Three Hoboken councilmen are pushing to license e-bike delivery drivers to increase safety, which will also include city-issued fluorescent vests that have their registration number.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Sponsored by 1st Ward Councilman Paul Presinzano, 3rd Ward Councilman Mike Russo, 4th Ward Councilmen Ruben Ramos, the local legislation reflects collective input from restaurants, food delivery riders, members of the administration, and residents.
As NYC, Jersey City, and other cities explore e-vehicle food delivery legislation, Hoboken would potentially become one of the first to establish a licensing program.
“A major quality of life concern for Hoboken residents has been the impact of unsafe food delivery e-vehicles on our sidewalks and at our intersections,” Presinzano, who campaigned heavily on this issue, said in a statement.
“This ordinance will make riders more visible and therefore more accountable and will make it easier for reckless riding to be enforced.”
The proposed ordinance is structured around three main principles: registration, education, and visibility.
A new licensing process will be established that will require those who use electric bikes, scooters, or other similar electric vehicles for food delivery in Hoboken to be licensed with the City of Hoboken and wear a city-provided fluorescent vest bearing their license number.
Licensing will require reviewing state and local laws pertaining to safely riding on Hoboken’s streets, taking a short quiz, and paying an annual $5 license fee. A fine of $50 will be assessed if the ordinance is not followed.
“Making the riders more visible is an easy step to take to help protect residents from serious injury and make the job safer for delivery personnel at the same time. No pedestrian should feel unsafe as they walk on our sidewalks and cross the street,” Ramos added.
If approved, the new ordinance will not take effect until June, allowing time for community education and input to ensure a successful rollout and maximum compliance with this new program, which the three sponsors feel works in conjunction with Vision Zero.
“This is a great first step and a low cost solution to address this worsening quality of life concern. This allows us to support our local businesses, protect our food delivery riders, and most importantly ensure the safety of our neighbors,” Russo noted.
The ordinance will be introduced at the council meeting on Wednesday, February 7th, at City Hall, 94 Washington St., and will also stream live on the city’s Facebook and YouTube pages.
The best argument for supporting this law is to look on Twitter to see what all the bike “leaders” have to say in opposition to the ordinance. They believe paying $5, taking a short quiz on traffic safety, wearing a vest with an id number, and following the rules of the road are unreasonable professional standards. They are so desperate to stop this ordinance that they insinuate that anyone opposed to it is racist and that the only solution are protected bike lanes. On Washington Street when they tried to erect protected bike lanes, they couldn’t get it up because of business community opposition. Hoboken needs safe sidewalks, but the loony toons anti safe riding has the ear of Mayor Bhalla.
I agree that something should be done, but how would this legislation work logistically, and be enforced? It’s an interesting idea but once you think about implementation, it doesn’t quite make sense. See my comment below.
Glad people are trying to do something about the issue but can’t see how this legislation would actually work, logistically or legally.
Who enforces it? Who’s going to chase down the delivery guys who aren’t wearing the vests? Cops don’t even stop guys from riding on the sidewalk now, so they certainly aren’t going to do that. What are the logistics of how the city would even get the vests to the delivery guys?
How long until local restaurants complain that they can’t find delivery guys who want to work in town?
Will our esteemed wannabe political boss KF even try to enforce ANY law with Bikes?
This is a solution in search of a problem. They should go research what other cities are doing and how well it has worked out before sponsoring specific legislation.
No other cities have done anything to address this issue which is why Hoboken is trying something new. The bike lobby is opposed to this because they only want their solution which are putting protected bike lanes up on EVERY street.
Can we quantify the problem before introducing legislation? What is the real problem? Is it deliver people biking on the sidewalks? Is it weaving in and out of traffic? How are current laws insufficient for enforcement?
Anybody that wants to be mayor or congressman knows that putting protected bike lanes on Washington Street will kill their political career
It’s time to cut the crap listening to these bike wackos
Face reality. Washington Street has become a free-for-all where on a moments’ notice tradegy may strike. The whole City. You’d have to be blind not to notice.
Sort of like the blindspot when driving with a cyclist behind, say up Third Street.
Will a day come that a bicyclist or a person on a scooter, even a food delivery person, gets trampled under a car or a truck? Then, Vision Zero becomes Zero Vision.
Any day of the week, plain for anyone to see, there are electric delivery bikes going in the wrong direction up any street in Hoboken. They come swiftly near you on sidewalks, many times from behind. Through red lights, as we’ve all seen.
Now there are even gas-powered motorcycles that look like bicycles. They go anywhere – streets, sidewalks, on the waterfront, spewing noise and air pollution. Not too Green. And affecting our Carbon Footprint.
The public in general, including residents and visitors alike, deserve to be safe in Hoboken. Period. We need regulations in place, just like licensing that the City has established for various other forms of businesses. Such as: Bars, taxis, food establishments, cannabis, hot dog stands, games of chance, etc.
The three Councilmen sponsoring the proposed legislation should be commended for taking a very pro-active approach to manage public safety.
We have to start somewhere. Because right now the pedal delivery bikes, the electric delivery bikes and the gas-powered delivery bikes are just beyond being safe.