People riding e-bikes in Central Park.
REUTERS
A 15 mph speed limit on all e-bikes traveling on New York City streets may soon become the law of the land.
City Council Member Virginia Maloney (D-Manhattan) introduced legislation on April 30 that would establish a 15 mph speed limit for the micromobility devices throughout the city. She said she introduced the bill in response to a surge in pedestrian injuries as e-bike use has exploded across the five boroughs.
“New Yorkers should feel safe walking their streets,” Maloney said. “As technology changes how we move through the city, our policies need to keep pace. This is a straightforward step to reduce risk and protect pedestrians.”
Maloney’s bill, dubbed Intro. 1312-2025, was previously introduced by Keith Powers during his tenure in the council; he had been term-limited from office last year, but was elected to the State Assembly earlier this year.
A cycling speed limit is not new in the Big Apple. NYC briefly had in place a 15 mph speed limit for e-bikes from Oct. 24 to Dec. 31, 2025, via an executive order by previous Mayor Eric Adams. However, Mayor Zohran Mamdani struck the order, as well as a list of others implemented after Adams’ federal indictment on Sept. 26, 2024, when he took office on Jan. 1 this year.
The bill is backed by a bipartisan group of six council members and would make the speed limit law immune to being wiped out on a whim by any mayor.
amNewYork contacted the mayor’s office for comment on the bill, which addresses a topic he struck down this year, and is awaiting a response.
Meanwhile, crashes involving e-bikes have jumped a whopping 75% so far this year compared to the same period in 2025, according to the latest NYPD statistics. Alarmingly, the number of fatalities involving various two-wheeled devices in NYC has nearly doubled.
The bill is currently in the City Council’s Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure for further consideration.
