#transportation alternatives

[xtruss]

Arguments For And Against E-Bike Registration And Licensing

— August 15, 2024 | By Charlotte Robertson

Photograph By Daniel Krieger

Last month, with great fanfare, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed State Legislation intended “to raise awareness about the safe use of e-bikes and products that contain lithium-ion batteries and protect New Yorkers,” she announced in a press release.

The eight-bill package, set to go into effect in January, 2025, makes important strides in the area of battery safety. It also requires mopeds to be registered at the point of sale, and alters Department of Motor Vehicle accident reports to include a new category for e-vehicle collisions with pedestrians, so they can be tracked.

What is not included in the package, to the consternation of some public-safety advocates, is “Priscilla’s Law.”

Named for Priscilla Loke, a teacher who was killed in Chinatown in 2023, by the driver of an electric Citi Bike who fled the scene, Priscilla’s Law would have required all e-bikes to be registered and display license plates. It was introduced by Queens City Councilmember Robert Holden last fall, and accrued 34 co-sponsors — the amount required to trigger an automatic hearing in the City Council.

But the hearing never happened. According to Holden, two councilmembers, Rita Joseph and Sandy Nurse, rescinded their support after Transportation Alternatives, a nonprofit organization whose stated mission is “to reclaim New York City from cars,” Wrote a Letter to every councilmember, urging them to reject Holden’s bill, leaving it at a legislative standstill.

West Side Rag reached out to Holden, Transportation Alternatives, and the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance (NYC-EVSA), a grassroots organization of pedestrians, many of whom have been hit by e-vehicles, for insight into the opposing sides of the e-bike-registration controversy.

The Arguments

“By licensing e-bikes, bikers can be held accountable for accidents,” Holden contended in a call with West Side Rag. Without a clearly identifiable license plate, reporting bike accidents is difficult, he added, as it is not uncommon for riders to leave the scene.

“Priscilla’s Law is clearly part of a much more concentrated war on bikes generally,” said Alexa Sledge, director of communications for Transportation Alternatives, also in a phone interview with the Rag. “E-bike licensing would be both ineffective and a bureaucratic nightmare … ” she added.

Those were the reasons local Councilmember Gale Brewer cited for not signing onto Holden’s bill. “I do not believe a blanket e-bike registration rule will make streets safer,” she said, “nor is NYC DOT [Department of Transportation] equipped to establish, manage, or enforce it.” Brewer did support the lithium-ion safety bills.

Carol Hilfer, who was hit by an e-bike on June 24 of this year, believes that e-bikes should be treated differently than regular bicycles. “An e-bike, to me, is just a motorcycle. It’s not a bicycle.”

Hilfer was crossing Central Park West at 90th Street this past June when an e-biker ran a red light and knocked her to the ground. The resulting hematoma on her leg took weeks to heal. “The idiot on the e-bike — it was a Citi Bike — he’s got earbuds in his ears, oblivious to everything,” she said. Once she managed to stand up, the biker sped away.

Marian Lewis, 85, another e-bike hit-and-run victim, agreed that e-bikes pose a new danger to pedestrians. “I’ve timed [e-bikes] on Central Park West [to see] how long it takes one in the bike lane to go one block. It’s just a couple of seconds. They’re so fast.” In March 2021, an e-biker collided with Lewis on 93rd Street and Central Park West, breaking her hip. The biker fled and Lewis was rushed into emergency surgery, remaining in the hospital for eight days before being transferred to rehab.

“This bill is really trying to bring order and get the chaos out of our city,” Holden told the Rag. “If you’re reckless, if you hit people, you should be held accountable.”

Sledge set forth the following argument: “The more people on the road riding bikes at any point in time, the safer that area is going to be for people on bikes, because cars are used to seeing them. Licensing e-bikes would dissuade ridership and, therefore, make the streets more dangerous.”

“Well, why would it dissuade ridership?” demanded Janet Schroeder, co-founder of NYC-EVSA. “Because someone doesn’t want to be held accountable for their egregious riding? Then those are exactly the people that should be dissuaded,” she said.

E-bike licensing could lead to discriminatory police stops, Sledge said. She pointed out that a large percentage of e-bike users are delivery workers, who are predominantly immigrants and men of color: “If we institute this bike licensing law, that’s giving a brand-new power to the NYPD to allow them to pull over anyone they want who’s riding a bike. Time and time again, when it comes to traffic stops…we’ve seen it’s been done in a racist way.”

“Transportation Alternatives is playing the race card,” Councilmember Holden responded. “[The NYPD] is going to stop bike riders breaking the law, period. They’re not going to distinguish between the color of their skin,” he said.

As for other safety measures the city could adopt, Sledge suggested better protections for delivery workers. “If you’re a worker for DoorDash, and DoorDash is requiring that you do what is safely a 20-minute bike ride in 12 minutes — that’s not acceptable,” she said.

She also called for the city to build more protected bike lanes, which would deter riders from biking on the sidewalk, she said. “The root of the problem of e-bike safety is that there is not enough space for bikers,” she said. “With these massive levels of density and not enough space for anyone in our streets except for people who are driving cars, this problem becomes even more serious.”

According to Sledge, cars pose a much greater threat to pedestrians than bikes, and if more people rode bikes, less people would drive cars.

Holden, on the other hand, expressed skepticism about waning car use. “There’s record registration for cars in New York City,” the councilmember said. He argued that more bike lanes do not prevent bikers from breaking the law, but licensing and registration will.

“An e-bike doesn’t have any restrictions. You’re really a phantom — you’re invisible,” he said. “That’s why so many of them don’t adhere to any traffic regulations at all. You need penalties,” he added.

Holden told the Rag that “a lot of councilmembers get, you know, campaign donations from Transportation Alternatives,” and that’s why they hesitate to support his bill. “I’m not represented or paid for,” he said. “I’m doing this for the cause.”

Jacob deCastro, interim associate director of communications for Transportation Alternatives, denied these allegations in a phone interview with the Rag. He pointed out that Transportation Alternatives is a 501C Organization and is, therefore, prohibited from contributing to political organizations.

[kiranherbert]

Better Bike Infrastructure Saves Lives

[welcome2thebronx]

Citing millions of rides and strong safety record, East Bronx shared e-scooter program to become permanent

After a successful pilot of the East #Bronx Shared E-Scooter Pilot with over 1.3 million rides by 86,000 users, the program will become permanent and the city will seek to expand it across New York City

Launched in 2021 and expanded this past summer, the East Bronx Shared E-Scooter Pilot Program is being touted a great success by the New York City Department of Transportation in a report issued this past Monday by the agency, and will become permanent and hopefully expand across the city. According to the data gathered over the course of twelve months, over 1.3 million rides were logged by…

[aunnokokyuu]

what if YOU were a poor little animation studio who kept straightifying the very homosexual moments between a tiger and a malnourished victorian child in order to make the anime more appealing to the general public. but THE MANGAKA HIMSELF said NO here’s a scene where said malnourished victorian child sensually bites the tiger’s neck while he’s transformed as a vampire and U HAVE TO ANIMATE IT THIS TIME BCS ITS IMPORTANT TO THE PLOT!!! now bones if you straightify that scene like you did to akutagawa telling atsushi to run you fool then you can trust that i’ll find you more than you trust in god

[soupdwelling]

so there is still a potential gap in reality at the hilltop center right. especially if this is theoretically the/an universe the Fears were transferred to from the tma universe, plus it’s possible the gap is constant across all infinite universes. And we know it’s possible to pass between universes through hilltop road because of mag 114 and mag 200 obviously. so… what if when they go to the hilltop center, alice (because i’m still convinced she’s fucked) but also sam or even celia fall through and end up either back in the tma universe or in a completely different universe

also this is related but separate and completely unlikely considering that jon and martin appear to be trapped in the computers but could you imagine if alice fell through the gap in reality and ended up in the somewhere else universe with mag 200 jon and martin,,

[fujii-draws]

IN WHAT WORLD

[brookbee]

I wrote an AOS star trek fanfic recently where I used the transporters as kind of a big plot device and I also referenced Hamlet a few times. Because of that I wanted to draw something loosely inspired by the illustrations of John Austen (who did some of my favourite Hamlet illustrations), using the swirly transporter lights to get an art nouveau-ish vibe.

Also if you're interested, here's a link to the fanfic in question

[fealtyfaggot]

I am not the kind of person that cries in airports. I am not.

[sunnysatyr]

There are still people willing to argue that working from home is more or less as expensive as going to the office every day because you would spend on electricity, water, toilet paper, etc. what you don't spend on gasoline.

Like... have you seen the price of gasoline? At least in Spain I spend on supplies and services for the house not even a quarter of what it costs me to go to work one month, 40 km a day round trip (plus car maintenance, insurance and taxes).

I mean, yeah, working from home costs me money, but I even save money on CLOTHES since I can work in my freaking underwear. Maybe it's just me and my privilege, me and my preference, and that doesn't invalidate theirs, but from my point of view... it's just nonsensical for jobs that can be done from home.

[confused-stars]

thinking about how Fontainians bury their dead, but in the Fortress of Meropide you probably get incinerated and your ashes are flushed out into the ocean (most practical disposal method)

I wonder if they have specific funeral rites that developed among the inmates over centuries. even just a few phrases that are said when there's nothing else to give

[llondonfog]

It simply appeared in the forest one day.

The tower, as all bewildered folk referred to it, was exactly 36,000 bricks high, and ten soldiers could easily link arms around its unassuming circumference. Nearest its capped peak was a small, barred window seemingly chiseled out of the grey stone— hardly wide enough to fit through and dim enough that one could not peer inside to determine just what was hidden inside such a strange phenomenon.

And as bizarre as this all was, perhaps the most oddest of things was the doorknob located at the base of the tower, with not a door in sight. It would not turn for any of the initial curious who had tried it, nor could it be removed, melted, or smashed. There was a magic here, as uneasy murmurings began to grow; a magic even more ancient than that of the forest itself. A magic that ought not to be remembered, the kind that persists in dreams alone and there ought to remain.

Naturally, the Queen could only send her best to investigate, and General Lilia Vanrouge drums his fingers idly against the hilt of his weapon as he watches the various accompanying mages weave all manner of spells against the unyielding stone exterior, each one more ineffective than the last. The use of magic is taking its deadly toll, and he's seen more than one be pulled away, rubbing uselessly at the spots of accumulated blot as the tower endures their attempts to uncover its secrets and grows all the more reticent for it.

"Perhaps we should simply knock and try the door once again?"

His exasperated attempt at humor falls flat over the heads of the wan and weary mages, and before he can raise his hands in mild supplication, he finds himself pushed by rather desperate hands to the very doorknob in question. And while he certainly meant his suggestion in jest, it isn't as if there's anything to lose by following through. Only, he needn't have wondered— the moment his hand folds around the knob and before he can even raise his other arm to knock, the stones surrounding the doorknob smoothly swing inwards as if greased, revealing the most unpredicted of sights to their wide and disbelieving eyes.

Before them, still and pliant on the stone floor as if a doll that had been tossed aside from play, lies of all things a boy. A human one, Lilia's keen gaze notes despite the dumbfounded surprise, with a shock of pale hair and strangely dressed too in what seems to be some kind of military uniform, one that Lilia certainly doesn't recognize; the garments are a gleaming obsidian, acid stripes of green lancing the fabric. All seems to be as pristine as if newly washed and pressed, no evidence in sight of the passage of time dusted upon the silent figure.

"Is he . . . dead?"

Lilia cannot fathom what possesses him to move so roughly past the other mages at that hushed observation despite their startled and disapproving cries, struck by a strange desire to prove the speaker otherwise despite all battle-hardened instincts screaming at him that something about this macabre scene is so terribly, woefully, wrong. But the moment that Lilia's gloved fingers brush against the boy's shoulder, he's met with a tired gaze of the brightest dawn and a yawned greeting that stills the blood in his already frozen heart, the young man stirring to life as he stretches idly as if falling asleep in strange appearing towers was simply a normal occurrence.

"Oh— it's you, Father. How long have I been asleep?"

[disasterbuck]

🌎🌎

thanks for the ask!! you helped me to go back to this wip, make a decision I'd been avoiding for a few days, and then write some more!! 🥰

🌎🌎 - alternate universe

pre-written line for context -> "Hey, where's Chris?"

Watching Buck closely over the top of his coffee, Eddie said, "He's with Abuela, remember?"

"Right, yes, of course." Buck nodded vigorously to try and cover up his confusion. He wondered if there was a way he could ask how old Chris was without Eddie immediately driving him to the hospital. "And he comes home… tomorrow?"

Eddie nodded, but instead of feeling relieved that he'd gotten it right, Buck was just even more confused.

Make Me Write ✨

[welcome2thebronx]

Fatalities due to traffic violence continue to rise in The Bronx; 47 killed in first nine months of 2022

Traffic violence keeps rising in New York City with 188 people killed with The #Bronx accounting for 47 of those lives lost or 25% of the total thus far for 2022. #VisionZero

New data released today by Transportation Alternatives and Families for Safe Streets shows just how much deadlier city streets, particularly those in The Bronx, have become since before the pandemic due to traffic violence. Worst of all, The Bronx leads the five boroughs of New York City in such fatalities where one in four deaths have occurred on our borough’s streets resulting in the deaths of…

[caffeinatedopossum]

I hate that everything has to be on screens now. I want away from the constant noise and overstimulation. I want to read a real, physical book. Talk to someone face-to-face. Be able to draw without needing to use digital programs for everything. Play games without a screen. Cook from a recipe book rather than a Google result. I want to be able to leave my house for free.

[fortunaestalta]

[spaghett-onaplate]

*I mean a walk between two destinations for a purpose, such as walking to a bus stop or supermarket, rather than a walk for leisure such as a hike

And if you'd like, include where you're from! particularly if you're from a more urban or rural area