Enlarge / Delivery workers in NYC have banded together to protect their bikes, improve conditions and wages, and, now, advocate against an outright e-bike ban in public housing. (credit: Getty Images)
A rising number of fires caused by lithium-ion batteries has spurred New York City's public housing authority to propose entirely banning e-bikes from their buildings. But the causes are not so simple, the solutions fiendishly complex, and the repercussions potentially devastating to thousands of hard-pressed delivery workers.
New York City firefighters have responded to 26 battery-based fires in public housing since 2021, according to reporting from The City. That includes fires in early August that killed a 5-year-old girl and 36-year-old woman in Harlem, and a death and injury in The Bronx. And battery-based fires are rising elsewhere in the city resulting in 73 injuries and five deaths, according to Canary Media, with 130 investigations so far this year. It's a sharp upturn from 104 battery fire calls the year before, 44 in 2020, and 30 in 2019.
The New York City Housing Authority's (NYCHA) response is a proposal to ban all e-bikes, and e-bike batteries, from public housing grounds by October 15. City officials advised NYCHA to ban battery-driven devices from housing in 2018, but NYCHA didn't move on a policy change until recently. (NYCHA is taking written comments on the proposed rule changes at lease.changes@nycha.nyc.gov.) Advocates for delivery workers and micro-mobility are pushing back, arguing that a blanket ban would punish low-income and immigrant delivery workers and generally discourage e-bikes as a lower-carbon means of getting around Gotham.
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Enlarge / Delivery workers in NYC have banded together to protect their bikes, improve conditions and wages, and, now, advocate against an outright e-bike ban in public housing. (credit: Getty Images)
A rising number of fires caused by lithium-ion batteries has spurred New York City's public housing authority to propose entirely banning e-bikes from their buildings. But the causes are not so simple, the solutions fiendishly complex, and the repercussions potentially devastating to thousands of hard-pressed delivery workers.
New York City firefighters have responded to 26 battery-based fires in public housing since 2021, according to reporting from The City. That includes fires in early August that killed a 5-year-old girl and 36-year-old woman in Harlem, and a death and injury in The Bronx. And battery-based fires are rising elsewhere in the city resulting in 73 injuries and five deaths, according to Canary Media, with 130 investigations so far this year. It's a sharp upturn from 104 battery fire calls the year before, 44 in 2020, and 30 in 2019.
The New York City Housing Authority's (NYCHA) response is a proposal to ban all e-bikes, and e-bike batteries, from public housing grounds by October 15. City officials advised NYCHA to ban battery-driven devices from housing in 2018, but NYCHA didn't move on a policy change until recently. (NYCHA is taking written comments on the proposed rule changes at lease.changes@nycha.nyc.gov.) Advocates for delivery workers and micro-mobility are pushing back, arguing that a blanket ban would punish low-income and immigrant delivery workers and generally discourage e-bikes as a lower-carbon means of getting around Gotham.
Read 6 remaining paragraphs | Comments
September 01, 2022 at 11:15PM
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