By Forum Staff
Mayor Eric Adams and City Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez on Monday announced the Department of Sustainable Delivery, a new entity housed within the DOT.
The DSD, according to Adams and Rodriguez, will conduct enforcement against illegal moped, e-bike, and e-scooter riding; hold delivery apps accountable by ensuring that commercial cyclists are using safe and legal equipment and that delivery companies face repercussions for unsafe behavior; and address vehicle parking behaviors that endanger pedestrians, cyclists, and e-bike riders.
As part of Adams’ Fiscal Year 2026 Adopted Budget, new funding will support DOT hiring up to 45 new peace officers trained to issue moving violations, and enforce commercial cycling laws against businesses.
First announced as part of Adams’ 2024 State of the City address and transmitted in draft form to the City Council over nine months ago, the Adams administration’s proposed legislation would authorize the City to revoke delivery apps’ licenses for incentivizing reckless e-bike riding by requiring workers to meet unreasonably fast delivery times. If passed, the legislation would:
- Hold big delivery app companies accountable for incentivizing reckless e-bike riding by forcing delivery workers to make unreasonably fast deliveries;
- Establish safe delivery times;
- Penalize app companies that break the law; and
- Allow the City to revoke delivery apps’ licenses over continued bad behavior.
The DSD’s enforcement team will supplement, in a targeted and data-driven fashion, traffic enforcement handled by the New York City Police Department and will be deployed at safety hotspots across the five boroughs. Officers will be deployed in teams, including officers on e-bikes, and will work alongside DOT’s Vision Zero Street Team to engage street users on safe and legal operation of vehicles and educate them about the leading causes of crashes. These officers — similar to New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission officers — will be unarmed.
In addition to this announcement, the administration is advancing measures to combat reckless driving, including rules to prohibit e-bikes and e-scooters from travelling faster than 15 miles-per-hour on city streets; mirroring best regulatory practices in countries that are at the forefront of sustainable transportation, such as the Netherlands and Belgium; and matching the existing speed limit in the city for stand-up e-scooters to ensure speed limits are applied consistently across e-mobility devices.
“Our administration continues to make the safety of every New Yorker our number one priority, and that includes keeping everyone on our streets safe, including pedestrians and bicyclists,” said Adams. “The newly created Department of Sustainable Delivery is yet another step that we’re taking to support delivery workers, keep pedestrians safe, and hold delivery app companies accountable for placing unrealistic expectations on their workers that put New Yorkers in harm’s way. Today, I’m also renewing my calls, yet again, to our partners in the City Council to pass our long-proposed legislation that will strengthen delivery worker safety and bolster the work of this newly created department — it’s time to protect delivery workers and all New Yorkers, once and for all.”
