Citi Bike has agreed to curb the pace at which its e-bikes can go at 15 miles per hour — a transfer that got here in response to a service suspension menace from Mayor Adams’ administration.
The electrical Citi Bikes can presently journey at 18 miles per hour, a restrict the service’s operator, Lyft, beforehand set as a part of an settlement with Adams’ Division of Transportation.
However late Thursday, Citi Bike normal supervisor Patrick Knoth mentioned that resulting from “direction from City Hall,” the brand new pace cap can be 15 miles per hour.
“We’re working to meet that mandate and best serve our riders,” Knoth added with out providing a timeline for the way quickly the decrease pace cap could possibly be efficient on the a whole lot of e-bikes Lyft operates throughout town.
Randy Mastro, Adams’ first deputy mayor, then despatched a letter to Lyft late Thursday saying that resulting from its refusal to adjust to the demand for a brand new 15 mph pace restrict he was declaring the present 18 mph pace restrict an “emergency threat to life and property.”
Randy Mastro. (Barry Williams / New York Day by day Information)
Below that declaration, Mastro’s letter, which was additionally signed by Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, mentioned Lyft needed to come into compliance with the brand new 15 mph pace restrict inside 15 days. If it didn’t, Mastro instructed Adams’ administration may invoke a provision of Lyft’s contract that claims town authorities reserves the proper to start out “removing, replacing, relocating, reinstalling or locking all or any portion” of Citi Bike’s fleet if doesn’t adjust to guidelines set by town within the occasion of a “threat to life” emergency.
Inside hours of Mastro making that menace, Knoth introduced Citi Bike was “working” on complying with the brand new mandate.
Mastro, a controversial lawyer who served within the Giuliani administration, cited the necessity to invoke such a drastic emergency to the truth that 11 folks have died on electrical Citi Bikes since 2021. He additionally famous 1,170 have been injured in that stretch.
Mayor Eric Adams. (Barry Williams / New York Day by day Information)
Since turning into Adams’ prime deputy at Metropolis Corridor in early April, Mastro has been on the middle of a number of different controversial coverage disputes, together with signing a legally disputed order to let ICE again on Rikers, issuing a directive to freeze sure fines on landlords and pressuring a live performance promoter to cancel a efficiency by a pro-Palestinian singer.
Most non-public e-bikes can presently journey at 20 mph, a restrict that must be lowered below the Adams administration’s new regime. It stays unclear how precisely the administration will implement the brand new pace restrict, however Mastro acknowledged within the letter to Lyft that the matter nonetheless must undergo a proper rulemaking course of, which means its official implementation is probably going nonetheless over a month away.
Since Adams took workplace in 2022, the Division of Transportation has fallen approach wanting bike lane development targets set as a part of a citywide grasp plan.
In his letter to Lyft, Mastro argued town’s progress on bike lane development is being inhibited by e-bike fatalities.
“The lack of action to address this issue is hindering the city’s ability to advance bike lane and micro-mobility infrastructure and safety across the city,” he wrote.
The mayor has lately portrayed cracking down on bike driving as a matter of public security amid widespread concern.
Final month, his NYPD began handing out prison as an alternative of civil summonses to bike riders for operating crimson lights or in any other case driving recklessly, a drastic shift that has outraged transit advocates and Metropolis Council members who observe automobile drivers don’t face such penalties for related infractions.
Initially Revealed: June 6, 2025 at 8:54 AM EDT
