Isabella Ingrao, FLS 2027

Cycling is the most energy-efficient way to travel. But new cycling laws and nearly $1 billion in taxes are hardly enough to save New York City’s bike lanes. New York City has easily traversable terrain and cyclists take an estimated 226 million trips per year, but cycling as a commuter can be unsafe. Perhaps unsurprisingly, big companies are to blame because delivery workers using e-bikes contribute to that lack of safety. Cyclists in New York don’t get much sympathy; people think they are aggressive, self-congratulatory, and overall menaces. But cycling is an environmentally friendly, healthy alternative to cars and trains that helps New York City’s economy by lowering congestion costs.

Food and Amazon delivery workers dominate bike lanes and predominantly use e-bikes or e-cargo bikes. For years, New York City has worked on a nearly $1 billion tax-funded project to reinvigorate our bike lanes. As of January, Mayor Mamdani has begun an additional $70 million project to separate bike and traffic lanes. Bike lanes do not operate like highways with tolls as user fees. Therefore, everyone gets taxed and pays in equally regardless of how much they use the bike lanes. Considering how much these companies use the bike lanes, they do not fairly contribute to their construction and maintenance. But if e-bike use is keeping cars off the streets and freeing up the subway,^[1]  why does e-bike use matter?

Cars, trucks, and subways create considerably more carbon emissions: about 29% of all air pollution in the city. Choosing to ride a bike instead of taking a car reduces an individual’s carbon emissions by 67%. Delivery e-bike users making bike lanes more dangerous for other cyclists may decrease the total number of cyclists over time, which would lead to increased use of cars, trucks, and subways—and therefore more carbon emissions. Converting car parking into bike lanes can reduce transport carbon emissions by 11%. Delivery e-bikes, particularly e-cargo bikes, are dangerous for commuters and traditional cyclists. Typically comprised of some of the city’s most vulnerable populations, delivery workers are pushed to max speeds to make virtually impossible delivery times. This past summer, I personally witnessed three e-bike accidents, and countless near misses. Furthermore, in 2023, New York City saw an increase in bicycle accident fatalities–the highest in 23 years. 30 cyclists lost their lives. In 2024, bicyclist fatalities accounted for more than 10% of traffic deaths in New York City.

This is not to put the onus on the individual riders. The city provides delivery with inadequate protections. An increase in any form of biking is great for reducing carbon emissions, but it still requires additional infrastructure and law enforcement to support it. The average New Yorker is paying into the $904 million bike lane facelift (which has been going on since De Blasio and was reinvigorated by Adams). Yet delivery companies do not fairly contribute, nor do they provide the conditions under which their workers can obey cycling traffic laws. Both conditions would support maximizing people’s use of the bike lanes, lowering carbon emissions and freeing up green space for trees further helping remove carbon emissions.

Some changes have been made. As of October 1, 2025, it is illegal for e-bikes to go over 15 miles per hour (down from 18 miles per hour). Police have also been ticketing e-bike users more. While these measures may aim to promote safety, they miss the mark because they focus on individual action. Targeting the companies that inundate bike lanes, promote unsafe practice, and take advantage of some of our city’s hardest workers would be a more satisfactory structural change. Legislation requiring companies to contribute to infrastructure, educate their users, and insure them is necessary to make bike lanes safer for cyclists, commuters, and pedestrians. Cars and trucks are the city’s second-largest contributors to air pollution. Regulating companies that use bike lanes for delivery services can help promote overall safety. Creating safe cycling conditions will incentivize cycling, which in turn will reduce reliance on other forms of transportation. Ultimately, reducing car, truck, and subway use by increasing cycling will help New York combat air pollution. Incentivizing cycling will improve the environmental conditions by reducing carbon emissions and particulate matter, leading to cleaner air and water.

[1] It’s not clear that would be the result of any proposed restriction on e-bike use. For example, there might just be fewer or less expedient delivery options.