Often undocumented, underserved and marginalized, many New York City delivery workers have been subjected to robbery and violence. In an attempt to fight back, some food couriers have banded together to defend one another, seek justice and get their stolen bikes back from crooks.
For many New York City delivery drivers, their e-bikes are their lifeblood. The two-wheeled electric cycles give a primarily immigrant workforce the means to provide for their families — no matter the weather. Delivery workers on e-bikes can ride the sun-soaked streets of summer and the snow-slicked roadways of winter alike, but the booming business — which still struggles to be properly regulated — presents many dangers for those who pedal at all hours, in what has become a seemingly never-ending marathon to put food on the plates of others.
While hazardous weather and collisions are but some of the deadly perils those in the industry face on a daily basis, e-bike thefts can be a catastrophe to the lives of drivers — and to those who buy off of the black market.
For nearly two years, amNewYork Metro has followed the lives of delivery workers — uncovering an underground culture in which the laborers band together in order to help ensure each other’s livelihoods.
Since July 2021, amNewYork Metro has shadowed the workers as they’ve fought to take justice into their own hands and work to get criminals arrested. According to those in the industry, riding an e-bike is akin to zipping through the streets with a target on their backs due to the high value of the vehicles.
Workers say they are most susceptible to e-bike thefts while they drop-off food in buildings since the cycles are left unattended, but they are also frequently victims of gunpoint and knifepoint robberies.
“It’s important because it’s like saving people, saving everyone that’s why we have the group,” said Sergio Solano, leader of El Dario De Los Deliveryboys. “Best example of this, it’s like poor people who have their bikes, registered their bike and someone sends a message. We share to everyone, and some people help.”
According to cycling website Bicycle Habit, close to 15,000 bikes are stolen in New York City each year. Police reports from 2020 state that, during the pandemic, e-bike thefts rose about 30%, and while robberies of other kinds may be dropping, it seems that e-bike thefts are still constant.
Workers have created several WhatsApp group chats through which they share helpful information to one another, such as which restaurants treat workers with respect and allow them to use the restrooms to funeral arrangements of fellow workers who have passed away.
Using these chats, they also share incidences of bike thefts in an attempt to push back against the criminal attack on their profession.
Using GPS technology, the riders follow where bikes have been taken and band together to retrieve them.
During one incident on April 28, 2023, a large group of app workers convened on West 57th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues to help a colleague retrieve his stolen bike. The group says they are able to confirm the bike belonged to the man due to its serial number.
Seeing himself greatly outnumbered, the alleged thief gave up the bike and returned it to its owner.
These bike retrievals don’t always go so smoothly, however. The group often puts itself in serious danger and have been attacked with hammers and other weapons, prompting them to occasionally work with the New York Police Department to help retrieve their property.
“When the police show up they ask a few questions: ‘That’s yours? Okay do you have any proof? Do you have a police report?’ Then they take the bike to the precinct, and you fill out papers,” Deliver Worker Vincente Carrasco explained, with the help of a translator.
In another incident that took place on June 17, workers pursued a man to Washington Heights after he had allegedly stolen a bike at gunpoint. Sources say a few workers attempted to hold him down until police arrived but a scuffle ensued and he tried to make a getaway.
Police eventually managed to catch up with him and arrested him on 161st Street and Fort Washington.
The NYPD does not condone delivery workers taking the law into their own hands since it could lead to serious injury, and they recommend that they call 911 immediately. An NYPD spokesperson told amNewYork Metro that the department has a registration program called “Operation Identification, through which owners can take e-bikes and scooters to their local precinct to have their bikes registered and etched with a unique number that can be used to identify a stolen bike.”
The department rep added that officers never ask immigration status of delivery workers and will employ Spanish speaking officers to aid with translation.
“The NYPD takes these crimes very seriously and will exhaust all leads available in order to apprehend and hold those responsible,” the spokesperson said.
Police sources also said that if a bike thief is not initially apprehended, the case is then handed over to the local precinct’s detective squad who will enhance and investigate the incident further.
Delivery workers also charge that these thefts have far-reaching effects that extend beyond an individual crisis leading to a loss of income. As more migrants arrive in New York and they seek a way to make a living, asylum-seekers may unknowingly purchase e-bikes that have been stolen via Facebook marketplace, or other means.
These cycles are often coupled with cheap, third-party chargers that can lead to deadly e-battery fires that have ravaged the Big Apple over the last few years, thus creating a one-two punch of victims — all stemming from one stolen bike.
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