NY State Pending Legislation 2020

Press release, with video https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-legislation-comprehensive-e-bike-and-e-scooter-safety-measures

https://www.gothamgazette.com/opinion/9226-coronavirus-crisis-spotlights-importance-of-food-delivery-workers-and-need-to-legalize-their-e-bikes

To use a New York term ; The other shoe has dropped. The word in the media, ( NPR etc. ) is that the new legislation to legalize E- Bikes and scooters has passed. https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2020/04/01/justice-delivered-e-bikes-legalized-statewide-in-budget-bill/

This news report states " People For Bikes will introduce a standalone bill to fix a few items in this session " . https://www.bicycleretailer.com/industry-news/2020/04/03/ny-e-bike-bill-becomes-law-not-without-some-discrepancies

Silly law. CANT ride a class 3 bike unless the speed limit is 30 mph? What do you do in the suburbs, walk your bike to the highway? What's wrong with a 30 mph bike has to run the speed limit? Cops ticket bikes all the time in 15 mph school zones.

NY still has silly laws, but at least its not ride it only in your backyard anymore.

I predict universal non enforcement of that class 3 law.

The electric bicycle text of the new law starts at paragraph / page ? 74 -- S.7508--B A.9508--B http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/navigate.cgi?NVDTO: Note line 47 - No person shall operate a class three bicycle with electric assist in excess of twenty five miles per hour. ( class -3 by definition is 25mph). Line 50 - The operation of a class three bicycle with electric assist outside of a city having a population of one million or more is prohibited. I see that link does not work. I have not figured out to do this.

I honestly don't know what class my bike really is. It should be 2, as the actual top speed is maybe 22MPH, with an indicated top speed of 25 or 26. It has a thumb throttle assist. It's 500 watts. Maybe I will take the windshield off for the Summer after all...

Its definitely class two. :wink: At least I would ride it as such.

I'm just too confused what that class 3 part means.

aroundqube said:

I see that link does not work. I have not figured out to do this.

Click to expand...

You're not the only one. I groped around among online articles, and went through a dozen or so before I found one that pointed to the actual legislation. https://www.scribd.com/document/443...60149026&source=hp_affiliate&medium=affiliate. There's probably a better, more direct link view of it somewhere.

What I think is noteworthy out of that new 102-c section:

- 750W limit, period, for whatever class.
- "designed to travel on two wheels."
- class 1 only - "provides assistance only when the person operating such bicycle with electric assist is pedaling"
- classes 2 and 3 - "electric motor may be used exclusively to propel such bicycle with electric assist"
- class 2 motor assistance limit 20 mph
- class 3 motor assistance limit 25 mph, allowed only in cities 1M or up, must wear helmet.
- electric scooter - up to 60" long, 26" wide, 55" high - limited to 15 mph

- all prohibited on sidewalks
- no riding drunk, must submit to breath or drug test by officer investigating accident or violation. This is a long, detailed section, but at the end: "no part of this section may be enforced unless in conjunction with a crash".

- "bicycles with electric assist may only be operated on public highways with a posted speed limit of thirty miles per hour or less"

- must ride single file on the road, can double up on a path but not when passing. (All bicycles must ride single file when being passed by a vehicle.)

Seems pretty sensible. The only 1-million city is New York City, right? "Metropolitan areas" surely don't count, as that's too ill defined an entity. So NYC bike messengers can go 25 mph, everyone else stops at 20.

You can't ride on high speed arterials - the opposite of how it was portrayed earlier here.

The "two wheels" seems unusual to me - the common usage (albeit obviously a little weird) is to defined "bicycle" legally to include three wheeled vehicles. Electric power on tricycles is not yet supported by New York state law, apparently.

The "only when pedaling" restriction on class 1 is commonly interpreted, by manufacturers and their representatives like "People" for Bikes, as a PAS requirement, but it could be effected by a simple switch that's on when you turn the cranks a little, while you control the motor with a throttle. I.e., it doesn't say anything about pedaling effort.

Streetsblog https://nyc.streetsblog.org/2019/06...-bike-called-and-it-wants-its-bike-lane-back/ reported that due to lobbying by the Hudson River Park Friends conservancy they got wording inserted to the state budget to ban ebikes on the Hudson River Greenway, a major North South arterial bike path. Enforcement has been suspended due to the emergency and New York City Council member Fernando Cabrera said "a decision on the fate of e-bikes on the greenway would come after a hearing this summer, when the City Council gets back to some semblance of normalcy."

To get the enacted Governors rewording in the NY state budget open http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/navigate.cgi and in the boxes at the top type S07508B, uncheck Status and check Text and click Search. Scroll down or do a text find on page for "PART XX" or search for "electric assist".

Interesting - so far that adds up about the same as the copy I was looking at, but it's at least excerpted differently. Here's an item that might be of interest to members. After the section about manufacturer's labels -

No person shall operate a bicycle with electric assist on any public highway or street in this state after June first, two thousand twenty-two unless such bicycle with electric assist has permanently affixed thereto, in a prominent location, a manufacturer's label providing the class, maximum motor-assisted speed, and motor wattage of such bicycle with electric assist. Any person who violates the provisions of this paragraph shall be punished by a civil fine of up to fifty dollars. The court shall waive any fine for which a person who violates the provisions of this paragraph would be liable if such person supplies the court with proof that, between the date on which he or she is charged with having violated this paragraph and the appearance date for such violation, a manufacturer's label was affixed to his or her bicycle with electric assist as required by this paragraph. Provided, however, that such waiver of fine shall not apply to a second or subsequent conviction under this paragraph.

Click to expand...

Make your own label and affix it to the motor.

No

Big

Deal


Go ahead and buy that Leaf 1500W, or MXUS 3000W and affix a 250W label to the motor. On the roadside no one will know any better.
When asked, say you bought the motor and controller from a seller on ebay.

Well, I'm not a lawyer. Of course it depends a lot on whether the local law enforcement has any interest in this matter. It likely won't happen often if ever that you get pulled over for a random inspection, more likely it's just one of the things they'd check off during an accident report.

In that case, will you
1) have no sticker, maybe pay $50, or
2) permanently affix thereto a fraudulent label, and hope it goes unverified?

(Anyway, note that the limit is actually 750W.)