Mamdani Ends Crackdown on New York’s Dangerous E-Bike Riders in Move To Shield Migrant Delivery Workers

The New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, will end the police department’s crackdown on reckless cyclists and e-bike riders that hit the scofflaws with criminal summonses for traffic offenses like running red lights, riding on sidewalks and, in some cases, striking pedestrians, he announced Wednesday.The crackdown, which was launched under former mayor Eric Adams, will officially end by March 27. “Every New Yorker on our roads, whether driving or biking, deserves to be treated fairly. By ending criminal summonses for low-level traffic offenses, we’re ensuring cyclists and e-bike riders — including those who deliver our food and groceries — are treated like others on the road,” Mr. Mamdani said in a statement.The NYPD will instead hand out traffic tickets to cyclists who run afoul of basic traffic laws, Mr. Mamdani’s office announced Wednesday. In addition, the City Department of Transportation will introduce a “safety program” designed for delivery workers while also collaborating with bike share companies like Lyft to “discourage unsafe riding practices.” Mr. Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, was among the chorus of progressive city politicians who accused the crackdown of unfairly targeting undocumented immigrants.Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 17, 2026 at New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images“In partnership with the City Council, we’ll strengthen safety standards, hold app companies accountable, and expand training for delivery riders. This balanced approach supports riders while protecting pedestrians and motorists,” Mr. Mamdani said in a statement.Mr. Adams’ crackdown was a response to a myriad of safety hazards caused by reckless food delivery workers, often on motorized e-bikes, who are racing to meet the demands set by food delivery apps such as UberEats, DoorDash and GrubHub. The vast majority of the city’s approximately 70,000 delivery workers are immigrants, many of them undocumented. Advocates for immigrants objected to the crackdown, arguing that it disproportionately impacted people of color and exposed illegal immigrants to the risk of deportation.A co-founder of the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, Janet Schroeder, tells the Sun that while her group was “never a fan” of issuing criminal summonses, the city is still in great need of legislation to hold rogue e-bikers accountable. A bill her group has championed, “Priscilla’s Law,” would require e-bikes and e-vehicles to be registered with the state Department of Motor Vehicles. An electric bicycle moves through the streets of Manhattan. Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesUnder such a system, when an e-bike rider violates a traffic law, cops can track down the offending party through traffic camera footage. Ms. Schroeder“Traffic cameras capture behavior,” Ms. Schroeder tells the Sun. “Not what somebody looks like, not who they are, but the way they behave on e-bikes.”Priscilla’s Law, named in honor of Priscilla Loke, a 69-year-old educator who was struck and killed by an e-bike rider in Chinatown in 2023, received 28 signatures by city council members in 2025 but has yet to be reintroduced in 2026.Mr. Mamdani said his administration is working with the City Council to establish new legislation aimed at “addressing the root causes” of reckless e-bike and cycling delivery practices. The New York City police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, introduced the initiative last year as part of the city’s Quality of Life Division, which she described as the city’s first significant effort to improve e-bike safety. Surveillance video shows a young girl about to be struck by an e-bike in Brooklyn. She survived with moderate injuries. Williamsburg 360“Operating any vehicle, including an e-bike, on a city street comes with certain responsibilities. Chief among them is following the very basic rules of the road — and when it comes to traffic safety, compliance is not optional,” Mrs. Tisch wrote in an op-ed. She argued that enforcing e-bike safety with “worthless” traffic tickets did little to curb dangerous e-bikers. Unlike drivers of motor vehicles, who could face loss of their drivers license if they ignore tickets, E-bikers can easily ignore the tickets without penalty.In 2024, an estimated 37 pedestrians were injured in a collision with e-bike riders, according to NYPD data. However, Ms. Schroeder argued that cycling advocates and safe streets groups like Transportation Alternatives frequently turn to stats that fail to capture the enormity of the city’s e-bike problem“We have 119 victims, and in all but six cases, the rider fled the scene immediately,” Ms. Schroeder tells the Sun.“People must be somehow held accountable,” she adds.

Mamdani Ends Crackdown on New York’s Dangerous E-Bike Riders in Move To Shield Migrant Delivery Workers

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