Press

by Barbara Russo-Lennon on June 9, 2025

Two West Side community boards have made it clear to City Hall that residents do not want reckless-riding cyclists facing criminal summonses from the NYPD.

The two advisory bodies voiced their opposition to the police department’s new policy, subjecting reckless riders to criminal summonses if they are found to break traffic laws. Several members called this policy unfair, as drivers of motor vehicles only receive civil penalties for the same infractions. 

The full board vote at Manhattan’s Community Board 7 (CB7) voted 29-2 in favor of a resolution demanding an end to the new policy, according to Streetsblog. The resolution reads that “holding cyclists to a far higher standard than motor vehicle drivers is unjust, puts immigrant workers at grave risk, and sends the wrong message about the actual danger on our streets.”

By Nicole Rosenthal on June 1, 2025

A tiny pooch was fatally struck by an e-bike in a sidewalk hit-run on the Upper East Side on Memorial Day weekend – but the dog’s grieving owner says she can’t get justice for the pup because of a loophole in state law.

Local resident Sarah Grant’s 18-month-old shih tzu-poodle mix Fennel – who Grant rescued in December – was out with a dog walker when she was struck on the sidewalk by an e-bike rider on East 96th Street near Third Avenue in Manhattan just before 6 p.m. that Sunday, her owner said.

“She was not very responsive,” Grant told The Post, recalling the moment her dog walker rushed Fennel back to her nearby apartment building. “Her eyes rolled back into her head, and she was barely moving. It was just heartbreaking.”

Fennel sustained a traumatic brain injury and severe skull fracture and was euthanized hours later.

By Mary-Lyn Buckley for 1010 WINS, May 8, 2025

Outraged New Yorkers rallied outside the NYC Parks Department headquarters on the Upper East Side on Wednesday, calling for a crackdown on reckless e-bike riders who disregard pedestrians on sidewalks and in parks.

"They just zoom through you, crash into crowds," one man said. Out-of-control e-bikers have left people bloodied and broken—and even dead, according to rally-goers, who described and held photos of their brutal injuries. "It changed our life completely," a woman said of her experience. "I broke my nose. My husband was unconscious for five days—traumatic brain injury."

Janet Schroeder, co-founder and director of the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance said, "A lot of cyclists don't even want to bicycle anymore, because of the way the e-bikes ride."

by Barbara Russo-Lennon on May 8, 2025

Over 100 cyclists, victims of e-vehicle collisions and supporters gathered outside Central Park on Wednesday to demand an end to a program that welcomes e-bike riding in city parks.

The group called on the City Council to pass Intro 0060, a public safety bill that would prohibit e-vehicles from entering NYC parks in all the boroughs. Group members said e-vehicles do not belong in city parks and cited multiple collisions that resulted in bicycle and e-bike riders and pedestrians getting hurt.

The group held signs with messages opposing e-bike riding in parks and chanted, “No e-bikes in our parks!” as cars and trucks drove by, honking seemingly in support of the rally, along traffic-laden 5th Avenue.

by Nora Wesson on May 7, 2025

More than 75 concerned Upper East Side residents and e-bike collision victims gathered in Lenox Hill Wednesday afternoon in support of a City Council bill that would ban the high-powered motorized vehicles from parks, ending a pilot program renewed without public input almost one year ago.

“It’s such an infringement on our quality of life in the city, because bicycles are fine, e-bikes are more like mopeds,” said Janet Schroeder, a founding member of the E-Vehicle Safety Alliance, a grassroots organization championing the bill and other regulatory efforts, as she spoke at a rally on Fifth Avenue between East 63rd and 64th Streets.

By Louis Finley on May 7, 2025

Once a sanctuary from the city’s chaos, some New Yorkers claim parks have become danger zones amid a pilot program allowing e-bikes and e-scooters into green spaces.

The debate hit a high on Wednesday when dozens gathered near Central Park's entrance to demand the city end its pilot allowing legal the micromobility devices on park drives and greenways, saying the initiative is a threat to pedestrian safety.

Many in attendance said they had personally been struck or nearly hit by e-vehicles.

“They speed, they look at their phone, they fly through red lights. They’re going to weave no matter what lane they’re in,” said Janet Schroeder, director of the NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance.

By Greg Mocker on May 7, 2025

Visitor movement is being watched in Central Park. A pilot program that allows electric bikes is set to wrap up at the end of May.

The NYC Department of Parks and Recreation has been studying how people move within the park. In 2018, Central Park became car-free on the interior roads. 

A bill currently before the New York City Council would prohibit the operation of electric Scooters and bicycles with electric assist in any park. Opponents of the measure say cycling and electric biking should be encouraged in city parks. 

By Cheryl Wills and Dana Perez on May 4, 2025

Janet Schroeder, co-founder and director of NYC-EVSA, says organization supports Priscilla’s Law out of fear for the safety of pedestrians and cyclists.

She says there is a lack of reporting in e-vehicle crashes, mostly because the NYPD doesn’t provide an option to select e-vehicles on accident reports.

Schroeder says ER doctors saw more injuries caused by these accidents in two months than the Department of Transportation reported in a year.

She says transportation advocates and lobbyists are paying a lot of money to line pockets of officials to not pass Priscilla’s Law.

By Barbara Russo-Lennon on March 12, 2025

Dozens of New Yorkers rallied in Midtown on Wednesday to support a state bill that would regulate e-bikes while making drivers more accountable after collisions.   

Led by Queens Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar, the group of advocates, including pedestrians and cyclists, gathered on 3rd Avenue near Gov. Kathy Hochul‘s office to throw their support behind Priscilla’s Law, which would require e-bikes to have license plates and be registered by the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles. 

By Barbara Russo-Lennon on December 11, 2024

Dozens of New Yorkers fed up with reckless e-vehicle riders gathered outside City Hall on Wednesday, demanding licenses for mopeds and e-bikes in NYC.

Queens City Council Member Robert Holden spotlighted his 2023 bill, Priscilla’s Law, named after Priscilla Loke, who died after being struck by an e-bike in Manhattan’s Chinatown while on her way to work last year.

The legislation would require the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT) to register and license all e-mobility devices not regulated by the state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV).

To Holden, the bill is about accountability. If it passes, the law would make e-vehicle riders more accountable when collisions occur.

by Mona Davids on November 1, 2024

In an interview with the New York Voice, Janet Schroeder, co-founder of the New York City E-Vehicle Safety Alliance (NYC EVSA), shared her commitment to creating safer streets for New Yorkers. Schroeder co-founded the organization with Pamela Manasse. This movement, led by advocates like Schroeder and Manasse, is gaining momentum across the city. This advocacy group, born out of tragedy, is pushing for a law they’ve named “Priscilla’s Law,” after Priscilla Loke, who was fatally struck by an e-bike in a Chinatown crosswalk. NYC EVSA’s mission is clear: to make New York City streets safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and e-vehicle users alike through a comprehensive set of bills that require registration, regulation, and accountability for e-bikes, e-scooters, and similar motorized vehicles.

From NYC-EVSA on October 23, 2024

NYC E-Vehicle Safety Alliance calls on Speaker Adrienne Adams to end her obstruction and finally call for a hearing on Intro 0606-2024, PRISCILLA’S LAW, for registration of e-vehicles. The bill is named in honor of Priscilla Loke, who was killed by a Citi-E-Bike last year, and has majority support, 31 of 51 Councilmembers as Co-Sponsors.

When: Wednesday October 23 at Noon, Demonstration and Rally at City Hall —West Gate (Broadway and Murray Street).

Priscilla Loke was beloved by her family, friends, and students at Chinatown’s Head Start, where she was the Deputy Director. Her life was cut short by the e-vehicle violence which has become commonplace on NYC streets. This bill honors the memory of Priscilla Loke and all the victims of e-vehicle violence by providing accountability by registering all e-vehicles.

By Otto Fritton on August 12, 2024

As electric bikes have boomed in New York City, enforcement of traffic regulations against scofflaw riders has failed to keep pace. Many locals complain about whizzing electric Citi Bikes and other e-micro-mobility vehicles rushing pell-mell on the city’s streets and even sidewalks and sometimes traveling in the wrong direction.

John Campo is a professional cyclist and former West Point championship-winning coach. He’s also known as the “Angel of Kissena Velodrome” for pushing for a 1963 bike-racing track in Queens that had fallen into disrepair to be renovated, which the Parks Department finally did in 2004.

By Samantha Liebman on June 20, 2024

As the number of e-bikes has grown on the city’s streets, so have injuries, and there have also been deaths.

One group is calling on the city to require them to be registered, so there’s more accountability when something happens.

Priscilla Loke, a beloved educator, was hit by an e-bike in Chinatown last September.

It shook her longtime co-workers at the Chinatown Head Start.

“After she made a call to us and then she was unconscious,” recalled Peggy Ng, the former education director at the Head Start who worked with Loke for 35 years. “In a coma, and she passed away three days later without saying a word. Without saying anything. We miss her so much.”

By Henry Rossoff on June 20, 2024

You see it all the time all around the city– e-bike riders, often on their phones moving in and out of traffic, some barreling by pedestrians. Now there is a new push at the City Council level to register these e-bikes.

Friends and family clutched pictures of Priscilla Loke as they stood on the steps of City Hall.

Loke was killed by an e-bike running a red light in Chinatown last fall and her loved ones now support the registering of all bikes, scooters and other vehicles with an electric motors under what would be known as Priscilla’s law.

By Ann Cooper on June 7, 2024

“You’re not looking!” I chided my friend from Washington, D.C. who came to the city Memorial Day weekend. I was reminding her of the lesson I’d given the day before, on how to navigate New York City streets on foot in the era of electric bikes, electric scooters, and mopeds. Crossing a street: look both ways, several times, before stepping out, even when the light is clearly signaling it’s safe to walk. On the sidewalk: never assume you’re safe just because you’re not in the street; an unseen, unheard “micromobility” vehicle could whiz by you from the rear at any moment, its driver offering no warning whatsoever.

By Dodai Stewart on May 28, 2024

Elijah Orlandi knows what many New Yorkers think about delivery workers on e-bikes: They ride too fast. They zigzag in and out of traffic and bike lanes — sometimes going the wrong direction altogether. They materialize on sidewalks, idle in groups and block the paths of pedestrians. They risk colliding with people, pets and cars in their rush to get where they’re going.

By Maria Danzilo on February 16, 2024

New York City’s future growth and stability depend on establishing sensible transportation and street usage policies. However, our streets have become a chaotic mess, due mostly to the proliferation of unregulated e-bikes and electric scooters. New York City now has more than 65,000 gig delivery workers racing through our streets and on our sidewalks to deliver food to busy New Yorkers. Most of them use e-bikes because they are faster. These micro-mobility vehicles have overtaken bike lanes with drivers who routinely disregard traffic laws, putting pedestrians at great risk.

By Lincoln Anderson on December 15, 2023

It was a blustery day last week when councilmembers and New Yorkers demanding “accountability” for e-bike riders rallied outside City Hall. Despite the chill, they were fired up by the hope that a bill requiring all e-bikes to sport license plates could be passed before the end of the year.

By Gabriele Holtermann on December 7, 2023

E-bikes and e-scooters used in New York City should be required to be registered like cars, elected officials and traffic safety advocates demanded Wednesday.
During a Park Row rally outside City Hall on Dec. 6, the group pushed for a swift hearing of a bill, introduced by Council Member Robert Holden in 2022, mandating that all legal e-mobility devices — including e-bikes and e-scooters — to be registered with the Department of Transportation and equipped with a license plate.

By Ramsey Khalifeh on December 6, 2023

Councilmember Robert Holden of Queens demanded city lawmakers move forward with his proposed bill to require license plates and vehicle registrations for any electric bike, scooter or other motorized vehicle.

The bill, which was introduced last year and is sponsored by 31 of the City Council’s 51 members, takes aim at the e-bikes used by thousands of delivery workers as well as pedal-assist e-bikes, such as those in the Citi Bike fleet.

By The Village Sun on September 23, 2023

A new and growing grassroots advocacy group is calling on local politicians to take steps to ensure citizens’ safety and “rein in the chaos caused by out-of-control e-bike riders” — including requiring all e-bikes to be licensed, registered, inspected and insured.

By Ashley Mastronardi on August 30, 2023

The Manhattan Bridge was the scene of a bloody e-bike crash that left four people injured in July. As the number of e-vehicles in the city continues to rise, so do calls for them to be regulated.

By The Brian Lehrer Show on August 1, 2023

A bloody crash last week on the Manhattan Bridge bike lane that involved scooters and e-bikes illustrated why cyclists are concerned for their safety. Julianne Cuba, reporter at Streetsblog, reports on the larger issues at play—including why Deliveristas are using mopeds and riding in the bike lanes—and Charles Lane, WNYC and Gothamist reporter, reports on the crash and what advocates are hoping will change.

By Daniel Krieger on June 26, 2023

On a recent evening, several dozen members of the E-Vehicle Safety Alliance gathered on the corner of West 88th Street and Columbus Avenue for the group’s first in-person get-together. They had turned out in pursuit of their mission to advocate for street safety at a monthly meeting of the West Side Democrats at Goddard Riverside Community Center that was devoted to the issue.

By Daniel Krieger on June 12, 2023

Last fall, Janet Schroeder decided that something had to be done about all the e-vehicles driving every which way in her neighborhood and putting pedestrians in danger. (“e-vehicles” cover all personal mobility devices that are battery powered, such as e-scooters, e-bikes, hoverboards, and mopeds.) She had been actively involved over the years in causes she cares about, but grassroots organizing was new for her. The turning point came in September when she read about Pamela Greitzer-Manasse’s grievous brain injury, after having also been horrified by the death of Lisa Banes a year prior to that.

By Daniel Krieger on May 25, 2023

Pamela Greitzer-Manasse has slowly been getting better since she suffered a catastrophic brain injury last July, at least in a few ways. She can now open and close her right hand. She can walk with a cane, limping, but without a foot brace or her husband spotting her. And another milestone on her long and winding path to recovery: she can tie her shoelaces.

By Daniel Krieger on September 16, 2022

It was a warm July afternoon, sunny with a blue sky, and Pamela Greitzer-Manasse was walking on the Upper West Side with her husband, Jon Manasse, and a friend, Chris Pell. […] It was a Tuesday, around 12:30 pm. The light signaled to walk, and as they were crossing the street, just a few steps from a small triangular median on 65th Street, at the point where Columbus and Broadway intersect, an electric moped that was cutting across the median collided head-on with Greitzer-Manasse, throwing her into the air.