City Council’s Legalization of E-Scooters in New York City Takes Effect

  By Yehudit Garmaise

  Although the legality of e-bikes and e-scooters has been questionable and sometimes banned for years, e-scooters are now legal, thanks to a law that just went into effect, but which was voted on by  the New York City Council on June 25.

  Under the new law, scooters that can travel up to 20 mph and bicycles with electric motors that can travel up to 25 mph are official legal.

   People have been riding the widely used scooters, especially among the e-scooter companies, such as Lime, Bird, Lyft and Spin, to move around the city for years, but the New York Post reported that the city had stopped disallowing the scooters during the pandemic.

   Perhaps we did have enough to worry about without needing crackdowns on e-scooters, which many riders regard as convenient and fun alternate forms of transportation that are especially popular among kids, teens, and food delivery workers. Many officials, however, have expressed worries about the safety of e-scooters.

   Transportation advocates, who see e-scooters as innovative ways to reduce traffic, protect the environment, and provide low-cost transportation are also fans of the devices.

   “Today marks a major step forward in how New York moves, said Phil Jones, Lime’s senior director for government relations. “E-bikes and e-scooters are valuable transportation options that will benefit communities across the state. Especially during this challenging time, micro-mobility is best suited to help New Yorkers get where they need to go. We applaud the delivery worker coalition for leading this decade-long charge to help bring more sustainable, convenient transportation to New York cities.

   City Councilman Fernando Cabrera, the main sponsor of the legislation to legalize e-scooters said the devices made “great strides toward achieving transit equity, accessibility, and environmental protection.

Photo by:  unplash.