By the way—have you been listening to the Hell Gate Podcast? This week's episode will drop later today. For the latest on the mayor's race, you won't want to miss it. You can listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
On April 28, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch initiated a tectonic shift in New York City transit enforcement: cyclists who violate traffic laws, including by running red lights or stop signs, would now be issued criminal summonses—an enforcement measure that Tisch has repeatedly said is aimed at cracking down on e-bike riders, despite DOT data showing e-bike crashes are down significantly this year. So far, the policy change has ushered in a 4,000 percent bump in criminal summonses for e-bike riders, deeply pissed off cycling advocates, and struck fear into deliveristas at a time when concerns about getting snatched from a courthouse and deported are especially potent in New York City.
On Friday night, a coalition made up of groups like the New York City Bike Messenger Association, Time’s Up!, Los Deliveristas Unidos, Transportation Alternatives, Ridgewood Rides, NYC Bike + Brew, and Queer Joy Ride intends to fight back—by reviving New York City's Critical Mass protest ride. The goal of the ride, according to its organizers, is to flex their numbers and show solidarity with deliveristas, who say they have already been disproportionately targeted by the new enforcement push.
Joshua Woods, one of the organizers behind the Critical Mass Revival, said that most of the delivery drivers he knows who've been ticketed and actually showed up to court have had their charges tossed—because they were issued summonses for nonexistent offenses. "We see things like riding without a helmet, using the roadway when the bike lane is available, not having the light on when it's daytime. All those things sound like ticketable offenses, but they're actually not," Woods said, echoing concerns that City Councilmembers raised to Tisch in a hearing on Thursday. He added, "What it's feeling like is simply an excuse to pull people over, get them into the legal system, and then once they're in the legal system, then there's now an avenue for doing something to them."
Hell Gate also spoke with Chris Peterson, another Critical Mass organizer and a former bike courier, about the goals of Friday's bike ride, and what she believes is at stake if the crackdown continues. That conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity below.