Don’t Hold Your Breath on 15 MPH Speed Limit for E-Bikes

There are still shops in Manhattan advertising that they will alter e-bikes to go faster. And while Mayor Eric Adams recently unveiled a bold plan to lower the maximum speed limit for mopeds, e-scooters, and e-bikes to 15 mph, he acknowledged at a recent press conference that for the moment it is still “an idea” that requires a carve-out from NY State.

So don’t look for the NYPD, in the midst of its criminalization push for other bike traffic infractions, including driving through red lights, to start setting up radar guns in the bike lanes.

“For speed limits on our streets, the state, the state handles that. But there’s a carve-out for mopeds, etcetera,” said Adams at the June 17 off-topic press briefing. “And there’s going to be a whole rulemaking process to make sure that we comply and follow the laws.”

With the need for a public comment period, it realistically means that lowering the speed limit is months away at best.

“So there’s a carve-out that allows us to do e-bikes and scooters,” Adams said. “And we’re going to utilize that carve-out to do so. And the police is going to come up with the methodology to ensure that it’s enforced.”

The plan is already drawing fierce criticism from the pro-bike lobby and, surprisingly, from opponents on the other side who are pushing for more bike safety.

“A 15 mph speed limit on e-bikes and no other vehicles is half-baked and ill-conceived,” said Ben Furnas, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, a pro-bike lobbying group, who calls the recent proposal “a bizarre escalation of the administration’s misguided war on biking.”

“Bikes and cars sharing the same road would be subject to different speed limits and consequences—and those consequences would be inverse to the potential for harm. If you’re driving a two-ton SUV at 40 mph, you get a traffic ticket, but if you’re riding an e-bike at 16 mph, you are summoned to criminal court.”

“Already, the NYPD is giving out thousands of criminal summonses for routine traffic violations to people on bikes, and this new announcement will ask police officers, who have far more important work to do protecting our city, to waste their time sending New Yorkers to criminal court for biking 16 mph.”

Surprisingly, Janet Schroeder, co-founder of the all-volunteer NYC E-Bike Safety Alliance, which has pushed for more regulations of e-vehicles, is skeptical that the new proposal will have much of an impact. “The 15 mph speed limit does nothing,” she told Straus News. “Without accountability and enforcement, it is nothing more than a gesture. E-bikers will still ride as fast as they want with absolutely no accountability.”

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch defended the move to make the bike infractions into criminal complaints because a biker is not required to have a driver’s license and therefore could not face the consequence of having a license suspended for failing to answer traffic tickets.

Schroeder at the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance is still pushing for passage of Priscilla’s Law, named for 69-year-old Priscilla Loke, who was knocked down in Chinatown by an e-bike in the fall of 2023, banged her head, went into a coma, and died. The law named for her would require license plates for all e-bikes. “Riders who leave the scene of a crash or ride egregiously can be identified by traffic enforcement cameras,” Schroeder said, adding, “This will change reckless behavior because that is what having consequences does.” While the bill did not make it into law in the current session, Schroeder said she is confident it will pass in the next session.

Despite the blowback from both sides of the bike lobby, Adams says of his plan to lower e-vehicle speed limit to 15 mph: “It is going to happen. Anytime you have to implement something new, it goes from the announcement to the actual implementation. We want to make sure we do it right.”

Meanwhile, Straus News called the Javier Jr Bike Shop in Washington Heights and asked the person who answered if he could make a bike go faster. He replied, “No.” He then hung up the phone.