seen as anti-business by President-Elect Trump and his new pal Elon Musk. We are also in a time when low-level crime is simply ignored. People ride mass transit without paying the fare. People sleep on the streets and aggressively panhandle. People with mental health problems roam the streets and the subways, threatening and scaring pedestrians and passengers. Shoplifting is almost a norm. E-bike riders completely ignore the rules of the road because they are never held accountable. Enforcement of road rules is impossible because there is no way to enforce rules when the vehicles and drivers are unlicensed.
The atmosphere of lawlessness is growing and dangerous. In a more complex, interconnected, and interdependent world, we need more rules and enforcement of those rules, not less. We also need more effective social services and subsidies to facilitate compliance with rules. Some people are either ignorant of the rules or lack the capacity to comply. We can’t ignore or wish away those problems. We must address them with compassion coupled with competence. There are over 8 billion people living on this planet, and an increasing number of people are living in close proximity to each other in rapidly growing cities. We need to be more mindful and less oblivious of our impact on others. A new symbol of our culture may well be people walking on the street so engrossed in their smartphones that they stumble into pedestrians or, even worse, wander into motorized traffic. New technologies bring new behaviors and new dangers. We can’t ignore these negative impacts. We need to thoughtfully and carefully develop and enforce rules designed to reduce the negative impacts of new technologies.
The use of e-bikes, e-scooters, and electric vehicles is an important part of the transition to an environmentally renewable and sustainable economy. As our energy system is modernized over the next generation, it will become less dependent on fossil fuels and more efficient and reliable. Electric vehicles are an important part of this transition. We’ve learned that competent regulation encourages rather than discourages the use of new technologies. Regulation reduces danger and legitimizes adoption. New York state should license all motor vehicles. But if the state refuses to do so, the city must fill the vacuum.
Views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Columbia School of Professional Studies or Columbia University.
About the Program
The Columbia University M.S. in Sustainability Management program offered by the School of Professional Studies in partnership with the Climate School provides students cutting-edge policy and management tools they can use to help public and private organizations and governments address environmental impacts and risks, pollution control, and remediation to achieve sustainability. The program is customized for working professionals and is offered as both a full- and part-time course of study.
