WFCN –
Lawmakers signed a bill requiring micro mobility dealers to register mopeds at the time of sale and provide new e-bike and moped owners with information on Thursday.
The eight-bill package, which aims to increase awareness of safety issues related to lithium-ion battery combustion, promote gas-powered and electric moped registration, and expand the state’s role in gathering data on micro mobility crashes in the city, was signed into law by the governor on Thursday.
The regulations transfer regulation from the delivery worker clientele—who have been subject to increased police enforcement—to merchants.
New rules aimed at educating consumers and browsers will apply to retailers selling mopeds and e-bikes, or else they risk fines:
- It’s currently illegal to sell lithium-ion batteries that don’t meet industry safety requirements.
- Bicycles and scooters that use lithium-ion batteries must come with operation manuals from retailers.
- In order to encourage users to yield to pedestrians and obey traffic laws, retailers must place a sign on e-bikes and mopeds.
- E-bikes and mopeds require state agencies to create and maintain safety resources.
- Emergency personnel who handle lithium-ion battery events need to receive updated training materials.
- It is mandatory to file reports in the event of fatal or serious injuries from e-bike or e-scooter crashes.
- In order to be sold, mopeds must be registered.
- Red tags reminding consumers to unplug their micro mobility devices while not in use should be attached to all charging cables for these devices.
The point of sale law is being discussed at community board meetings across the city, where concerns about the growing number of delivery workers using mopeds are raised. While mopeds already need to be registered with the DMV and their drivers must possess a valid driver’s license, new regulation eliminates an opportunity for dealers to sell the vehicles without a registration document.
In three documented crashes involving moped or motorbike riders in January 2023, injuries were reported. Data gathered by NYC Crash Mapper indicates that number increased to 16 in the same month this year, indicating a rise in the usage of mopeds.
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Mopeds are prohibited, according to signs in Paseo Park. Pictured by Sophia Lebowitz.
Town hall meetings are a platform for elected officials to hear complaints from the public. Residents in Jackson Heights complained about delivery personnel riding mopeds along the pedestrianized Paseo Park open street, referring to it as a “moped highway” and Council Member Shekar Krishnan. Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal, a Democrat from Manhattan, organized a symposium this spring to get feedback from the local community on the issue.
Hoylman-Sigal, who co-sponsored the point of sale measure with Assemblymember Alex Bores, claimed, “I’ve received more complaints about the hazards these mopeds cause than just about any other issue.” More mopeds registered will result in more traffic regulations being enforced and safer streets once this new law goes into effect.
Buyers’ lack of knowledge about moped use is often the result of sellers’ lack of education. Without penalizing workers, the new law shifts accountability, improving street safety.
According to Bores, “we are making our streets safer and increasing accountability by requiring the registration of mopeds at point of sale and the collection of e-bike collision data.”
By stationing themselves in busy areas to seize unregistered vehicles, the NYPD has been stepping up its crackdown on the use of mopeds. But, as Curbed noted, this makes life miserable for the immigrant labor force, who frequently lacks awareness of the regulations and depends on them to work for food delivery services.
Senator Liz Kruger (D-Manhattan), the proponent of the measure governing the sale of lithium-ion batteries, stated that purchasers of mopeds “may not know that they are supposed to register their mopeds, particularly if dealers are incorrectly describing them as e-bikes.” “The buyers are left exposed to the possibility of having their mopeds seized.”
The new rules, according to a news statement from the governor’s office, “build on Governor Hochul’s number one priority of keeping New Yorkers safe both on and off the road.” While claiming to put safety first, the governor’s decision to bury the city’s congestion pricing plan, which was scheduled to go into effect on June 30th, shows that she doesn’t. Enhancing roadway safety throughout the five boroughs would have been a significant effect of Hochul’s tolling program.