New York City is holding a public hearing on Mayor Adams's controversial proposal to cap e-bike speed-limits at 15 mph. People can file a written comment until 5 p.m.

https://lemmy.world/post/32943819

New York City is holding a public hearing on Mayor Adams's controversial proposal to cap e-bike speed-limits at 15 mph. People can file a written comment until 5 p.m. 📢 - Lemmy.World

>New York City’s streets will become more dangerous with fewer people choosing to ride bicycles if Mayor Adams forges ahead with his 15-mile-per-hour speed limit for e-bikes, a former top city transportation policy official warned. >More than 300 people have already voiced their thoughts on the city’s online comment page — largely in opposition — including Michael Replogle, a former Department of Transportation policy director for six years under Mayor Bill de Blasio and DOT Commissioner Polly Trottenberg. >The speed cap will put cyclists in danger by forcibly slowing them down next to drivers in multi-ton SUVs and trucks, who cause virtually all traffic deaths and injuries, according to DOT data. >Motorists are to blame for virtually all traffic violence, but they will still be able to go up to 35 mph under Mayor Adams’s scheme – since speed cameras don’t issue violations until they exceed the city’s posted 25 mph speed limit by 10 mph. >Mayor Adams has peddled the lower speed limits arguing that the Vision Zero policy he inherited from his predecessor had focused on cars for “far too long,” despite car and truck drivers being responsible for 99.96 percent of reported traffic injuries [https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/06/10/now-do-cars-adams-and-council-push-for-e-bike-speed-limits-ignores-the-biggest-danger] https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/07/03/ex-dot-official-warns-nycs-counterproductive-e-bike-speed-limit-will-curb-biking-safety [https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2025/07/03/ex-dot-official-warns-nycs-counterproductive-e-bike-speed-limit-will-curb-biking-safety]

Love it here on /c/fuckbikes
This thread is full of people who have never been to NYC and think this cap is somehow a good idea.
Is it a road speed limit? or a limit on bike power? If the former, it’s not so much an attack on micromobility. Can take the road to pass or go faster. The cars can physically do 120mph, but have NYC speed limits.
It is the latter, a limit on bike power.
read the proposal. It is definitely vague, but I think it means “normal” traffic speed limits.

You’re right, it is indeed a legal speed limit and not a physical throttle requirement, thanks for getting me to actually scrutinize it. However I still strongly disagree that this is not an attack on micromobility: A 15 MPH cap is simply not safe for NYC streets where traditional cyclists, cars, trucks, busses, etc are all traveling > 20 MPH. This bill is designed to score quick points for Adams with reactionary New Yorkers who only encounter ebikes when they’re zooming down the sidewalk at the start or end of their trips. It will be selectively enforced, just like the existing ban on riding on the sidewalk is. A far better solution would be to just actually enforce the existing ban on sidewalk riding, and not selectively.

Conservative leaders in NYC pull shit like this all the time: Selectively / rarely enforce a sensible law -> Your voters think no such law exists because they continue to see violations -> Propose new law to “fix” the issue -> Easy votes from dum-dums -> Selectively / rarely enforce the new law -> Wash rinse repeat.