By Gus Saltonstall
E-bikes will be the topic of a community forum to be held on April 9, featuring Upper West Side City Councilmembers Gale Brewer and Shaun Abreu, New York State Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal, and State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who will bring you up to date and answer questions on this hot-button issue.
“There are two topics that everyone I talk to on the Upper West Side brings up: e-bikes and the incredible number of [illegal] cannabis stores,” said Steve Anderson, president of the UWS Coalition of Block Associations & Community Groups, which is sponsoring the forum. “I’m glad we can address one of them in this meeting.”
The forum will be entirely virtual, and Upper West Siders can watch along at this LINK. No advanced registration is required.
For those who would like to ask questions, you must send them beforehand in an email to upperwestsidecoalition@gmail.
The Coalition was formed in 2021 when a dozen block associations came together to create an umbrella organization “to help community groups form and thrive.”
You can read the Rag’s recent coverage of an UWS Coalition of Block Associations & Community Groups meeting — HERE.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here.
All kidding aside: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C4-7zxesMWN/
How many hard-working delivery workers will be heard from at this forum? How many representatives of app companies that make it impossible for deliverers to stay employed without violating some traffic laws? Or will it just be a heartless complaint-fest and opportunity for political pandering?
How is it impossible to turn on required lights at night because of the likes of GrubHub?
How is it impossible to run red lights at least 15 feet away from pedestrians because of the likes of GrubHub?
All unlicensed e-bikes need to be speed limited to 10 MPH.
And follow traffic laws!
How many bank robbers need to rob banks? They do NOT have to break ANY laws. It’s traffic law. It’s simple. A LOT of the immigrant deliveristas DO stop at red lights and are very nice and walk their bikes on the sidewalk. They are no different than any other people. A LOT of the people zooming through red lights and all over the sidewalks are good, old, American, recreational riders breaking the law because they are selfish and feel like it.
Wow. How would you know this?
Heartless? Tell that to my friends who are selling their UWS home of 20+ years because the wife had a stroke and is now limited to a walker, and who feels she cannot safely walk on our sidewalks.
Ken,
Even hard-working people are expected to obey laws. That’s how we maintain a civil society.
It’s not “heartless” to expect that all people living and working in the City obey regulations designed to prevent injury and death.
Hi Ken,
Not understanding why you’d frame this only about delivery workers?
Citibike riders – e and pedal – are the most dangerous to pedestrians IMO.
Citibike riders completely ignore traffic rules and routinely go through red lights, go the wrong way, weave around pedestrians, ignore bike lanes.
And Citibike riders won’t hesitate to curse any pedestrian who objects.
Citibike riders tend to be young and upscale.
Ken,
Actually many people cannot afford to order food or go to restaurants.
My family cooks.
Don’t we count?
Yes people who are homebound need delivery.
But in my building the people getting food delivery are young and wealthy.
(Incredibly one neighbor orders every night)
And just a few years ago, food delivery was more limited and local like within 20-25 blocks.
When restaurants handled their own deliveries, with limits (more like 10 – 12 blocks) and actual bikes things ran a lot better.
We’ve surrendered our streets to the apps, created by VCs and private equity, that appropriate 20%+ of our restauranteurs’ income and rely on people’s willingness to break every rule to get food to customers quickly. It’s a nightmare of nonregulation and we need to get a hold of it.
And that’s not pandering, as Ken claims.
Remember when we used to all complain about the delivery menus all over the place? I now kind of miss those days, because that was back before the apps ruined our lives!
I agree. So there is an easy solution. Don’t order from the apps. If you are able, walk over to the restaurant and pick up your food. Or else order directly from the restaurant – cut out the middle man.
Everyone around here whines so much yet does nothing to be part of the solution.
Meanwhile, get the electric bikes off the streets. And sidewalks. And the bike paths going the wrong way. There is no good reason why someone needs them. And for the few who might need it, sorry that a few bad apples spoiled it for you.
Really? A woman I know of who is in her 70’s was on her sidewalk when she was barreled into by a delivery person who promptly rode off with her lying on the ground. She’s in a neck brace with teeth knocked out. I know people paralyzed from being hit by an e-vehicle. People with broken hips. And with traumatic brain injuries.
Spare me your rationalizing traffic violations to make money. According to your reasoning cabbies could run over people to succeed at getting more fares. You could build buildings with no safety requirements to build them quicker.
There is no excuse for anyone to run through red lights with people in the crosswalk or to ride their bikes on sidewalks and endanger the lives of pedestrians. There is no excuse for e-vehicles not to be licensed, registered and insured. As this city has done nothing to make that happen and has placed a great burden on its citizens with an unregulated free for all, maybe they ought to at least do something other than ignore this.
Ban bikes of all kinds!!!
YES!
Amen Susan. I second EVERYTHING you say here. Ken – being hard working is not a justification for breaking laws and putting people’s well being at risk, and impacting the collective quality of life of our neighborhoods.
Not sure licence plates help anything. Suddenly the electric motorbikes all have them – but still driving like lunatics. Doesn’t mean they have insurance. All I want is for them to drive the right way in the bike lanes
Good point about the heedless drivers, although I still want to see universal bike and electric vehicle licensing, insurance, accountability, and enforcement of real regulations.
Fake or defaced plates are common now, for toll and ticket evasion, so one can predict the rest.
None of these politicians have been able (willing?) to get existing laws enforced on these issues. They are wasting our time here.
So so true. Been on the West Side Highway lately?. Loaded with trucks and buses. No enforcement of anything.
Trucks and buses are allowed on the surface section of the West Side Highway.
We need the elevated highway extended back downtown again!
I certainly plan on leaving the reelect Linda Rosenthal line blank come Nov.
We need to organize a slow down or a day or days where no one orders ANYTHING on the the UWS until the delivery people start following the laws, stay off sidewalks & respect pedestrians. I am sick of battling these guys every time I leave my apartment. They have no respect for the rules of the road. I
I used to order for delivery a couple times per week. Now I never do. I order from nearby restaurants where I can walk and pick up my food.
At this point, I refuse to add to the chaos by ordering for delivery.
Will the attending representatives also address the frequent robberies targeted towards e bike delivery drivers?
Judging by the reps’ frequent silence on violent crime, I would assume no.
Doing this virtual-only is avoidance. Electeds need to hold an in-person meeting and actually LISTEN to their constituents. And they need to take questions from the floor/attendees, not pre-screened and filtered. A virtual meeting with advance written questions is designed to make it look like Gale Brewer is doing something about this problem when actually she’s one of the main reasons bikes and ebikes are such a menace on the UWS.
I went to Brewer’s office a couple of months ago. She was there and I told her how frightening it had become to walk the sidewalks, cross the street, with bikes going in every direction and running red lights. Could she not do anything, I asked. She told me she had some advice for me: Look both ways. That’s it. That was her response.
She’s right and being realistic that not much can be done about this aberrant behavior short of continually ticketing unlawful operators and seizing vehicles of repeat offenders. But we don’t have enough police resources to do that. Do you have any solutions that you could offer her?
We can ban e-bikes.
We certainly do have the resources to stop and ticket riders who are putting in jeopardy the lives of so many New Yorkers. Unfortunately what should have already been addressed by the city hasn’t although the state IS working on bills right now to license and register e-bikes. Without it how can you hold anyone accountable? We have police who used to bang on the window of your car if they saw you on a cell phone or without a seatbelt and write you a ticket!! But now bikes that can go 30 mph and routinely ride on the sidewalks and fly through red lights-nada?? The public should be outraged!! As for Gale Brewer she is a Trans Alt advocate! That is the hedge fund backed lobby working for the bike share, and food delivery multi-million dollar companies getting rich off our public streets and while badly injuring our citizens without any liability for it. Brewer doesn’t seem to care any longer about the safety and well-being of her constituents. Literally thousands of them have appealed to her with no success! Call your council members in your area and your community boards and demand they support Bob Holden’s Bill in the City Council to license e-bikes!!
Take a look at every traffic incident serious enough to be reported to the police in our community board this year here – https://crashmapper.org/#/?cfat=true&cinj=true&endDate=2024-02&geo=community_board&identifier=107&lat=40.78483079505022&lng=-73.96626949310303&lngLats=%255B%255D&mfat=true&minj=true&noInjFat=false&pfat=true&pinj=true&startDate=2024-01&vbicycle=true&vbusvan=true&vcar=true&vmotorcycle=true&vother=true&vscooter=true&vsuv=true&vtruck=true&zoom=14
If we want to make our neighborhood safer, is this the best use of elected officials time? Or could we focus on speed cameras, daylighting, increased police enforcement of window tint laws, double parking laws, license plate laws, speeding laws, reckless driving laws, etc. Police time is not infinite and every minute they spend on enforcement against one type of road user is time they aren’t using on something else. Let’s prioritize what all the data says is causing the most harm to our neighbors.
(I’m sure there will be people in here who respond that they don’t trust the data or actually what’s more important than data is their personal anecdote and to be clear I think our elected officials should tell all of those people that this is a neighborhood that believes in science and please come back with some kind of number, any kind of number, that supports their preferred enforcement priorities).
A great attempt at a “yes, but” response. E-bikes are a problem and the focus of this hearing and this article. If you’re concerned about other things get out there and organize. Window tint? Seriously?
“I’m sure there will be people in here who respond that they don’t trust the data “
We trust data, we don’t trust people who gather and publish data.
We believe in science and don’t need representative tell us that.
Please change your tone, Josh
Car stats are kept. Bike stats aren’t. That’s what has happened in the past four years.
The police are responsible for filling out the data but it does not require the victim to choose to file a police report.
If someone is injured and you call 911, they will dispatch emergency services, including police officers. “The police report (MV104-AN) is required to be filled out for collisions where someone is injured or killed.”
The idea that there is no reliable data on bike collisions gets repeated on here very frequently, but it isn’t true.
It’s true because there’s no reason to report a mere broken arm or rib from a bike collision. The bike isn’t insured and there’s no recourse.
By contrast every sprain, every contusion, is reported with cars because there’s insurance and because there’s a whole industry of lawyers, doctors, physical therapists, etc that exists to tap into the insurance.
Good point, Paul. Let’s require insurance for all bikes. Problem solved.
Josh,
I was surprised to learn that incidents/crashes involving bicycles and pedestrians are not maintained as neatly and completely as I would have assumed- so there is a big undercount as it turns out.
I am a pedestrian- and experience nearly daily almost hits by bicycles.
BTW on the subject of “daylighting” – no do not agree parking should be removed by the corner. I feel protected by a parked car near the corner.
What type of situation do you consider to be a near daily hit by a bicycle that you can’t protect yourself against? I think people greatly exaggerate how close they come to being hit by bikes. If you’re jaywalking or standing in the street waiting to cross and a bike goes by you, is that the type of near hit you’re referring to? I do a considerable amount of walking and haven’t encountered anywhere near the number of threatening bike incidents that so many people complain about.
Really?? How does someone on the sidewalk being crashed into by an e-bike and suffering a traumatic brain injury which left her paralyzed on one side of her body strike you?? How about a woman who was killed while legally crossing in a crosswalk with the light by a Citibiker who ran the light? I have been hit myself while on the sidewalk and injured by a delivery guy who then cursed me out!! I fortunately was able to walk to the police precinct who told me they could not fill out a police report because I walked away and the rider walked away and no one witnessed it!! You are denying a very real problem that is a menace to our community.
And yet I’ve watched as people who were nearly hit had no idea how close they had just come to a ride in an ambulance. Is that an exaggeration too? Is it all an illusion then?
Well good on you, but there are a lot of us who have felt the bike or rider brush our arms in Riverside Park more than once. And bikes are constantly on the sidewalks, so consider yourself lucky.
Boris,
It would be difficult to describe in writing here.
But I will say I am careful about crossing especially with my kids.
Many bicyclists go through red lights and the wrong way. It is the “regular “ bicyclists, the Citibikers who routinely disregard pedestrians.
I’ve found delivery workers to be more mindful and polite,
I used to read many commenters complain about the bike lanes who said that the only ones who use them are delivery people. For some reason , they felt they weren’t entitled to such a public amenity. Now we’ve shifted our complaints about bikes to the ‘regular’ cyclists, especially Citibikers. Maybe people just have a hatred for bikes because it’s not their thing.
But as I’ve said numerous times, it’s not that hard to cross a street by looking both ways as you would at the many places in the City that have 2-way bike lanes. I don’t know how many of you would survive in Europe where 2-way bike lanes at sidewalk level are predominant. The hyperfocus on bikes going the wrong way in a bike lane is silly. If you’re jaywalking on any street and a bike is going the ‘wrong’ way, you have only yourself to blame. Cross properly at the intersections where you’re supposed to.
Boris, it is hard, because by the time you’ve looked both way to cross the street, a bike can whiz towards you from the first direction you looked (many ride much faster than cars drive), So you need to keep looking back and forth, back and forth, the entire time you’re crossing the street. Ridiculous and not easy.
As you’ve heard numerous times, it’s not that hard to understand that people don’t want to have to accommodate lawless behavior.
And as a bike rider I can tell you that people riding the wrong way in bike lanes are a problem, especially when they’re riding motorized bikes.
I don’t disagree but the constant repetition of what bikers are doing wrong is not going to solve any problems. Actions have to be taken whether by enforcement or one’s changing their own behavior. No matter how much progress might be made reining in cyclists, I’m still going to make sure I don’t put myself in a dangerous situation.
There needs to be an enforcement blitz during which bikes are seized. Day in, day out until the message is clear. At least that will get the offenders logged in the criminal system should they continue to exhibit lawless behavior. We spend an outrageous amount of money on law enforcement and don’t get much for it these days.
The constant repetition of what bikers are doing wrong is going to limit the expansion of biking infrastructure. And as long as my fellow bikers continue to do things wrong and resent what they call ‘Bikelash” the resistance will grow.
And yes, that is useful.
Yes and the reason for that repetition is that if anything cyclist behavior is getting worse. The city enables this by non-enforcement of existing laws and failing to pass more effective safety measures.
What would be the point of reporting being hit by a bike to the police? They have no liscence playes to help identify the. You’d just be saying “someone on a black bike” or “someone in a Citibike” hit me. Nothing would change. It’s more likely peiple get hit and go directly to Urgent Care if needed or complain to their friends.
as long as these food apps continue making the crazy profits that they are making nothing will be done. this is a money talks situation. the politicians are listening to us, their constituents, but appealing to them, the corporations. the bike lanes have become super-highways for e-vehicles.
all the rules in the world mean nothing without enforcement.
these apps need to take responsibility, policymakers need to put more onus on their delivery incentives.
The envelope please.
Your local restaurants are also to blame, they save a ton of money not paying wages and tips to their in house delivery employees. Most restaurants don’t even have their own websites, but you can order from them anyway using grubhub or other providers. It’s honestly too late to turn back time, there are thousands of delivery guys, this is just the new norm.
What they’re not paying in wages to in-house delivery employees they’re paying to the delivery apps. They wouldn’t be doing it this way if they didn’t profit from this arrangement. Many of them are doing more business as their products are more widely available. Aren’t their app delivery prices higher than picked-up orders or eat-in orders? And they don’t have to deal with managing their own employees which can be a headache or maintaining a website.
I think e-bikes are a huge problem in the city because they can go almost as fast as motor vehicles but are ridden and treated as bicycles and can look like a normal bicycle. Because of this discrepancy, I think they are especially dangerous to both the rider and to pedestrians. Personally I think they should be completely banned on city streets, but I know this will almost certainly not happen. In lieu of that, anything that regulates them and minimizes their presence on the streets I’m in favor of.
get those bikes off out streets and return to
safety
And just as important, get them off the sidewalks!
What about all the fires resulting from lithium-ion batteries?
I wouldn’t be surprised if there existed in Albany and DC’, lithium lobbies. The envelope please.
They fund bike activists to do their bidding.
There are three canabis shops on west 72nd St. One has a license the other don’t.. I’ve written about this several times. Same street Linda Rosenthal’s office is on no action has been taken!
72nd Street has lots of students from schools walking that block. They smoke.
Bikes should have license plates !. with the company they work for Seamless or Grubhub Postmates and so on. Those companies should have an SOP for these people to read and tell them they will be blackballed from all the other apps. Just and idea.
It would be helpful to tell us the hour the hearing takes place on April 9th. Thanks.
The link says 6:30 PM. Not to be (overly) cynical, I expect that virtual attendance will be frustrating, since we will be listening to a group of officials talking at each other without input or feedback from their constituents. Of course we can submit questions in advance, but there’s no guarantee they’ll be answered. Democracy in action!
Also as bicycling has become “cool” there is a surge in teenagers using e-citibikes when the weather is good.
Teenagers – like adults – are going through red lights, going the wrong way, ignoring bike lanes.
Teenagers are also doubling up, with friends sitting in the basket – really dangerous.
The moment biking isnt a fad anymore, the urbanist movement will be gone. Biking is a temporary fad. Trust me in 10 years all the bike lanes will begin to be ripped out one by one.
I’m a peddle bike rider, and I admit, I don’t always follow the law. HOWEVER, e-bikes are out of control! AND FAST!! The police–who have too much on their hands now—would be helped if we adjust the laws and license e-bikes. Further, citizens should be allowed to take pictures of e-bikers biking the wrong direction in bike lanes–and biking on the Greenway which is illegal but they are there, wouldn’t that help?