By Jose Martinez, The City
This article was originally published on by THE CITY
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In the six years Danny Cruz has been driving a city bus, he has been a near-daily witness to a shifting streetscape — one increasingly populated with smaller new forms of transportation.
“The e-bike came from a side street as I was pulling into a bus stop and just turned right in front of me,” said Cruz, a bus operator on the M3 route that runs between Washington Heights and the East Village. “At that moment, your heart stops and you fear the worst.”
While Cruz avoided contact with the e-biker, he said the moment highlighted changes to city streets that emerged during the pandemic and the accompanying safety challenges.
MTA statistics show that collisions between buses and e-bikes and e-scooters have surged since 2019, the year before many were legalized in the city.
“You’re not just paying attention to motorists and pedestrians, but now we have e-bikes, we have e-scooters,” Cruz told THE CITY. “We’re paying attention left, right, middle, inside the bus, outside the bus.
It is a lot to take in every day and to process on pretty much every block.”
So far this year, there have been 35 collisions between MTA buses and e-bikes or e-scooters, according to MTA statistics provided to THE CITY. That’s significantly higher than the 27 such collisions in all of 2021, when the number rose from 17 in 2020.
In 2019 there were only four collisions that involved MTA buses and e-bikes or e-scooters.
“Every day, two or three times, I can get a report of an accident with a bicycle or a scooter,” said JP Patafio, a Transport Workers Union Local 100 vice president, as he scanned alerts of collisions involving buses. “Wednesday: bus-scooter, Thursday: bus-scooter, Friday: bus-scooter.
“It’s a competition for the street,” said Patafio, who represents Brooklyn bus operators. “We’re competing for the same real estate.”
The increase is part of a broader recent uptick in bus collisions, which MTA officials pinned on the return to pre-pandemic traffic levels and the hiring of more than 2,000 new bus operators.
Janno Lieber, MTA chairperson and CEO, noted last month that “a very disproportionate number” of incident reports have to do with electric-powered forms of transportation that are “suddenly very, very present in our landscape.”
“A lot of them are operating to the right of buses, I see a lot of collisions of that kind,” Lieber told THE CITY after the MTA board’s September meeting. “That is a very challenging feature of our traffic environment, quite suddenly.”
‘A Lot of Confusion on the Streets’
While scooters have become a ubiquitous part of city traffic — both on and off the asphalt — there are no solid numbers for how many are being used. There are about 40,000 more Citi Bikes in New York than there were a decade ago, according to the company. And City Hall estimates that there are now roughly 65,000 app-based food delivery workers across the five boroughs, many if not most of them using e-bikes.
Several delivery workers who spoke to THE CITY acknowledged they can be loose with the rules of the road because their jobs depend on speedy service.
“There is a lot of confusion on the streets, but everyone has to be careful,” Oscar David, 35, who uses an e-bike to make food deliveries for Manhattan restaurants, told THE CITY in Spanish. “We’re in a hurry, we’re working every day and if we don’t go fast, we don’t make money. “
“It can get uncomfortable when you’re next to a bus,” said Javier Lopez, 30, a delivery worker who was taking a break on his e-bike to the side of an Upper West Side bike lane.
The concerns over safety point to what bus operators, safe-streets advocates and elected officials say are shortcomings to street design in space shared by motor vehicles, as well as confusion over who operates where.
“It’s all infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure,” Juan Restrepo, a senior organizer with the nonprofit Transportation Alternatives. “Building physically protected infrastructure [lanes] for bike riders makes our streets safer for everybody.”
The advocacy group’s Protected Bike Lane Tracker, which charts the city’s progress on installing protected bike lanes, points out that only 7.2 miles of the 30 miles that were supposed to be in place by the end of this year have been installed. By the end of 2026, 250 miles must be in place as part of the five-year NYC Streets Plan.
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Jessica Ramos, a Queens state senator who led the push for legalizing e-bikes and e-scooters, said the city has not delivered enough on street safety.
“We want people out of cars and on these devices,” she told THE CITY. “But yet, we haven’t seen the city respond to that increase with a street design that supports it.”
In June, a Hunter College study of nearly 5,200 riders of e-bikes, e-scooters, mopeds and other forms of “micromobility” found a good chunk of them didn’t adhere to rules of the road.
“We’re in a period of transition right now,” said Peter Tuckel, a professor emeritus of sociology who co-authored the study. “I refer to it in the report as an embryonic state, and that’s very perilous when you’re in transition because the rules of the road haven’t been assimilated.”
Tuckel said greater clarity is a must on how streets are shared.
Licensing and Education
Like bicycles, e-bikes and scooters do not require licenses to operate and can use bike lanes. Mopeds, which do need a license to operate, are supposed to stay out of bike lanes. Heavier e-mopeds that lack pedals are not street-legal, according to the city Department of Transportation, but have also proliferated on city streets during the pandemic, experts note.
“Think about it,” said Tuckel, “you’re a bus driver and you have all these e-bikes and e-scooters that don’t have as visible a presence and that’s a danger to the bus operator and the rider of the e-bike.”
A spokesperson for the city DOT said the agency is trying to keep users of newer forms of transportation in the know on how to operate safely.
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“We are working closely with the NYPD and labor coalitions to both provide education on safe cycling and target enforcement against businesses for selling these illegal mopeds,” said the transportation department’s Vin Barone. “The mopeds are not e-bikes and it is against the law to sell them in New York.”
Bus operators and TWU Local 100 officials acknowledged that new forms of so-called micromobility are now a fixture.
Cruz, the M3 bus operator, said he himself owns a street-legal e-scooter that he sometimes uses to commute between The Bronx and Manhattan. His experience as a bus operator has made him more aware of staying safe both on the e-scooter and behind the wheel of the bus.
“It’s extremely more challenging, more dangerous, more mentally draining,” he said. “It’s a lot of things where you try to think ahead.”
THE CITY is an independent, nonprofit news outlet dedicated to hard-hitting reporting that serves the people of New York.
All these e-bikes and e-scooters have completely taken the joy out of cycling in the city. It’s a shame because Bloomberg spent so much on building all these bike lanes, but now every time I cycle on either the Riverside Path or in Central Park, I am completely stressed will all the new traffic. Especially from the Citi Bikes. They are all reckless riders and make the outdoor cycling experience so scary.
The bike lanes were proposed, designed, and built for bicycles. They’re being abused and the people who “sold” them to us support the abuse and oppose sensible regulations of two wheeled motor vehicles.
I ride bikes regularly and think the lanes on our avenues and in parks are necessary and justified. But we don’t need more, we need them cleared of motor vehicles.
It makes absolutely no sense that e-bikes are not required to have a license. Any motorized vehicle that has a potential to harm people (or kill (as has been the case several times in Manhattan) should be able to be identified by the police. I think public safety trumps getting your pizza in 30 minutes or less…
Good article about the sobering truth – it is chaos and there is a lot of danger from (and for) the scooters etc. Sad glimpse of the truth in the gap between the “MTA statistics” in para 7 – 35 this year- and what is reported among workers in para 9 – “every day”.
Bus drivers generally obey traffic laws, almost to a fault (especially stopping at red lights even a few seconds before they change). (The last thing a bus driver wants to do is be involved in an accident – the paperwork and followup are brutal.) E-bike riders, on the other hand, are the most notorious traffic violators, at least from my daily observations. If they are involved in a collision with a bus, I’m willing to bet it’s due to their own negligence. Want to reduce these accidents? Obey traffic laws.
You might want to check the definition of “notorious”. Your own daily observations don’t quite meet the standard to use the word.
We need more protected bike lanes! For example, West End Avenue should have protected bike lanes on both sides of the street, and Central Park West should have a southbound protected lane.
Do you think e-bike riders and scooter drivers are going to limit themselves to bike lanes ?! That is not happening now and won’t happen in the future unless they are required to have licenses, and traffic laws are enforced.
CPW has a southbound bike lane: it’s called Columbus Avenue. One avenue over. I.e. 20 seconds distance on a bike going 12mph.
But individual convenience trumps our safety. I’m amazed to regularly see even adults with small children riding the wrong way on electric vehicles.
Pedestrian here….no bike lanes on West End.
Bicyclists can walk. bus, subway.
This city has had enough of the bike people and just as how opposition was formed that finally stopped Robert Moses, you push back too hard, opposition will destroy the bike lobby too. History doesn’t always repeat itself but it rhymes.
West End resident here. Yes to bike lanes on WEA and yes to heavy fines for any adults on two wheeled vehicles on the sidewalk.
Bikes and pedal assist Citibikes are not the problem. Delivery bikes and scooters at unsafe speeds, and without lights are making our streets dangerous. Think about that the next time you order from a restaurant with delivery service.
We’ve had enough removal of parking. People work here and live in transit deserts. People drive to transit deserts. People have needs the transit system and bikes can’t meet. The UWS should be accessible to all, not just gentrifier urbanists who want to turn the UWS into an exclusionary zone.
There’s room for bike lanes and parking. And, let’s require resident parking stickers. $50 per month will help to eliminate all of those cars that stay parked for months at a time.
PS – My family’s been here for 180 years.
Resident only parking so you screw over those who work and own businesses here?
Agree: the people who truly need to park are those who can’t afford to live in the neighborhood where they work.
E-bike, scooter, and other motorized vehicles must obey traffic laws. Not only is there danger related to buses and cars, there is tremendous danger related to pedestrians, and we’ve seen the impact of this. Almost every time I’m out walking now I have at least one situation where I step off the curb at a walk sign, only to jump back b/c an electric vehicle is flying by when it should be stopping at the light. We need some enforcement.
I am writing this comment without stopping to first review comments by other readers. As a daily pedestrian on the Upper West Side, I can state the following as to the period since the introduction of e-bikes and e-scooters : I do not recall ever seeing a bus violate traffic laws during this period. And I do not recall ever seeing an e-bike or e-scooter obey the traffic laws except where traffic conditions completely blocked, as a practical matter, the violation of traffic laws. The safety record with city buses in the last few years is a tribute to the Herculean efforts by MTA employees to overcome a breakdown of compliance with traffic laws. I think this article glosses over this fundamental problem.
The danger is from cars and trucks especially from the unnecessary monster varieties being built today. Streets are safer with far less cars and trucks.
fewer!
J Elder, The topic of the article is problems relating to buses and the operators of e-bikes/e-scooters. Your statement “The danger is from cars and trucks” is, as other readers have noted, a change to a different topic. If I was to give in to the temptation to change somewhat from the article’s topic, I would instead add commentary on the ever-increasing number of e-bike operators who drive their motorized vehicles on the sidewalks. As an UWS pedestrian, I see more of this reckless behavior every week. And it stands to reason. The same motive is at work—move products more quickly to make more money, and the apparent zero enforcement in the actual streets can readily lead these reckless folks to conclude: if I can get away with flaunting the law in the streets, why not the sidewalks?
ok, but i don’t know to what extent these delivery guys are replacing cars. they used to be on normal bikes, now it’s all e-bikes that go 25 MPH or e-ecooters that are even faster.
Delivery guys are not replacing cars. They used to ride bikes. Now they ride bikes with motors.
This is about the impact of motor vehicle riders recklessly disregarding the rules of the road on bus transit.
If you want fewer trucks organize people to stop ordering their stuff delivered.
And when we had fewer cars, in 2020, speeding and crashes increased, deaths went up by over 10% from the year before.
Streets are safer with mutual respect. There is a place for cars in this city and there is a place for cars in Manhattan. You can’t have garbage subways, cutting rail and express bus service from the outer boroughs/suburbs, and no street parking making it impossible to drive a car. The end game with all this is Manhattan becoming an exclusionary zone where the only people who live in Manhattan have the privilege of working in Manhattan or doing business in Manhattan. Progressives talk about exclusionary zoning outside Manhattan, but want their own version of exclusionary neighborhoods here in Manhattan with more luxury buildings and rents that will never go down no matter how much you build in Manhattan.
Cars and trucks don’t go down the wrong way on a one way street nor do they constantly blow through red lights.
Cars don’t blow through red lights? Really? Spend a little time on 3rd Avenue in the low 60s and see how frequently cars blow the lights there.
There’s more accountability with cars. Bikes there’s a powerful lobby who bully dissent into silence.
Don’t see any cars running through red lights on the UWS. But I see plenty of e-bikes and scooters running through red lights everywhere in the city!
Ever see any cars or trucks going the wrong way on 3rd Ave? I bet you’ll see plenty of e-bikes and scooters going south on 3rd!
And try calling the 19th police precinct to report this problem before there’s a tragic accident involving a pedestrian.
It is not only bus drivers who have to be concerned. This affects people too. I am a senior and feel really threatened when on the sidewalk or crossing a street. These bikes and scooters zoom by and have no regard for people. Also breaking traffic rules seems to be the mode for them.’ Bikes are great but unless rules are followed there will be even more accidents.
Thank you for writing about this. There is a simple “solution” which will go a long ways towards fixing this problem. But there is no political will to enact it, as the restaurant industry will fight it. All wheeled vehicles larger than child sized bicycles should be registered, show a visible license plate and carry liability insurance. For the first 6 months, stop riders with a warning to comply with the law. After that, station traffic cops at strategic intersections, and simply impound wheeled vehicles with no registration. All “wheeled vehicles” should be required to follow the same standards as cars. In my opinion, these vehicles are much more dangerous to the average ciizen than street crime. Anyone with political knowledge want to tell me how to push this forward?
It’s pretty wild that e-bikes (the kind delivery drivers use) are not regulated. Those things fly and can definitely hurt someone. Pedestrian bicyclists can be annoying, but aside from on West Drive in Central Park (where all the Lance wannabes are completely reckless), I don’t think they’re very harmful. Citi Bikes have done more good for the city than harm.
Get rid of street parking and make more room for human-scale transportation (e-bikes, e-scooters, regular bicycles, foot traffic…)
Do not forget about pedestrians. So many on the various bikes do not obey the traffic lights or go in the right direction on the streets – there should be a way to protect the public and take away those vehicles from people who do not stop at the lights or go the wrong way in both the bike lanes and the streets.
I really feel for bus drivers, who have to maneuver those behemoths around so many obstacles. In addition to these new vehicle challenges, they aren’t even guaranteed clear bus lanes and pullouts for bus stops. I’ve been on the M96 crosstown heading west and there are so many double-parked vehicles along 96th and cars standing in the bus stop area that the bus takes three or four lights to make it from Amsterdam to Broadway.
It must become a priority to ticket any vehicle standing in a bus lane or stop, or double-parked in a crosstown lane. I’d like to see a city-wide blitz. Let drivers know the city means business: keep out of the way of our buses.
Have a lot of sympathy for bus drivers.
Citibikers, regular bicyclists, stand-up Razor scooters, moped/vespas, Revel are egregious in their entitlement and disregard – going through red lights, going wrong way, weaving around people and vehicles etc.
Bicyclists endanger pedestrians and have ruined Manhattan as a great walking place.
INSURANCE! Licensing, education, and INSURANCE! Also, a bit of accountability, facilitated by NYPD.
I think we need a bike/ebike/scooter enforcement group, similar to the traffic “police” whose sole job is writing parking tickets. Ticketing bikers on the sidewalk does nothing for a police officer’s career; so as long as we rely on the regular police for enforcement, it will never happen. We need a dedicated group that does nothing but make bikes obey the law/
As a PEDESTRIAN, I am tired of having to dodge all these two-wheeled vehicles whose riders refuse to believe that traffic laws apply to them as well. I am 78 years old and have become terrified to cross a street in this city. And trying to step out into the street to hail a cab has become a life-threatening experience. The City seems to think they’re doing all of us a service with all these bike paths, but we older people (and there are a lot of us) do not get around on bicycles.
as a resposible recreational cyclist, these e scooters are a menace. not sure what the answer is as they simply flout the law and the cops don’t care. even if they did care not sure what can be done with tens of thousands of delivery people. Maybe start fining the businesses, or app. companies?? i even see these guys i central park bike path.
Needed: A slim “highline” for major thoroughfares, with separated pedestrian and e-vehical lanes. This would also reduce on-street congestion.
Pedestrians are also at greater risk from bike lanes . Pm the UWS, delivery bikes zip both ways on individual lanes, often it looking forward while playing loud sound equipment. This is not a good situation, but it is dependent on rider attitudes ( even when working as delivery service) than infrastructure.
WHY can’t our City get all of these
things oFF our streets and go back to
to safer streets ?
Obviously this experiment has not worked. Too many accidents too many deaths!!
I’m surprised no one has mentioned the streeteries as factoring into the general issue… not only are there more vehicles competing for the same road, but there’s way less road to be had in many places.
WHY are e-bikes not licensed??? I politely asked a GrubHub delivery guy—after being on the sidewalk for 2 blocks behind him, “Could you please use the street instead of the busy Broadway sidewalk?” To wit he replied, “No! Get out of my face!!” I told the Dunkin Donuts where he was headed not to give him the delivery. “ mind your own business!“ the delivery guy said.
Barbara, On behalf of all many thousands of law abiding UWS pedestrians, thank you for taking the time to criticize the unlawful and reckless behavior you saw. When you made your completely justified comment to the GrubHub delivery guy, you had every reason to expect a nasty response—which you got. It would be wonderful if more people would speak up as you did!
“You’re not just paying attention to motorists and pedestrians, but now we have e-bikes, we have e-scooters,” Cruz told THE CITY. “We’re paying attention left, right, middle, inside the bus, outside the bus.
We call this “driving” – if your head isn’t on a swivel looking out for everything then you have no business operating a Big Wheel, let alone a city bus.
I’ve seen plenty of illegal, and just bad, driving by City bus drivers. These are choices which often endanger pedestrians.
BUT bad City bus driving is nothing compared to the illegal driving of throttle e-bikes, e-scooters, and now in the last 12 months utterly illegal gasoline powered scooters without plates.
So stop and arrest scooter drivers driving illegally, and that will reduce the possibility of them being hit, or nearly hit, by a City bus.
New York is a congested, competitive, commercially-driven city.
It is sad but entirely predictable that bus drivers are now publicly expressing the type of anxiety from two-wheeled vehicles that pedestrians have been experiencing for years.
The “great bicycle experiment” has failed.
So called “protected bike lanes” have only served to increase anxiety, injuries, and death by encouraging all kinds of two wheeled vehicles into our sidewalks and streets.
It time to consider the removal of all two-wheeled vehicles from the streets and sidewalks of New York. (Children under 12 on pedal powered bicycles excepted.)
It is time for sanity.
Bus drivers face an impossible gauntlet on CPW; northbound they must weave in and out of the bikelane with ebikes, scooters and mopeds hurling in both directions. Add to that the frequent distraction of an EDP on board, which they are helpless to control. It’s amazing there are not MORE accidents.
You had better look both ways before you step off that MTA Bus. Or even the sidewalk or out of a store front, or your front door or your bathroom, because your going to get hit by an E-Vehicle. Watch out everywhere is THE NYC Rule. It always was, but,…… now more than ever.