NYC finally considering legalizing class 2 throttle eBikes

michal

michal

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Brooklyn, NY
http://gothamist.com/2018/11/27/e-bike_e-scooter_legalization.php

NYC City Council will be proposing a series of bills this Wednesday that, among other things, would finally legalize class 2 throttle eBikes.

Really interested to see how this turns out, particularly given the immense popularity of NYC's recently introduced electric bike share bikes.

A lot of NYC's recent transit developments have been spurred by the impending L train shutdown (a major subway line between Brooklyn and Manhattan) so I'm cautiously optimistic that the City will move towards becoming a more (e)bike-friendly place.
 
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/nyregion/e-bikes-nyc-de-blasio.html

Interesting the legislation provides for low income riders to be paid money to take their bike to the shop to have the controller settings changed to come into compliance with the 20mph speed limit, and the Gothamist article indicates this would be only for one year, so presumably it also contains a prohibition on the sale of non-compliant ebikes - that will be difficult to enforce and it's impossible to tell apart a restricted from an unrestricted Arrow brand delivery ebike. Also curious what the position on riding on sidewalks will be, I was a little surprised when Arlington, VA, recently launched a scooter pilot with a sidewalk ban, presumably to be in line with DC, when Virginia permits ebikes to ride on sidewalks, I think riding bicycles on sidewalks isn't permitted in NYC, though enforcement appears to have been selectively targetted https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2016/05...cement-and-nycs-new-criminal-justice-reforms/, so probably it will say scooters must ride in the street.
 
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Dewey said:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/nyregion/e-bikes-nyc-de-blasio.html

Interesting the legislation provides for low income riders to be paid money to take their bike to the shop to have the controller settings changed to come into compliance with the 20mph speed limit, and the Gothamist article indicates this would be only for one year, so presumably it also contains a prohibition on the sale of non-compliant ebikes - that will be difficult to enforce and it's impossible to tell apart a restricted from an unrestricted Arrow brand delivery ebike. Also curious what the position on riding on sidewalks will be, I was a little surprised when Arlington, VA, recently launched a scooter pilot with a sidewalk ban, presumably to be in line with DC, when Virginia permits ebikes to ride on sidewalks, I think riding bicycles on sidewalks isn't permitted in NYC, though enforcement appears to have been selectively targetted https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2016/05...cement-and-nycs-new-criminal-justice-reforms/, so probably it will say scooters must ride in the street.
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Yeah, I really hope these proposed bills are worded carefully and thoughtfully. It seems that, at the very least, it'd be very difficult / impractical to tell whether an ebike is in fact illegal without examining it closely. To make matters more confusing, the current set of laws seems to allow buying / selling / owning ebikes that aren't technically legal to ride in NYC.

I'm also weary of how this part of the proposed laws could be interpreted:

"The new legislation would lower the penalty for using an illegal e-bike to $100, and states that an e-bike could only be confiscated if it is endangering people or property."

Hopefully "endangering people and property" is defined in a way that doesn't allow for unfair targeting / abuse of the law.
 
I have no idea people keep calling some ebikes "illegal." It's not illegal to sell or own a class 2 ebike and it's not illegal to sell or own an ebike that can go faster than 20mph. Like fast cars, ebikes can be ridden illegally but I'm not sure how enforcement is going to determine if the rider or the motor was behind the illegal speed so enforcement of a regulation on assist limits is going to fall flat on it's face legally. This is why any city being managed by smart people will begin to realize they need to enforce speed limits on paths and sidewalks and not set assist limits on the bike itself when under rider power the bikes can go much faster than the assist limit.

I'm not saying we want people zipping around at 80mph on 60lb ebikes, but we need regulations that make sense so that the human scale transportation potential of ebikes is not restricted or reduced by poorly thought out regulations (even the standard 3 Class system being push by People for Bikes (what they call the "model" legislation) has a lot of problems).

Then if you actually take the time to read and comprehend the federal definition of an ebike it's very ???? if a state can even adopt a regulation that limits the assist speed of a pedelec (the federal regulations state that states have the right to establish usage regulations not redefine what is a legal ebike). I'm guessing this UNCERTAINTY is by design because lawyers are waiting for important cases to litagate and make a lot of money arguing the nuances of ebike laws....as if any lawyer is smart enough to even grasp the technical issues that must be learned for them to engage in any intelligent conversation about the regulations.
 
Ken M said:
I have no idea people keep calling some ebikes "illegal." It's not illegal to sell or own a class 2 ebike and it's not illegal to sell or own an ebike that can go faster than 20mph. Like fast cars, ebikes can be ridden illegally but I'm not sure how enforcement is going to determine if the rider or the motor was behind the illegal speed so enforcement of a regulation on assist limits is going to fall flat on it's face legally. This is why any city being managed by smart people will begin to realize they need to enforce speed limits on paths and sidewalks and not set assist limits on the bike itself when under rider power the bikes can go much faster than the assist limit.

I'm not saying we want people zipping around at 80mph on 60lb ebikes, but we need regulations that make sense so that the human scale transportation potential of ebikes is not restricted or reduced by poorly thought out regulations (even the standard 3 Class system being push by People for Bikes (what they call the "model" legislation) has a lot of problems).

Then if you actually take the time to read and comprehend the federal definition of an ebike it's very ???? if a state can even adopt a regulation that limits the assist speed of a pedelec (the federal regulations state that states have the right to establish usage regulations not redefine what is a legal ebike). I'm guessing this UNCERTAINTY is by design because lawyers are waiting for important cases to litagate and make a lot of money arguing the nuances of ebike laws....as if any lawyer is smart enough to even grasp the technical issues that must be learned for them to engage in any intelligent conversation about the regulations.
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Lots of great points and I agree. The current e-bike laws in NYC (and likely elsewhere too) seem to be based on a small but vocal part of the population's perception that e-bikes are inherently dangerous and somehow more menacing than cars — a perception that has not been backed up by any hard data (despite numerous requests).

I'm hopeful that as e-bikes become more commonplace and folks get used to them being a legitimate form of transportation, cities will begin to take a more logical approach to regulating them.
 
michal said:
Lots of great points and I agree. The current e-bike laws in NYC (and likely elsewhere too) seem to be based on a small but vocal part of the population's perception that e-bikes are inherently dangerous and somehow more menacing than cars — a perception that has not been backed up by any hard data (despite numerous requests).

I'm hopeful that as e-bikes become more commonplace and folks get used to them being a legitimate form of transportation, cities will begin to take a more logical approach to regulating them.
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Well said.....as the benefits of efficient clean human scale transportation that ebikes provide will be important to the future of all large cities if they ever hope to solve congestion issues. There are some studies that does indicate that 6X as many people could be moved at city speed rates on bikes vs cars so that alone would have a tremendous impact on any city and that doesn't take into account the >50X higher efficiency of an ebike vs a car.

I started riding an ebike a couple years ago just to see if I could loose weight and commute to work a few times a week. It didn't take long before I would rather be on that ebike than be in the car. At one point, I rode the ebike 100 consecutive days over 25 miles a day.
 
And why the council meets, the cops continue to bust people.

"“It’s a large, large complaint in the 13th Precinct, and Manhattan South for that matter,” he said. “As the mayor pointed out, they are quite menacing. So, yes, we have confiscated 139 year to date and we’re going to keep going until we get it under control.” said a cop at a community meeting earlier this month,

139 bikes confiscated. Huh.


https://www.thevillager.com/2019/01/sparks-fly-in-debate-over-electric-bicycles/
 
Why isn't there any data on safety problems relating to ebikes if a city like NY is claiming safety concerns. Seems to me that this is more about wanting to pushed insurance, license, and registration costs on ebikes so that $profits$ and pensions can be improved. I think a lot of cities have been trying to do that to traditional bikes for decades and ebikes now provide a way to do that because they can claim these are not really bikes.
 
My hope is that city officials respect the need for human scale transportation like ebikes and don't go beyond common sense legislation to address any legit safety issue. Issues with bike and scooter share/rent programs should not impact bike/ebike riding by owners.
 
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