A New York City Council committee was scheduled to hold a hearing with the local transportation department on Wednesday morning to discuss a bill requiring electric bikes, scooters and other motorized vehicles to have license plates and be registered, as the vehicles have exploded in popularity in recent years. Councilmembers were also expected to consider broader street safety and infrastructure issues.
The proposal, which was first introduced in 2022 by Queens Councilmember Robert Holden, would apply to any so-called micromobility device, including e-bikes and mopeds used by delivery workers and the pedal-assist e-bikes in the Citi Bike fleet.
Proponents have argued that it would help the city regulate the thousands of such vehicles that crisscross the five boroughs daily and sometimes collide with other street users. But opponents have said it would take blame for traffic violence away from drivers, who data shows are responsible for far more traffic injuries and deaths than e-bike and scooter riders are.
Holden said last year that having license plates could discourage e-bike riders from fleeing crash scenes.
“Let’s find out who they are,” he said at the time. “How many actual e-bikes do you see stopping at a red light or observing traffic laws?”
But Danny Harris, former executive director of street safety group Transportation Alternatives, said at the time that the city would benefit from a “holistic approach” to street safety, including by holding delivery apps accountable for putting the workers who use their platforms at risk.
So far this year, almost 8,000 pedestrians have been injured in crashes involving motor vehicles, according to the city Department of Transportation. By comparison, six people have died this year in crashes involving mopeds, e-bikes or stand-up scooters, DOT data shows.
At the hearing on Wednesday, the Council’s committee on transportation and infrastructure was set to ask the agency about its plans to integrate e-bike and -scooter riders into street designs and about the latest progress on street safety initiatives like Vision Zero, which calls for the elimination of traffic deaths.
Overall pedestrian injuries are still about 12% below pre-pandemic levels, even as e-bikes and mopeds have become much more popular in that time, according to transportation officials.
Proponents of the license plate bill also have said it could help track ownership of e-bike and e-scooter batteries, which have been known to cause deadly fires while charging. As of Dec. 2, the city’s fire department had investigated 250 fires related to lithium-ion batteries, which caused 94 injuries and five deaths.
The number of fires was about the same as at the same point last year, though fewer people had been injured and killed so far this year. Fire officials have attributed that change to their warnings about not charging the batteries in homes.
The Council hearing was scheduled for 10 a.m. on Wednesday and would be livestreamed.
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