(TNS) — City Council Speaker Julie Menin said Tuesday that city lawmakers will hold a hearing next month to consider a slew of new legislation aimed at improving e-bike safety in the five boroughs.
The hearing — which Menin said will also focus on the enforcement, or lack thereof, of current e-bike laws — comes a week after Gabriel Nacato, a 17-year-old Brooklyn boy, was killed when his high-speed e-bike crashed with an SUV in Lower Manhattan.
“Just last week, a few hundred steps away, a tragic, tragic incident occurred,” Menin said Tuesday from the steps of City Hall. “(Nacato) was riding an e-bike gifted by his uncle, who wanted him to easily commute between his home in Brooklyn and his school and work in Manhattan.”
As previously reported by the Daily News, the bike Nacato was riding was illegal in New York City, with a powerful motor capable of pushing the bike’s speed past 30 mph.
“For years we’ve seen the close calls and heartbreaking collisions,” Menin said.
“We owe New Yorkers streets that are safer to walk, safer to bike, safer to drive,” she said. “That’s why we at the City Council are launching a comprehensive legislative review of e-bike and e-scooter safety.”
A Sept. 30 hearing has been scheduled on “over 17” bills, Menin said.
The long list of proposed laws intends to address the question of e-bike safety from multiple angles.
Among them, a bill proposed by Council Member Crystal Hudson (D-Brooklyn) would make the sale of so-called Class-3 e-bikes illegal in the five boroughs, essentially outlawing any e-bikes capable of speeds above 20 mph.
Another, put forth by Lynn Schulman (D-Queens) would require third-party delivery companies to be licensed by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, giving the city additional oversight into food-delivery apps and other companies reliant on e-bike-based delivery workers.
Council Member Selvena Brooks-Powers (D-Queens) is sponsoring multiple bills, including one that would establish a task force to study better street design, and one that would require the NYPD to be more transparent regarding its traffic enforcement efforts.
Manhattan Democrat Gale Brewer is championing an effort to explicitly include e-bikes in state laws against leaving the scene of a collision, and also pushing the state to require registration of e-bikes used for commercial purposes.
Mayor Mamdani, when asked about the City Council’s proposals at a press conference in the Bronx, replied that he hadn’t seen all the details yet.
The mayor said he’s spoken with the mother of Gabriel Nacato, the young man who was killed by City Hall last week.
“My just heart just breaks for her and for all the families who’ve had their children stolen from them,” Mamdani said, adding that the bike the teen was riding “should never have been on our streets.”
The mayor said he’s looking to “ensure that no consumer is duped into believing that that is an appropriate way to be moving around this city.”
“It’s hard for New Yorkers to keep up with what is legal or illegal if they’re able to buy it online,” he said.
As previously reported by the Daily News, e-bike fatalities have routinely outpaced those on traditional bicycles.
Twelve people have been killed while riding e-bikes in Gotham this year. Three have died while riding traditional pedal-powered bicycles. Nine people have died atop stand-up e-scooters.
Four cyclists died atop traditional pedal-powered bicycles in all of 2025, while 17 cyclists were killed that year riding e-bikes. Six people died last year on e-scooters.
A spokesperson for the city Department of Transportation said that, between 2017 and 2025, 45 riders were killed while on e-bikes capable of going more than 25 mph — accounting for 54% of all e-bike rider deaths in that time period.
Similarly, 14 stand-up e-scooter riders died between 2017 and 2025 while riding devices capable of speeds in excess of 20 mph — 52% of the e-scooter deaths in those years.
This year’s fatalities on e-bikes and e-scooters do not appear to have gone down despite a citywide 15-mph speed limit on e-bikes and e-scooters that went into effect last October.
The NYPD did not immediately respond Tuesday when asked how many summonses have been issued for violating that speed limit this year.
Menin said the NYPD, the DOT and the DCWP will all be expected to testify at September’s hearing.
“It’s an enforcement hearing,” she said.
The Council speaker acknowledged there are already a slew of laws governing e-bikes on city streets.
“But are those laws working? Are they being enforced?” she asked. “That’s why we’re acting.”
With Josephine Stratman
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