Hanks questions DCWP on electric-assist pedicabs and enforcement resources

I'm going to turn it over to Councilmember Hanks and then Councilmember Maloney.

Thank you, Chair.

My line of questioning is also surrounding around the motorized, the electric motor allowing on pedicabs with Intro 1063.

The council investigation found that the vast majority of pedicabs have motors despite being prohibited.

Do you think that registered pedicabs are retrofitting their vehicles with pedal assist, or are these primarily unregistered devices?

I think it's hard to say.

I would think that there's 330 registered pedicab vehicles.

I think we talked earlier about reporting showing there's much more unlicensed vehicles out there.

I would tend to think that it's the unlicensed actors that are not following the rules of the road, so to speak.

But certainly our annual compliance checks are where we're viewing for the motors not being present.

Thank you.

And where do you see this going with so many unregistered vehicles?

NYPD has their own opinion.

We're definitely trying to come up with legislation and policy that will keep New Yorkers safe.

But it seems like this is one of those spaces where we may not have the...

The resources, I think when you testified, Mr.

Goldapper, that some of this legislation is extremely costly to implement.

So if you can kind of talk about where do you think this is going as far as enforcement and policy and where the council and the administration can kind of meet in the middle.

I can start on that and throw it over to my colleague.

You know, I think to echo Councilmember Brewer's statement at the top, I think this hearing is long overdue.

There are solutions that we could have that we can agree on already on pricing, for example, that I think would help improve the industry.

And I think there's more work needs to be done.

DCP, candidly, I think we want to make sure we're creating deeper ties with the sister agencies that are conducting the on-street enforcement.

Because ultimately, we do want to have an industry that is successful for not just tourists, but New Yorkers in the future as well.

To the second part of your question, let me throw it to my colleague, Deputy Commissioner Goldapper.

Thank you.

So any increase in scope will certainly require additional resources.

Refer, you know, as with respect to updating equipment and technologies,

staffing for enforcement and prosecution, and the level of engagement needed to actually understand the issues at hand.

We do not, TLC does not know the pedicab industry.

We are familiar with the for-hire vehicle and taxi cab industry, and we are more than willing to work as partners with DCWP and other sister agencies as well as the council

to come up and assist with the approach.

There are a number of things that I don't, excuse me, I don't believe it could just be as simple as a copy and paste of how we regulate taxis.

It's a different industry.

But we are more than happy to share the things that we do within licensing, inspections, enforcement.

And the subject matter experts can then review these things to determine what may be applicable or appropriate.

in the pedicab industry.