Special interest groups are trying to stop a bill that would require e-vehicles to register with the city, amNewYork Metro has learned.
Lobbyists and other nonprofit organizations want to stop Priscilla’s Law (Intro. 606), a bill that would require the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) to register and license all e-mobility devices that the state Department of Motor Vehicles does not regulate.
The groups have various reasons for roadblocking the bill. Some say it has the potential to pose an undo burden on restaurants. Others cite that it could result in unjust criminalization of immigrants in NYC, many of whom use e-vehicles to earn a living.
Priscilla’s Law, introduced by Queens City Council Member Robert Holden, is named after Priscilla Loke, who died after being struck by an e-bike in Manhattan’s Chinatown while on her way to work in 2023.
Burdens on small businesses
Members of the NYC Hospitality Alliance, a nonprofit that represents thousands of restaurants throughout the city, are concerned about the negative effects the law would have on business owners—specifically those who employ their own delivery staff rather than using a third-party food delivery service like DoorDash.
Andrew Rigie, executive director of the alliance, said at least two similar mandates already require cyclists and delivery bike vehicles to display separate ID numbers.
“Given these existing requirements, it is unclear how the introduction of another mandate—one that is like current regulations—will meaningfully enhance street safety,” he said in comments directed to the NYC Council. “What is certain, however, is that it will impose additional financial and administrative burdens on small businesses, requiring them to file more paperwork and pay fees to register their e-bikes.”
Rigie added that the registration fee for an e-bike should be low enough so as not to financially hurt restaurant owners if the bill becomes law.
“The registration fee for an e-bike should be capped at no more than $10 to ensure it does not create an undue financial strain on small businesses or discourage them from registering their e-bikes,” he said. “There must also be both a simple online and in-person registration option provided, which the legislation should require.”
‘Criminalizing working-class people’
However, restauranteurs are not the only ones opposing Priscilla’s Law. Delivery workers are also rejecting an e-vehicle registration mandate. Advocacy groups say the legislation would unfairly target Black, brown and immigrant communities.
NYC estimates it has approximately 60,000 food delivery workers, many staying employed through food delivery apps. It is difficult to say how many of those workers are immigrants or asylum seekers, but it is easy to note the many e-bikes stationed outside migrant shelters this year.
Luis Cortes, director of Los Deliveristas Unidos, an advocacy group for app-based delivery workers, said cyclists already face dangers from city streets that have not “been adapted to handle the volume of New Yorkers” relying on e-vehicles while sharing the road with cars and trucks.
“As we face a new Trump administration, the thought of further criminalizing working class people and immigrants of color should give any policy-maker reason to pause,” Cortes said. “Delivery workers already perform one of the most dangerous jobs in the city – they should not be further placed in harm’s way by a bill that will undoubtedly result in the criminalization of their work and lives.”
Other advocacy group leaders agree that the bill targets people of color and immigrants.
“Intro. 606 would increase unnecessary police stops, particularly for people of color and immigrants,” said Sara Lind, co-executive director of the public space management group Open Plans, said. “If all e-bikes were required to have licenses, that would give the NYPD carte blanche to pull over any cyclist on the pretense of inspecting their license plate.
Lind said that while she understands the challenges e-vehicles have brought to communities, a better solution would be to update streets to include wider bike lanes to reduce sidewalk riding and two-way bike lanes to accommodate bikers’ need to travel in both directions.
‘Most e-bikes that hit people take off’
Meanwhile, New Yorkers from the southern tip of Staten Island to the northern neighborhoods of the Bronx are fed up with e-bike riders—at least the reckless ones.
They perhaps have reason to be frustrated. According to a report by NYS Assembly Member Alex Bores, from 2020 to 2023, there were more than 2,200 e-bike collisions and nearly 1,500 moded collisions in the city.
Most of those collisions caused varying degrees of injury. During the same time period, the report shows 33 traffic fatalities involving e-bikes and mopeds.
But DOT statistics tell a different story. The agency reports that only eight pedestrian fatalities involving e-bikes, mopeds, and stand-up scooters occurred from 2020 to 2023.
At least one point that both the DOT and Bores’ report agree on is that cars cause far more injuries and deaths than other types of transportation.
Holden, the lead sponsor of Priscilla’s Law, discussed the growing dangers posed by unregulated e-mobility vehicles. He cited Loke, who lost her life after being struck by an e-Citi Bike rider who fled the scene, leaving her for dead.
“Most of the e-bikes that hit people take off. And we don’t know who hit us; we have no idea,” the council member said.“The fact that we can’t walk the streets of this city without worrying about an e-bike or an e-vehicle hitting us. You can’t cross the street without worry.”
Janet Schroeder co-founded the E-Vehicle Safety Alliance (EVSA) in 2023. She said her group is not against e-bikes on the road, but supports Holden’s bill because she said it would make the city streets safer.
“What’s missing on our roads is accountability,” she said. “Accountability makes the roads safer for everybody, including e-bikers themselves, pedestrians, kids, cyclists. We’re pro-safety. Our opposition thinks the answer is more bike lanes and wider bike lanes. We never said we are against those things, but that doesn’t make an e-biker stop from running a red light or speeding.”
Shroeder added that the bill strives to make e-vehicle riders more accountable when collisions occur.
“Priscilla’s Law will create accountability for riders, because consequence is what shapes behavior,” she said. “This legislation will save lives and mitigate injuries for pedestrians, cyclists and e-bikers.”
