Trying to grapple with what has become one of New York’s top quality-of-life issues, City Council members on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee heard testimony Wednesday at a packed hearing on efforts to require registration and regulation of electrically powered bicycles. “Just as cars and mopeds are required to display license plates, so too should e-bikes and other e-mobility devices,” said Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens), author of a bill that would require the city to run a licensing and registration program for the vehicles. “The lack of oversight on e-mobility devices has made our streets less safe for everyone — pedestrians, [traditional] cyclists and even the riders [of e-bikes],” Holden said. City Councilman Robert Holden (D-Queens) is pictured during the New York City Council Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure hearing on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (John McCarten / NYC Council Media Unit) E-bikes, which rose to prominence on city streets during the COVID pandemic and are now overwhelmingly used by delivery workers and Citi Bike commuters alike, have become a hot-button issue among New Yorkers. A number of community groups and lawmakers have singled out the vehicles as dangerous to pedestrians, moving at car-like speeds in spaces traditionally reserved for slower, pedal-powered bicycles. Others have heralded them as the future of short-distance transit, offering an alternative to cars, which continue to kill dozens of pedestrians in the city each year. Throughout the hearing, members of the public packed the Council chambers, often raising their hands in silent applause or rejecting testimony with downward thumbs from the gallery. Members of the public packed the City Council chambers, often raising their hands in silent applause or rejecting testimony with downward thumbs from the gallery. (John McCarten / NYC Council Media Unit) 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,” Rodriguez said. The commissioner had to repeat the stat twice as some members of the public jeered in response. “I say this not to diminish the very real concern about pedestrian safety from these smallest devices, but to put these concerns in perspective,” Rodriguez added. “Too many e-bike riders are dying on our streets,” he said. “Too many pedestrians fear being hit by e-bikes and mopeds that are breaking the law.” The commissioner agreed with lawmakers that work is needed to curb e-bikes riding on sidewalks or running red lights, but argued that enforcement by the NYPD does not require bikes to have license plates. Ydanis Rodriguez, the city’s transportation commissioner, is pictured — amid a sea of members of the public giving thumbs-down signs — during the New York City Council Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure hearing on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (John McCarten / NYC Council Media Unit) The Police Department has for years ticketed riders of traditional bicycles for breaking traffic laws, but NYPD spokesmen did not immediately respond Wednesday when asked how many tickets have been issued to e-bike riders for traffic infractions this year. Holden blasted Rodriguez for a Transportation Department “asleep at the wheel.” “You saying a license would not make a difference is absurd,” the Queens councilman said. “If red-light cameras work [on cars], they’ll work on an e-bike.” Holden told Rodriguez Wednesday that Mayor Adams had informed him in a private meeting earlier this year that the mayor supports the bill to require registration of e-bikes. Holden therefore called it “puzzling” that Rodriguez is not supporting the bill. Rodriguez replied that DOT backs “the intent” of the bill, but not the bill itself. He said he is committed to working with the Council on the matter. A source who was in Holden’s meeting with the mayor told The News it took place on Sept. 5 at City Hall. E-bike supporters also turned out at the New York City Council Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure hearing on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (John McCarten / NYC Council Media Unit) Ingrid Lewis-Martin, Adams’ chief adviser, was in attendance at the sitdown, as well, the source said. During that meeting, Lewis-Martin praised the Electronic Vehicle Safety Alliance for coming up with “solutions” and chided Transportation Alternatives — which is opposed to the registration bill — for offering “nothing.” Members of both Transportation Alternatives and EVSA were also at the Sept. 5 meeting. Liz Garcia, a spokeswoman for Adams, said Wednesday she would not “get into every private conversation the mayor has with a Council member and whether he did or did not say something.” But Garcia added that the mayor “has expressed support for the intent of the e-bike bill, and we will continue to work with the City Council on advancing a comprehensive response to this issue and making e-bike usage safer for everyone.” Garcia said the mayor also continued to support measures that would regulate the delivery-app companies that employ tens of thousands of e-bike-riding couriers across the city. Last year, the Adams administration previewed a plan to require those companies to be licensed and meet minimum safety requirements — an approach Rodriguez supported on Wednesday. “The third-party delivery apps should be responsible for mitigating the negative consequences created by their business model,” Rodriquez said. “Their business model forces delivery workers to do whatever it takes, including running a red light or going the wrong way, to shave a minute or two off the delivery time.” Janet Schroeder, a co-founder of the Electric Vehicle Safety Alliance (EVSA), led supporters of efforts to require registration and regulation of e-bikes at a rally on City Hall’s steps on Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (Gerardo Romo / NYC Council Media Unit) Multiple analyses of city data by the Daily News have shown that, while e-bikes do cause more fatalities on city streets than traditional bicycles, the danger is predominantly to the rider. As previously reported by The News, more than three times as many people died while riding e-bikes in New York City in 2023 than died on traditional, pedal-powered bicycles — with 23 people killed on e-bikes and seven on traditional cycles. In that same period, city data show, two of the 103 pedestrians killed in 2023 were struck by an e-bike or moped. As of Tuesday, city data showed 17 people have been killed while riding e-bikes so far this year, while seven cyclists have been killed on pedal-powered bikes. Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily NewsA 59-year-old woman trying to cross Second Ave. at E. 38th St. in Manhattan was rushed to Bellevue Hospital in critical condition with a head injury after she was struck by an e-bike going the wrong direction in a bike lane on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023. The e-bike rider then fled the scene. After a lengthy period in a coma, the woman recovered, yet was left with lasting effects from her injury. (Theodore Parisienne for New York Daily News) Distinct from electric mopeds and motorcycles — which are already required to have a state license plate — electric-assist bicycles with pedals are allowed to ride in bike lanes citywide and legally treated the same as their unpowered brethren. Most legal e-bikes are limited to a 20 mph top speed. Rental electric Citi Bikes are slower, topping out at 18 mph, as required by the city’s Department of Transportation. The fastest and most powerful e-bikes, known in the industry as “Class 3″ bikes, are allowed to travel up to 25 mph on New York City’s streets and bike lanes — though many are capable of traveling faster. City law does not require riders to wear helmets, unless an e-bike is being ridden for commercial purposes, like delivery work, or is on one of the faster “Class 3” machines.