The battle over safety and e-bike policy is going from the streets and sidewalks of New York City to a courtroom in Staten Island.
Attorney James Walden on June 24 filed a lawsuit against New York City and Mayor Mamdani on behalf of a half dozen residents, saying a recent softening of e-bike regulations exposes residents to greater danger and daily risk.
The suit, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Richmond County, was filed with Staten Island resident and New York City Council Member Frank Morano as lead plaintiff.
Plaintiffs include elderly residents, those injured in accidents and legally blind Staten Island resident Walter Matuza who joined a rally on the City Hall steps June 25.
Walden, who leads nonprofit watchdog group NYC Common Sense, argues because e-vehicles, such as e-bikes, are unregistered and drivers unlicensed, weakening enforcement has an outsized effect.
“The absence of any meaningful regulation or oversight corresponds with a dramatic rise in fatalities, catastrophic injuries and reckless driving, endangering e-bike drivers themselves and the public at large,” according to the suit, which cites emergency room statistics.
The litigation focuses on Mayor Mandami’s decision to suspend a policy imposed in the Mayor Adams administration, which the suit says significantly increased risks to New Yorkers including those on e-bikes.
“They took away criminal summons. There’s nothing else in its place,” said Janet Schroeder, founder of the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance. “We need to put something in its place like registration for e vehicles.”
The battle over safety and e-bike policy is going from the streets and sidewalks of New York City to a courtroom in Staten Island.Photo credit: NYC Common Sense
The suit notes Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, when Adams was mayor, said police would begin issuing criminal summonses, requiring court appearances, for many e-vehicle violations such as ignoring stop signs.
Mamdani on March 18, 2026, issued a policy directive prohibiting the NYPD from using criminal enforcement for basic e-bike violations,
He did this, according to the suit, without examining the policy’s effectiveness or “the growing national trend to enforce criminal penalties.”
The suit says Mamdani “overruled the professional judgment of his own police commissioner.”
“Every New Yorker on our roads, whether driving or biking, deserves to be treated fairly,” Mayor Mamdani said in a statement. “By ending criminal summonses for low-level traffic offenses, we’re ensuring cyclists and e-bike riders — including those who deliver our food and groceries — are treated like others on the road.”
Tisch, when she announced the new policy, under Adams, in a May 14, 2025 Op-ed said, “The rapid proliferation of e-bikes has not been met with any meaningful governance for their safe use until now.”
She said criminal summonses, in appropriate cases, would be used amid behavior that is “clearly unlawful, dangerous and degrading our collective quality of life.”
Riding motorized vehicles on sidewalks and the wrong direction on streets, failing to stop at traffic lights and stop signs are all illegal.
Mamdani said he and the City Council also would “strengthen safety standards, hold app companies accountable and expand training for delivery drivers.”
“This balanced approach supports riders while protecting pedestrians and motorists,” he added.
The suit, however, says this was done without relying on data in a decision with a “severe, disparate impact on the elderly and disabled.”
“If every person who drove an e-bike and every e-bike was licensed and registered, you could treat them like cars. If they didn’t pay a fine, you could find them,” Walden said. “A civil summons is like a traffic ticket, but since there is no license, it is difficult to enforce.”
Reports “undercount the crisis”
Walden said the decision to end this procedure was “arbitrary and capricious,” exposing New Yorkers to greater risk.
“He just overturned it,” Walden said. “Our position is the mayor can’t possibly justify reversing a policy that he didn’t even bother to study.”
Morano, a Republican who represents the 51st Council District, in Staten Island, sued in his personal capacity not as a Councilmember.
“I think the mayor’s decision with this executive order to relax the standards makes these matters worse,” he said. “We need to talk about more regulations to get safer e-bike practices.”
The suit argues “the City’s official police reports undercount the crisis,” something Schroeder has long said.
“I talk to victims all day. None of them have police reports. They have ER records,” Schroeder said, noting her group includes 128 victims and only eight with police reports. “The ambulance and EMT come to the site and take the person away before cops are there most of the time.”
The suit seeks as a remedy to get the court to declare this directive void, allowing the NYPD and its officers “to enforce the traffic laws based on their professional judgement on a case by case basis, including by issuing criminal summonses to e-bike drivers in appropriate circumstances.”
“When the police make decisions based on public safety, the mayor just on a whim can’t say, ‘I disagree and I’m not going to allow you to do it,’” Walden said. “Any citizen affected by that policy has the right to challenge that policy if it has a demonstrable effect on their safety.”
Transportation Alternatives Executive Director Ben Furnas, however, praised Mamdani for “ending the previous administration’s wrongheaded and bizarre targeting of New Yorkers on bikes.”
He opposed “punishing bike riders criminally, while just giving drivers traffic tickets for the same infraction.”
Mamdani pointed to measures to increase training for delivery workers and said the City will continue to work with Citi Bike “to advance additional safety enhancements.”
New Jersey to implement new e-bike policy in July
Groups like NYC EVSA support passing “Priscilla’s Law” that would require licensing, registration, and visible license plates for legal e-vehicles in cities such as New York City.
“We want every e-vehicle to have a plate,” Schroeder said. “It will change behavior if people think a traffic camera, that doesn’t discriminate, might catch their plate. And they might get a ticket.”
New Jersey as of July 20 requires E-bikes to be registered and licensed with more rapid vehicles also requiring insurance.
“I think there need to be fundamental reforms in addition to the mayor going back to enforcing law.,” Morano said.
Walden successfully sued then Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his administration over failing to seek proper approval for a homeless shelter, and the New York City Department of Education under Mayor Bill de Blasio regarding anti-bullying protocols.
“It was such a blatant reversal. This was a big deal,” Walden said of this case. “It was a time when the public was up in arms about an increase in injuries.”