Mayor Adams pitches new NYC agency to rein in deliveries

Mayor Eric Adams wants to create a new government agency to regulate the booming number of online deliveries in New York City — and may require tech giants to ensure their workers are following traffic laws.

During his State of the City address, the mayor proposed a new “Department of Sustainable Delivery” that would manage the tens of thousands of trucks, vans, e-bikes and mopeds that deliver packages and food across the five boroughs.

The proposal comes as the pandemic supercharged a shift toward e-commerce for deliveries of food and other goods. A report published by the city three years ago estimated that more than 2.7 million e-commerce packages would be delivered in the city every day in 2024 — nearly twice as many as in 2018, before the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of those deliveries are made by e-bike. E-bike riders accounted for 22 of New York City's 29 cycling deaths last year.

There are 65,000 delivery workers in New York City, according to city estimates, and the vast majority of them — more than 49,000 — do not use cars.

Meera Joshi, the deputy mayor for operations, said the new department would oversee delivery companies such as Amazon, GrubHub and DoorDash, similar to how the Taxi and Limousine Commission monitors cabs and for-hire vehicles.

“Government, I think it's fair to say, it doesn't move the same speed as tech, so we're always playing a game of catchup,” Joshi said in an interview. “All of this activity and innovation comes with some downsides, and I think there's very little dispute that New Yorkers feel a sense of chaos on our streets.”

Joshi said the new agency could require all delivery drivers and e-bike riders to have city IDs and have their routes tracked. Companies could also be required to manage delivery workers’ whereabouts through dispatchers and submit data on their speed and routes to ensure they’re following traffic laws.

Joshi noted that the Adams administration wants to encourage more delivery companies to rely on cargo bikes and scooters instead of trucks — but a statement from the mayor said that goal shouldn't lead to “mopeds speeding down our sidewalks” or “delivery apps exploiting workers.”

The mayor’s proposed department would require the City Council's approval. Oversight would be split between the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, which regulates some delivery workers, and the Department of Transportation, which oversees the use of streets and sidewalks.

Creating an agency to collect data on delivery worker routes would help make e-bikes safer, Joshi said. A 2022 analysis from the city shows that making deliveries in New York is more dangerous than working in construction.

A new study published by the Environmental Defense Fund found that about 3 million New Yorkers live within a half-mile of large warehouses for online orders, which are served by delivery trucks that pollute the air.

“We need to reduce the city's carbon footprint by encouraging the growth of micro-delivery,” said Joshi. “And we also need to support street safety for workers and for everyone else who uses our streets.”

Joshi said the new department would also be tasked with streamlining the creation of “microhubs” — or locations where trucks bring packages to be picked up by cargo bike workers who complete the last mile of deliveries.

So far, the proposal for the agency is mostly conceptual.

Joshi said the mayor’s office will create a task force to study what the Department of Sustainable Delivery could do, and how it should function. She expects to submit legislation establishing the agency to the City Council by the fall.