Mohammed Riyaj, a 26-year-old delivery worker in Brooklyn, had high hopes for a new city law intended to increase tips for him and thousands of other delivery workers who ply New York City's streets daily. Nearly two weeks into the initiative, however, his expectations have been diminished. Despite assurances that the law would make tipping more straightforward for customers and result in a pay bump for him and other delivery workers, Riyaj said the increased tips simply haven't materialized so far, leaving him frustrated.
"Solid ice." "Outrageous." "Not fair." These are some of the comments bike riders posted on Tuesday night and earlier today about conditions on the Queensboro Bridge bike lane more than two days after a fairly insignificant snowfall ended on Sunday night. Photographic evidence suggests that the Department of Transportation did not fully clear the way for riders - many of whom are delivery workers - on the second-busiest East River bridge (and the only one to link Queens directly to Manhattan Island).
At its worst - like in last week's horrific fatal crash on Flushing Avenue - pedestrians and cyclists are injured or killed. Setting aside that car drivers cause virtually all the injuries and deaths on our streets, every time there is rare crash involving an illegal e-bike, naysayers capitalize by conflating them with safe, legal e-bikes to further an anti-bike agenda. And Mayor Adams has added to the confusion, launching a criminal crackdown on legal e-bikes that has ensnared all kinds of cyclists,
E-bike riders, are people that deliver food to our homes, and they have families as well. ... Had we done that collaboration together, we might have come up with a different solution other than 15 miles [per hour], which I believe is a penalty.
