“I Could Have Been Dead:” E-Bike Critics Rally in Manhattan

”I’m happy I’m talking to you, because I could have been dead.” Standing outside the New-York Historical Society on Monday afternoon, Bonnie held photographs of injuries she suffered after an e-bike rider struck her two years ago.

She was standing on the southeast corner of East 80th Street and Second Avenue when a delivery rider on an e-bike attempted to go around a car making a legal left hand turn. “He went around the car and hit me,” she said. The rider left the scene immediately after the crash.

Bonnie suffered a fractured kneecap and continues therapy for nerve damage in her leg. “I had to pay all the co-pays, all the ambulance costs, all the extras that insurance doesn’t cover,” she said.

Around her, dozens of protesters gathered outside Transportation Alternatives’ annual fundraiser, where supporters celebrated safer streets and expanded bike infrastructure.

The protesters had come for a different reason. They wanted stricter regulation of e-bikes and other micromobility devices, including registration requirements, licensing and mandatory helmet laws—policies Transportation Alternatives argues would not improve safety.

”E-vehicle registration is what will keep our streets safer because riders would then be accountable for their behavior,” said Janet Schroeder, co-founder and director of the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance. “There’s no accountability right now.”

Schroeder stood at the center of a crowd of roughly 50 protesters, many dressed in the alliance’s signature purple. They held signs reading “Trans Alt Has Blood on Their Hands,” “Hey TA, Your Streets Aren’t for Elderly or Disabled People,” and “E-Vehicles Kill Too.” Their chants echoed across Central Park West.

EVSA argues e-bike injuries are underreported and city officials rely on incomplete statistics. “Most e-vehicle crashes aren’t reported. The police aren’t there,” Schroeder said. “It’s like erasing victims and erasing what happened to them.” Some victims were there to ensure their stories were not erased.

Sandy Rayburn, dressed almost entirely in purple, has never been struck by an e-bike but fears becoming a victim. “As an 81-year-old, I’m in terror of crossing the street and having to dodge an e-bike rider,” she said. “In this so-called most walkable city, I feel I am being deprived of my equal mobility, rights and safety.”

The youngest protester in attendance, 20-year-old Mia Clark, came with her mother and dog. “We need more voices,” she said.

Many protesters also opposed a proposed redesign of West 72nd Street that would add new bike infrastructure.

Karen Hochman, a longtime neighborhood resident, sat on a bright red rollator walker. She worried elderly residents and parents with strollers would have to cross bike lanes to reach taxis. “That’s really scary,” she said.

Nearby, Peter Shaw held a photograph of a woman in a neck brace. “My friend was walking her dog, and a cyclist rode right into her,” he said. The crash left his friend with a concussion and dizziness. After learning about the proposal to make a river-to-river bike lane on 72nd Street, he began organizing opposition and said he has collected 500 to 600 signatures. Community Board 7 gave its approval to the proposed bike lane at a full board meeting on June 2.

”We’re not saying no bike lanes ever,” he said. “We’re saying: don’t put bike lanes in without thinking it through.”

As protesters spoke outside, guests hurried inside. A few waved and smiled at the crowd. One guest even danced briefly before entering. The tension occasionally boiled over. Howard Yaruss of Manhattan Community Board 7 stopped to argue with protesters. “We want people to be kept safe. Why are you always against us?” Yaruss shouted toward the crowd.

While protesters focused on injuries, near misses and accountability, speakers inside the fundraiser emphasized street redesigns, bike infrastructure and reducing traffic deaths. One honoree was the Make McGuinness Safe coalition, which successfully pushed for the redesign of McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.

That same project was criticized outside by Debra Kent, a former producer of the television show Sex and the City, who traveled from Brooklyn to attend the protest. “Thousands of people opposed it,” Kent said. “But we lost the fight.”

Speaking at the event, Mayor Zohran Mamdani praised advocates who pushed for safer street designs. ”Too often, it felt as though tragedy was the only thing capable of generating the investment a street had needed years earlier,” he said. “No longer will we wait for a New Yorker to get hurt before we take action.”

His remarks followed an introduction by Mary Beth Kelly, whose husband was killed 20 years ago when a truck made what she described as a fast, illegal turn while the couple was bicycling. Following his death, Kelly became involved in Transportation Alternatives and street-safety advocacy.

The dispute comes as e-bike safety has become an increasingly political issue in New York. Earlier Monday, Mamdani addressed the issue on WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show.

Responding to a caller injured by an electric scooter traveling the wrong way on Broadway, he said the city was expanding safety efforts. “We’re also pursuing an approach with app delivery companies that looks to strengthen accountability,” Mamdani said.

Meanwhile, Transportation Alternatives rejects the central claims made by the E-Vehicle Safety Alliance. “The vast majority of deaths in the city are from cars and trucks,” Alexa Sledge, Transportation Alternatives’ director of communications, told the West Side Spirit. “We are talking 90-plus percent.”

Sledge rejected claims that e-bike injuries are underreported. ”If I were lying publicly like EVSA is, I would also say the crash reports are inaccurate,” she said.

She also rejected calls for e-bike licensing. “There is absolutely zero data that e-bike licensing leads to safety,” she said.

Some protesters questioned Transportation Alternatives’ corporate sponsors and accused the organization of prioritizing business interests over public safety. Sledge rejected that criticism. “If sponsors dictated our policies, why would we support legislation that makes delivery apps more expensive and more regulated?” she said.

That idea—safety for everyone—was one of the few points of agreement visible Monday evening. Even some Transportation Alternatives supporters acknowledged concerns about high-speed e-bikes.

”I absolutely agree that anything going faster than 20 miles per hour should not be in bike lanes,” Klaus Kaley, a physician and Transportation Alternatives member attending the fundraiser, said.

Emily Jacobi, a senior organizer with Transportation Alternatives, said the organization does not view protesters as enemies. ”We think any New Yorker who wants to see our streets become safer is an ally,” she said. “We don’t always agree on the ways to get there, but we agree on a lot of things.”

Ben Furnas, executive director of Transportation Alternatives, struck a similar note. “There are real concerns about the fastest and heaviest e-bikes. We want to phase those out,” he said. “But the sky will not fall. The bike lane is going to be beautiful. And we’re building a better city.”

Separated by a set of glass doors, both groups insisted they were fighting for safer streets. On Monday night, neither side appeared likely to change the other’s mind.