By Forum Staff
The City on Monday announced new proposed rules to hold delivery app companies accountable for what officials called unsafe transportation practices.
The proposed rules, to be published in the City Record, would require companies to provide safety training and equipment to delivery workers, and assign them unique identification numbers, which would be mandated to be displayed on vests or other reflective garments provided to workers. App companies would also be required to provide information to the city regarding the types of devices their delivery workers use while performing their jobs, enabling the City Department of Transportation to assess the safety of those devices. Delivery app companies that do not comply will face penalties. App companies often require delivery workers to meet aggressive delivery times that are incompatible with following traffic laws. The unique identifiers will allow DOT to track that unsafe behavior back to the delivery apps that are incentivizing it.
This is part of Mayor Eric Adams’ plan to create a Department of Sustainable Delivery via rulemaking in the absence of City Council legislation addressing app companies’ unsafe delivery practices.
Adams said, “Our administration is committed to creating safer, more sustainable streets for everyone from delivery workers to pedestrians to cyclists to drivers. These proposed rules are a major step forward in holding delivery app companies accountable and ensuring delivery workers have the equipment, protections, and visibility they need to stay safe. This is a public-safety issue and a quality-of-life issue that affects all of us, and today, we are finally taking the steps to address both.”
“These tech giants created the wild west of e-bike riding on our streets, pressuring vulnerable, hard-working delivery workers to make fast and unsafe deliveries,” said City Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez. “It’s time to hold the big delivery apps accountable and protect all New Yorkers—and we’ll be doing so through these new rules and enforcement powers through the new Department of Sustainable Delivery at DOT.”
Nearly a year ago, the Adams administration sent legislation to the City Council to address the pressing safety and worker protection issues arising from the tens of thousands of delivery workers and e-bikes on city streets; the City Council has not moved on those bills. The administration this week said it continues to urge passage of legislation, which would require licensing of delivery apps, subject them to financial penalties and even license revocation for repeat violations by their drivers, and set uniform rules of operation for licensed companies.
“This is a welcome first step toward addressing the e-bike chaos, and I thank the Mayor’s Office for acting when the City Council refuses to,” said Councilman Bob Holden (D-Maspeth). “But much more needs to be done—we also need to pass broader legislation to ensure true accountability and take our streets back.”
This past spring, the City launched an e-bike trade-in program for delivery workers to exchange illegal mopeds and uncertified e-bikes for legal, fire-safe e-bikes and batteries. The City also established “microhubs” to shift deliveries from large, congestion-causing trucks to more sustainable modes, such as cargo e-bikes and smaller electric vehicles.
