By: Mike Mustiglione
Governor Andrew Cuomo has vetoed a bill that would have allowed electric bike and scooter rentals statewide.
The reason: a lack of safety measures such as a helmet requirement, according to Cuomo’s office.
“Failure to include these basic measures renders this legislation fatally flawed,” he said. “There is no need for us to choose between legalizing e-bikes and safety, and I will propose a bill that does both on January 8,” he added in a Twitter message.
“E-bikes and e-scooters carry the potential to be a useful tool in changing the way we travel and reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” Cuomo wrote in explaining the veto. “They do, however, carry significant safety concerns. A number of recent accidents, including the tragic death of a 16-year-old boy in Elizabeth, N.J., demonstrate clearly that e-bikes and e-scooters must be carefully and responsibly regulated. As such, I am constrained to veto this bill.”
“Lawmakers may try to pass a bill with more safety measures next year. Cuomo said electric bikes and scooters must be regulated to protect public safety and said he looks forward to working with lawmakers on the issue in 2020,” reported Crain’s New York Business. “Cuomo had publicly expressed concerns about protecting pedestrians from e-bikes earlier this year. His veto message cites a 16-year-old boy who died in November after being hit by a tow truck while riding an e-scooter.”
Cuomo’s veto was “a blow to several constituencies: scooter companies that operate in dozens of cities in the United States and abroad and see New York as a lucrative, untapped market; delivery workers who rely on an illegal form of transportation to earn a living; and those pressing for ways to ease congestion on New York City’s traffic-choked streets,” reported The New York Times. “In rejecting the legislation, Mr. Cuomo cited safety measures he said that he had sought in his proposed 2019 budget but that had been “inexplicably omitted” from the bill that cleared both houses of the State Legislature by overwhelming margins.”
There is no shortage of disappointment in the wake of the decision. The bill “drew strong interest across the state but also uncertainty over what Cuomo would do as the industry has been eager to enter New York, particularly millions of new customers in the New York City market,” according to USA Today. “In fact, e-scooter companies – including Lime, Bird, Bolt, Jump, Spin and Skip – were spending more than $145,000 a month to lobbyists in Albany and Manhattan to get a bill into law, the USA TODAY Network New York found in April.”
