Not So Fast On Ebike Licensing Requirements, Say Some NYC Officials

Delivery workers could potentially be hit hard if licensing and registration are required. Don't they go through enough?

Photo by: RideApart.com

By: Janaki Jitchotvisut

Dec 16, 2024 at 9:47am ET

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Earlier this week, news arose from New York City that some legislators were pushing a bill that would require e-bike riders to license and register their e-bikes. One quick note: For clarification, I'm talking about electric bicycles; I'm stating this up front because I've seen some other news outlets use "e-bikes" to also refer to electric motorcycles.

Anyway, I can't speak for the rest of my colleagues here. But at one time, I delivered food on a motorbike. Not an e-bike, to be clear, or a bicycle; but I did food deliveries on a motorbike. It's the kind of experience that doesn't leave you. If you've ever been a delivery rider, chances are excellent you also have plenty of stories about your time in the food-schlepping saddle.

Naturally, with my past experience, the first thing I wondered about is how such NYC legislation would affect the countless e-bike delivery riders that crisscross the city on a daily basis. And from the sounds of the City Council hearing that took place yesterday, according to Gothamist, I'm far from the only one.

NYC Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said that while the bill's logic with regard to increasing safety was there, enforcement of such a measure would weigh most heavily on delivery riders.

Rodriguez also pointed out that, by his office's count, there have so far been 105 pedestrian fatalities in NYC as a result of collisions with cars, trucks, and other large vehicles. By contrast, he said, only six people (that's a single digit, six) have died after colliding with e-bikes, mopeds, and e-scooters. And it's almost mid-December.

E-bikes have been around for a little while, but are the relatively new kid on the block in the grand scheme of practical urban transportation. So, some confusion and disagreement about how best to regulate them in the public interest is to be expected.

But there are multiple reasons why licensing and registering them doesn't make much (if any) sense. Do you also license and/or register your regular bicycle? No, you do not. Before e-bikes, plenty of delivery riders were using those to commute, too. E-bikes may have democratized delivery riding a bit more, because they allow even riders who aren't in peak physical condition to go out and do the thing.

This is pure anecdata, but I've seen plenty of unsafe bicycle riding during my years of riding bicycles, e-bikes, and more powerful motorbikes that do (and should) require licensing and registration. And I'm sure you have, too.

The thing that both pedal-bicycle and e-bike riders have in common is that they probably don't want to crash any more than you do. Why? Because in both cases, they're very likely going to be the ones to get seriously injured or even killed.

The lives of delivery riders are stressful enough. At either end, you're at the mercy of two sets of people with two sets of expectations: Whatever restaurant or service you're delivering the food for, and the customers you're delivering the food to. In between, you have what amounts to a platform-style video game full of obstacles you have to successfully traverse in order to get the food to the customer in a timely matter, undamaged, and hopefully at a reasonable temperature.

If you live in the US, you also know that we're a tipping culture, with tipped minimum wages that vary in different areas. In NYC, as of January 1, 2024, the tipped food service worker minimum wage is now $10.65 per hour with a $5.35 tip credit. Tipped service employees must receive $13.35 per hour by law, with a $2.65 tip credit.

How does that impact third-party food delivery service workers, though? NYC regulates third-party food delivery apps, so your Seamless and your DoorDash and your Uber Eats delivery workers all must get at least $19.56 per hour, before tips. For some perspective, as of May 2024, a person living in NYC would need to make a little over $40 an hour to afford fair market rent on a one-bedroom apartment.

TL;DR: Milking blood from a stone doesn't work.