Newly published NYPD data on the city’s criminal summonses for e-bike riders has confirmed delivery workers’ and advocates’ worst fears — the city’s new policy to improve street safety is disproportionately targeting bike riders of color.
Beginning on April 28, the NYPD began implementing the controversial policy of issuing criminal summonses to e-bike riders who committed civil infractions, such as running a red light. Although the NYPD insisted that the policy was intended to improve street safety, critics argued that the policy was a concealed crackdown targeting delivery workers — the majority of whom are immigrants of color.
According to the data, during the second quarter of this year, from April through June, 83% of criminal summonses for bike and e-bike-related infractions were issued to predominantly Black, Hispanic, and Asian riders.
Specifically, over 80% of the 3,700 criminal summonses issued for disobeying traffic signals were issued to New Yorkers of color, a 260-fold increase for the first quarter of this year.
Along with criminal summonses, summonses issued for the civil infraction of sidewalk riding doubled in the second quarter of this year, with nearly 600 summonses. And just like the criminal summonses, riders of color were also disproportionately targeted, receiving 88% of the summonses for that infraction.
White bike riders also saw an increase in summonses, from 35 in the first quarter of 2025 to 648 in the second, yet, the number of tickets issued to white people only represented 13% of total tickets for bike infractions.
Overall, the number of criminal summonses issued to Latinos (categorized as “Hispanic” by the NYPD) increased. Latino bike riders received 1,950 summonses in the second quarter compared to the 226 summonses they received in the first quarter — a 763% increase. Black bike riders also saw a steep increase in criminal summonses, from 228 during the first quarter to nearly 1,500 in the second.
The NYPD did not respond to Documented’s multiple requests for comment.
DoorDash delivery worker Khadim, who provided only his last name, was issued a criminal summons in May for riding his bike on the wrong side of the street while delivering food in the Upper West Side. A 29-year-old immigrant from Senegal, Khadim, says the experience was unsettling.
“Receiving a criminal summons was traumatizing for me,” he said in a Worker’s Justice Project statement shared with Documented. “I was just trying to do my job, delivering food so people could eat. Instead, I was treated like a criminal.”
Working nearly every day to support himself and his family, Khadim told Documented that he felt targeted by the city for doing his job. Unlike traffic tickets, where you can just pay a fine online, a criminal summons requires that you to appear in court or face the possibility of arrest. Khadim, who makes about $100 a day, had to pay a lawyer $250 to represent him in court. And although the judge let him off with just a warning, the whole ordeal left Khadim frustrated.
“It made me feel like the city cares more about punishing workers than protecting us,” he said. “We are workers, not criminals, and we are here to contribute to the development of this city. Why is the city trying to frighten us instead of helping us do our jobs better?”
According to Gabriel Montero, director of development and communications at Worker’s Justice Project, the data indicates that the uptick in criminal enforcement began immediately after the NYPD’s new policy took effect, strongly suggesting a targeting of bike riders of color.
“Black, Latino, and Asian New Yorkers, many of them immigrant delivery workers, are bearing the brunt of this shift,” he said. “And they are enduring this for the sake of a political spectacle that preys on their vulnerability rather than creating safety.”
Also Read: Bangladeshi GrubHub Workers Protest Unfair Deactivations
你知道吗？非公民办理驾照时的这个错误可能会导致选民欺诈
Montero is calling for a moratorium on criminal enforcement of bicycle and e-bike violations until a full racial equity impact assessment is conducted. He is also calling on the city to invest in safer infrastructure for bike riders, legal support for workers, and accountability for app companies, including deactivation protections to ensure workers can comply with safety laws without fear of losing their jobs.
As Documented has previously reported, many delivery workers feel pressured to risk their lives in the name of quicker deliveries. A slower pace could result in deactivations. Criminalization only puts workers, according to Montero, in an even more unsafe predicament.
“By turning minor traffic violations into criminal matters, this policy creates potential criminal records for vulnerable riders,” he said. “[It subjects] them to court proceedings that threaten their ability to work, entangle them in the criminal justice system, and expose immigrant workers to increased fear and risk of deportation.”
