First They Came for the Electric Bikes…

Photo by Ben Shotwell

For years, food deliverymen in New York City relied on the electric bike, or e-bike, a normal bicycle with a small motor attached to it. With its small size and lightweight frame, the e-bike enabled deliverymen to sling food to a greater area more quickly, thus satisfying their customers and earning larger tips.

In 2004, however, the New York City Council made e-bikes illegal, claiming they made the streets unsafe for pedestrians. A 2002 federal law had classified two-wheeled machines with pedals and small electric motors that couldn’t go faster than 20 MPH as ordinary bicycles, but then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s government, always on the lookout for something new to regulate, made any motorized vehicle that couldn’t be registered with the DMV illegal.

It was difficult for cops to figure out which bikes were illegal, so the law went largely unenforced. Then, in November, the City Council responded by redoubling the ban, citing complaints sent from frightened citizens. Under the new rules, cops are empowered to impound e-bikes and penalize the restaurants that employ their riders.

Many deliverymen say that this law will make it impossible for them to make a living, and in early December a crowd of nearly 40—mostly made up of Chinese immigrants—gathered in Manhattan’s Chinatown to protest.

“We’ve heard from hundreds of workers,” said Jei Fong, an organizer at the Chinese Staff and Workers’ Association, one of the groups involved in the demonstration. “Even if [the law] says it’s designed to go after employers and have them pay the penalties, it’s really hurting the workers and their ability to do their job.”

“In Manhattan, about 80 percent of Chinese delivery workers are using e-bikes,” Vincent Cao, another CSWA organizer, added.

Like other workforces composed largely of immigrants, deliverymen are a marginalized population with little influence over local government policies. At the protest, a deliveryman for a Japanese restaurant told Gothamist, a New York news website, that he only made $200 or $300 a week, meaning the $175 fine he had received for riding an e-bike was crippling.

“Basically it’s not about e-bikes,” said Sean Basinski, the director of the Street Vendors Project, who helped organize the protest. “Chinese staffs are not strong on their local political connections… The reason we’re interested is because they’ve never been organized. These folks have never really had a voice… They’re so easily demonized.”