Mayor Adams's 15 mph E-Bike Speed Limit Rolls Forward—But How Would It Even Work?

In early June, after some political prodding, Mayor Eric Adams abruptly announced he wanted to implement a citywide 15 mph speed limit on all e-bikes and e-scooters.

But many questions about the new restriction—How will it be enforced? What impact will it have on New York City street safety? How long will it really last?—remain up in the air.

As anyone who has recently ridden a silver Citi Bike e-bike knows, the bikeshare company complied with the new speed limit immediately, throttling the speed of the bikes from 18 mph to 15 mph (reportedly after being strongarmed by First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro).

But riders who own or rent their e-bikes or scooters—including the 60,000 delivery cyclists who rely on them for work—will have to self-regulate, and it's still unclear how, exactly, the speed limit will be enforced, because the proposal itself doesn't specify any punishment for exceeding the speed limit, or place the responsibility for policing it in any one agency's hands.