A new MTA policy will prohibit charging or riding e-bikes and e-scooters anywhere in the transit system, but allow New Yorkers to travel on subways, trains and buses with their e-bikes.
The rules come amid a spate of fatal fires linked to E-bike batteries citywide.
“Our research found that fires commonly attributed to lithium ion batteries in [e-bikes] occurred as part of the charging process,” Jonathan Fazio at the MTA’s Safety Management Office said at an MTA board meeting Monday. “We found no incidents where an undamaged, unaltered, overcharged and [properly] certified battery in [an e-bike] overheated or caught fire during common use.”
Riding e-bikes within the system is prohibited, and all machines should be switched off while in transit.
E-bikes have been lauded by transit advocates as an environmentally sound solution for residents who live far from public transit to access the system and obviate the need for driving.
“This is an area that we’ve been trying to figure out for some time,” said MTA chair Janno Lieber. “They do have significant advantages for some of our customers, especially for folks who are dealing with a first-mile [or] last-mile connection” to public transit.
“We want to allow them on the subway and in our other facilities, but it has to be done safely,” Lieber said.
The MTA rules limit the size and weight of e-bikes, in line with the the agency’s existing policies for traditional bikes.
The MTA will also require all e-bikes to have batteries that are undamaged and properly certified by relevant organizations like Underwriters Laboratories — though it was unclear Monday how such rules would be enforced.