What's happening
This bill defines and regulates three classes of electric bicycles in New York, setting equipment, labeling, safety, and usage standards, and restricting certain classes in New York City.
Why it matters
Creates clear legal definitions for three classes of electric bicycles. , distinguishing them by their speed limits, how the motor is engaged, and whether pedaling is required. This clarity helps consumers, manufacturers, law enforcement, and local governments understand what is allowed and what is not.
Establishes equipment, safety, and labeling standards for e-bikes statewide. , including requirements for labeling maximum speed and wattage, compliance with federal safety rules, and restrictions on tampering with motor output or speed. This aims to improve safety for both riders and the general public, and helps prevent illegal modifications that could make e-bikes more dangerous.
Specifies that e-bikes are not classified as motor vehicles or limited use motorcycles. , exempting them from certain registration, licensing, and insurance requirements, but subjects them to most of the same rules as traditional bicycles. This reduces barriers for riders, but also means e-bike users must follow traffic laws like other cyclists.
Allows municipalities and New York City to regulate or restrict certain e-bike classes. , including a specific ban on class two and class three e-bikes within New York City, with associated penalties and authority to impound bikes. This reflects ongoing concerns in dense urban areas about speed, sidewalk riding, and pedestrian safety, while allowing local governments some flexibility to address their specific needs.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Define Electric Bicycle Rules
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 55
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to transportation
- Print number 5977a
- Amend and recommit to transportation
- Referred to transportation
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Define and Regulate E-Bikes
In Assembly Committee · Transportation · Sponsor Donna Lupardo
Full text
11 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
5977--A
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
May 9, 2017
Introduced by Sen. FUNKE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Transportation -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the vehicle and traffic law, the administrative code of the city of New York, the highway law and the general municipal law, in relation to electric bicycles
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section 102-c to read as follows:
§ 102-c. Class one electric bicycle. A bicycle equipped with fully operable pedals and an electric motor with an output of less than seven hundred fifty watts (one horsepower) whereby such electric motor engages only when the operator is pedaling and disengages or ceases to function when such bicycle's brakes are applied, the operator stops pedaling, or such bicycle achieves a speed of twenty miles per hour or more.
§ 2. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section 102-d to read as follows:
§ 102-d. Class two electric bicycle. A bicycle equipped with fully operable pedals and an electric motor with an output of less than seven hundred fifty watts (one horsepower) whereby such electric motor may be used exclusively to propel such bicycle without the operator pedaling and will disengage or ceases to function when such bicycle achieves a speed of twenty miles per hour or more.
§ 3. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section 102-e to read as follows:
§ 102-e. Class three electric bicycle. A bicycle equipped with fully operable pedals and an electric motor with an output of less than seven hundred fifty watts (one horsepower) whereby such electric motor engages only when the operator is pedaling and disengages or ceases to function
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11441-02-7
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when such bicycle's brakes are applied, the operator stops pedaling, or such bicycle achieves a speed of twenty-eight miles per hour or more.
§ 4. Section 121-b of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chapter 160 of the laws of 1981, is amended to read as follows:
§ 121-b. Limited use motorcycle. A limited use vehicle having only two or three wheels, with a seat or saddle for the operator, except electric bicycles as defined in sections one hundred two-c, one hundred two-d and one hundred two-e of this article. A limited use motorcycle having a maximum performance speed[,] of more than thirty miles per hour but not more than forty miles per hour shall be a class A limited use motorcycle. A limited use motorcycle having a maximum performance speed of more than twenty miles per hour but not more than thirty miles per hour, shall be a class B limited use motorcycle. A limited use motorcycle having a maximum performance speed of not more than twenty miles per hour shall be a class C limited use motorcycle.
§ 5. Section 125 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chapter 365 of the laws of 2008, is amended to read as follows:
§ 125. Motor vehicles. Every vehicle operated or driven upon a public highway which is propelled by any power other than muscular power, except (a) electrically-driven mobility assistance devices operated or driven by a person with a disability, (a-1) electric personal assistive mobility devices operated outside a city with a population of one million or more, (b) vehicles which run only upon rails or tracks, (c) snowmobiles as defined in article forty-seven of this chapter, [and] (d) all terrain vehicles as defined in article forty-eight-B of this chapter, and (e) electric bicycles as defined in sections one hundred two-c, one hundred two-d and one hundred two-e of this article. For the purposes of title four of this chapter, the term motor vehicle shall exclude fire and police vehicles other than ambulances. For the purposes of titles four and five of this chapter the term motor vehicles shall exclude farm type tractors and all terrain type vehicles used exclusively for agricultural purposes, or for snow plowing, other than for hire, farm equipment, including self-propelled machines used exclusively in growing, harvesting or handling farm produce, and self-propelled caterpillar or crawler-type equipment while being operated on the contract site.
§ 6. Section 159 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended to read as follows:
§ 159. Vehicle. Every device in, upon, or by which any person or property is or may be transported or drawn upon a highway, except devices moved by human power or used exclusively upon stationary rails or tracks and electric bicycles as defined in sections one hundred two-c, one hundred two-d and one hundred two-e of this article.
§ 7. Section 1230 of the vehicle and traffic law, subdivision (b) as amended by chapter 694 of the laws of 1995, is amended to read as follows:
§ 1230. Effect of regulations. (a) The parent of any child and the guardian of any ward shall not authorize or knowingly permit any such child or ward to violate any of the provisions of this article.
(b) These regulations applicable to bicycles, electric bicycles, or to in-line skates shall apply whenever a bicycle or electric bicycle is, or in-line skates are, operated upon any highway, upon private roads open to public motor vehicle traffic and upon any path set aside for the exclusive use of bicycles, electric bicycles, or in-line skates, or [both] all.
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§ 8. Section 1231 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chapter 694 of the laws of 1995, is amended to read as follows:
§ 1231. Traffic laws apply to persons riding bicycles or electric bicycles or skating or gliding on in-line skates. Every person riding a bicycle or electric bicycle or skating or gliding on in-line skates upon a roadway shall be granted all of the rights and shall be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of a vehicle by this title, except as to special regulations in this article and except as to those provisions of this title which by their nature can have no application.
§ 9. Section 1232 of the vehicle and traffic law is amended to read as follows:
§ 1232. Riding on bicycles and electric bicycles. (a) A person propelling a bicycle or electric bicycle shall not ride other than upon or astride a permanent and regular seat attached thereto, nor shall he ride with his feet removed from the pedals.
(b) No bicycle or electric bicycle shall be used to carry more persons at one time than the number for which it is designed and equipped.
§ 10. The vehicle and traffic law is amended by adding a new section 1232-a to read as follows:
§ 1232-a. Additional requirements for riding on electric bicycles. (a) No person shall operate or park an electric bicycle on any public highway or street in this state unless a label is permanently affixed, in a prominent location, on such person's electric bicycle. Such label shall contain the maximum speed, and motor wattage of the electric bicycle, and shall be printed in arial font in at least nine-point type. Any electric bicycle manufactured, distributed or sold in New York state shall have a label that is permanently affixed in a prominent location. Such label shall contain the classification number of such bicycle, the top assisted speed, and motor wattage of the electric bicycle, and shall be printed in arial font in at least nine-point type.
(b) No person shall tamper with or modify an electric bicycle to:
(1) increase the output of such bicycle to seven hundred fifty watts or greater; or
(2) increase the speed beyond the class of such bicycle, as defined in sections one hundred two-c, one hundred two-d and one hundred two-e of this chapter, at the time such bicycle was manufactured and distributed.
(c) No person shall accelerate the speed of a class one or class three electric bicycle motor by means other than pedaling.
(d) Every manufacturer of an electric bicycle shall certify, at a minimum, that it complies with the equipment and manufacturing requirements for bicycles adopted by the United States consumer product safety commission (16 C.F.R. 1512.1, et seq.).
§ 11. Subdivision 1 of section 1233 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chapter 703 of the laws of 2004, is amended to read as follows:
1. No person riding upon any bicycle, electric bicycle, coaster, in-line skates, roller skates, skate board, sled, or toy vehicle shall attach the same or himself or herself to any vehicle being operated upon a roadway.
§ 12. Section 1234 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chapter 16 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read as follows:
§ 1234. Riding on roadways, shoulders, bicycle, electric bicycle or in-line skate lanes and bicycle or in-line skate paths. (a) Upon all roadways, any bicycle, electric bicycle or in-line skate shall be driven either on a usable bicycle or in-line skate lane or, if a usable bicycle or in-line skate lane has not been provided, near the right-hand curb or
S. 5977--A 4
edge of the roadway or upon a usable right-hand shoulder in such a manner as to prevent undue interference with the flow of traffic except when preparing for a left turn or when reasonably necessary to avoid conditions that would make it unsafe to continue along near the righthand curb or edge. Conditions to be taken into consideration include, but are not limited to, fixed or moving objects, vehicles, bicycles, electric bicycles, in-line skates, pedestrians, animals, surface hazards or traffic lanes too narrow for a bicycle, or electric bicycle or person on in-line skates and a vehicle to travel safely side-by-side within the lane.
(b) Persons riding bicycles or electric bicycles or skating or gliding on in-line skates upon a roadway shall not ride more than two abreast. Persons riding bicycles or electric bicycles or skating or gliding on in-line skates upon a shoulder, bicycle or in-line skate lane, or bicycle or in-line skates path, intended for the use of bicycles or in-line skates may ride two or more abreast if sufficient space is available, except that when passing a vehicle, bicycle, electric bicycle or person on in-line skates, or pedestrian, standing or proceeding along such shoulder, lane or path, persons riding bicycles or electric bicycles or skating or gliding on in-line skates shall ride, skate, or glide single file. Persons riding bicycles or electric bicycles or skating or gliding on in-line skates upon a roadway shall ride, skate, or glide single file when being overtaken by a vehicle.
(c) Any person operating a bicycle or electric bicycle or skating or gliding on in-line skates who is entering the roadway from a private road, driveway, alley or over a curb shall come to a full stop before entering the roadway.
§ 13. Section 1235 of the vehicle and traffic law, as amended by chapter 703 of the laws of 2004, is amended to read as follows:
§ 1235. Carrying articles. No person operating a bicycle or electric bicycle shall carry any package, bundle, or article which prevents the driver from keeping at least one hand upon the handle bars. No person skating or gliding on in-line skates shall carry any package, bundle, or article which obstructs his or her vision in any direction. No person operating a skate board shall carry any package, bundle, or article which obstructs his or her vision in any direction.
§ 14. Section 1236 of the vehicle and traffic law, subdivision (a) as amended by chapter 16 of the laws of 2009 and subdivisions (d) and (e) as added by chapter 887 of the laws of 1976, is amended to read as follows:
§ 1236. Lamps and other equipment on bicycles and electric bicycles. (a) Every bicycle or electric bicycle when in use during the period from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise shall be equipped with a lamp on the front which shall emit a white light visible during hours of darkness from a distance of at least five hundred feet to the front and with a red or amber light visible to the rear for three hundred feet. Effective July first, nineteen hundred seventy-six, at least one of these lights shall be visible for two hundred feet from each side.
(b) No person shall operate a bicycle or electric bicycle unless it is equipped with a bell or other device capable of giving a signal audible for a distance of at least one hundred feet, except that a bicycle or electric bicycle shall not be equipped with nor shall any person use upon a bicycle or electric bicycle any siren or whistle.
(c) Every bicycle or electric bicycle shall be equipped with a brake which will enable the operator to make the braked wheels skid on dry,
S. 5977--A 5
level, clean pavement, provided, however, such brake of a class one or class three electric bicycle shall also operate in a manner so that the electric motor is disengaged or ceases to function when the brake is applied.
(d) Every new bicycle or electric bicycle shall be equipped with reflective tires or, alternately, a reflex reflector mounted on the spokes of each wheel, said tires and reflectors to be of types approved by the commissioner. The reflex reflector mounted on the front wheel shall be colorless or amber, and the reflex reflector mounted on the rear wheel shall be colorless or red.
(e) Every bicycle or electric bicycle when in use during the period from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise shall be equipped with reflective devices or material meeting the standards established by rules and regulations promulgated by the commissioner; provided, however, that such standards shall not be inconsistent with or otherwise conflict with the requirements of subdivisions (a) and (d) of this section.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the vehicle and traffic law, the administrative code of the city of New York, the highway law and the general municipal law, in relation to electric bicycles
Purpose or general idea of bill
This bill amends the vehicle and traffic law to: define and clarify the legal status of class 1, 2 & 3 electric bicycles; and establish safety and operation criteria for their use.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 of the bill adds a new Section 102-c to the vehicle and traffic law and defines class 1 electric bicycle.
Read the full memo (973 words)
Section 2 of the bill adds a new Section 102-d to the vehicle and traffic law and defines class 2 electric bicycle.
Section 3 of the bill adds a new Section 102-e to the vehicle and traffic law and defines class 3 electric bicycle.
Section 4 exempts all 3 classes of electric bicycles from the limited use motorcycle classification.
Section 5 exempts all 3 classes of electric bicycles from the motor vehicle definition.
Section 6 exempts all 3 classes of electric bicycles from the vehicle definition.
Section 7 amends section 1230 of the vehicle and traffic law to include all 3 classes of electric bicycles.
Section 8 amends section 1231 of the vehicle and traffic law to include all 3 classes of electric bicycles.
Section 9 amends section 1232 of the vehicle and traffic law to include all 3 classes of electric bicycles.
Section 10 adds section 1232-a to the vehicle and traffic law which creates additional requirements to ride all 3 classes of electric bicycles.
Section 11 amends section 1233 of the vehicle and traffic law to include all 3 classes of electric bicycles.
Section 12 amends section 1234 of the vehicle and traffic law to include all 3 classes of electric bicycles.
Section 13 amends section 1235 of the vehicle and traffic law to include all 3 classes of electric bicycles.
Section 14 amends section 1236 of the vehicle and traffic law to include all 3 classes of electric bicycles.
Section 15 amends section 1238 of the vehicle and traffic law to include all 3 classes of electric bicycles.
Section 16 creates new sections 1242 and 1243 of the vehicle and traffic law to create the crime of leaving the scene of an incident involving an electric bicycle without reporting in the first and second degree.
Section 17 amends section 10-157 of the Administrative Code of New York City to explicitly include electric assisted bicycles in the definition of bicycle.
Section 18 amends section 19-176 of the NYC Administrative Code to clarify that electric assisted bicycles are prohibited from being ridden on the sidewalk.
Section 19 adds section 19-176.3 of the NYC Administrative Code to prohibit the operation of class 2 and class 3 electric bicycles in the city of New York.
Section 20 amends section 316 of the highway law to prevent authorities of highways, public streets, parks, parkways, driveways from restricting the use of electric assisted bicycles, but permits the city of New York to apply regulations, ordinances or rules, regulating the use of electric assisted bicycles in the city of New York.
Section 21 amends the general municipal law to allow governing boards of municipal corporations to adopt local laws to regulate the use of bicycles on the public highways, streets, avenues, walks, parks and public places within their limits. States that local laws shall not impose any charge, tax or otherwise not provide for the free use of electric assisted bicycles
Section 22 is the effective date.
Justification
This legislation clarifies the legal status of electric bicycles, commonly referred to as e-bikes. Since 2002, the federal government has recognized electric bikes as consumer products and not as motorized vehicles. Since then, sales of e-bikes have steadily increased throughout the United States. 1 in 5 bikes sold in Germany and 1 and 3 sold bikes in the Netherlands, are electric bicycles. Comparatively, in the United States, 1 of every 100 bicycles are electric bicycles. This should change with the legalization of electric bicycles in states like California, Colorado, Tennessee, and Utah.
New York must be next.
Currently, New York State's Vehicle and Traffic Laws do not address the legal status of electric bicycles. This has led to much confusion throughout New York. For instance, the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) do not recognize electric bicycles as motorized vehicles, and as such, has declined to require owners of pedal assist bicycles to register with the DMV.*
In upstate New York, Governor Cuomo has invested a tremendous amount of time, energy and investment in tourism. This past budget included $200 million to complete a statewide recreational trail along the Erie Canal and Hudson River that caters to cyclists of all ages. Many people view electric assisted bicycles as part of a growth industry catering to active baby boomers.
In New York over the next decade or so, approximately 40% of its population will reach the age of 65. Electric bicycles will empower more New Yorkers to travel further distances and enable older individuals to enjoy the outdoors without use of a car. This is particularly important as the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation focuses on how to adapt its park system to an aging public.** Perhaps this is the reason behind New York State Energy Research and Development Authority's (NYSERDA)
feasibility study on an Electric Bicycle Share program released in June of 2015.***
Prior legislative history
This is a new bill.
Fiscal implications for state and local governments
None
Effective date
One year after it shall have become law. * https://dmv.ny.gov/registrat ion/moto rized-devices-cannot-bere gistered- new-york ** Beginning on page 13, see https://par ks.ny.gove/inside-our-agency/ documents/201419StatewideComprehensiveOutdoorRecreationPlan.pdf ***See Report number 18 @ https://www.nyse rda.ny.gov/About/Public ations/ Research-and-De velopment-Technical -Reports/Transportation-Reports
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.