ALBANY --- The Assembly Transportation Committee is giving off a stench of New Jersey.
Days after Garden State lawmakers ignored reason, stats and their own climate goals to crack down on e-bikes, Transportation Committee Chairman Bill Magnarelli channeled his Jersey counterparts by claiming that electric bikes are a menace rather than a safe and affordable alternative to driving.
"I don't care if they're going 5 miles an hour," Magnarelli (D-Syracuse) told Streetsblog, adding that he considers e-bikes dangerous at any speed. "If they're hitting people and driving away where they can't be caught, that's a problem. That's something that has to be taken care of."
The chairman said he has every intention of heavily regulating even legal e-bikes, which have existed in three classes since 2020. That process begins with a hearing on Thursday that is expected to draw passionate testimony from both sides.
The stakes could not be higher for the future of micro-mobility in New York. Many state lawmakers, either through ignorance or animosity, view e-bikes as a danger on par with motor vehicles, though statistics don't bear that out and, in fact, e-bike riders are frequently the victims of crashes, not the perpetrators. Nonetheless, there is a pending bill that would require the registration of electric bicycles.
Advocates for e-bike usage think there are options to improve safety and keep e-bikes as a nourishing part of New York's transportation diet.
"E-bikes are critical to expanding transportation options for New Yorkers," said Elizabeth Sherman, the deputy executive director of Transportation Alternatives. "We have seen how effective and essential they are, especially where there are not a lot of other transit modes that are available or accessible, and they have already been really effective."
Sherman said that instead of registration, which doesn't inherently produce safety, the state should encourage the construction of protected and widened bike lanes, eliminate "e-moto"-style e-bikes that operate at significantly higher speeds, and crack down on delivery companies whose business practices require workers to ride at higher speeds in order to make a living.
Sherman added that in 2025, more than 200 people were killed in car crashes in New York City, while only one person died from a crash with an e-bike rider.
Although not formally on the agenda on Thursday, a state bill (A339/S2599) is hovering over the proceedings. The so-called "Priscilla's Law," introduced by Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar (D-Queens) and state Sen. Joseph Addabbo (D-Queens), would mandate that owners of e-bikes and electric scooters in cities with more than one million residents (aka New York City) register them with the state Department of Motor Vehicles.
The bill is named for Priscilla Loke, who was killed in Manhattan by the rider of an electric Citi Bike in 2023 — though the bill would not have saved Loke since Citi Bikes are already registered and their users known. (Indeed, Loke's killer remained on the scene and was questioned by cops before being released.)
"This bill is more than legislation: it is a movement that is gaining unstoppable momentum," Rajkumar said in a statement.
E-bike riders cause a minuscule fraction of crashes compared to car and truck drivers. But the perception of unsafe conditions persist, largely fueled by 100-plus years of normalizing car violence plus a relatively new player on the scene: delivery app companies such as DoorDash, UberEats and Instacart that have put tens of thousands of workers on the roadways scurrying to make fast deliveries.
Delivery companies, their gig-economy employees and their customers rely on electric bikes. And many of the delivery workers are undocumented. If forced to register their bikes, such workers would face a difficult choice: comply with the law would force them to interact with the government, but failing to comply with the law could lead to arrest and deportation.
Magnarelli brushed aside those concerns.
"It is what it is, but I have to take care of the citizens of the state of New York, who are being harmed by vehicles that are unregistered," Magnarelli said, without providing evidence of serious harm. "Nobody knows who's driving them. ... They're not complying with road rules. They're speeding. They're driving in the wrong places. Those are the things that need to be curtailed, and I have no other way of doing it."
The Assembly Transportation Committee meets at 10 a.m. on Thursday in Hearing Room B of the Legislative Office Building in Albany.
