Overview
In its Clean Energy Fund Public Transportation and Mobility investment plan, NYSERDA set the goal of supporting clean mobility solutions, especially amongst underserved communities. Delivery workers are an underserved community- they were paid on average $5.39/hour before a 2023 NYC law raised their hourly wages to $19.56/hour, and are often from immigrant communities. These workers save money by riding low-quality e-bikes, while charging overnight in apartments- leading to a spate of fires in recent years. With this project, C2SMARTER will conduct a field- and survey- based research effort to better understand the delivery habits and preferences of delivery workers.
The results of this research will help inform State and City efforts to improve access to high-quality, fire safe micromobility options. Over 65,000 delivery workers rely on micromobility to distribute food, groceries, and packages across New York City’s five boroughs. Recently, a spate of fires pushed the City Council and Mayor’s Office to pass a law mandating that all e-bikes sold in the city meet Underwriters Laboratory (UL) standards. Fewer than 10% of e-bikes sold in NYC today, however, meet the new required standards due to, primarily, cost concerns.
Research Objectives
Task 1 – Conduct Literature Review of Delivery Worker Mobility Patterns.
- C2SMARTER will review any publicly available studies and reports, scientific peer-reviewed or grey literature, that provide insights on the state of delivery worker populations in NYS or elsewhere in the U.S. (e.g., similar “sister cities”), and analyze trends in where, when and how they operate. The literature search will include using multiple databases, including Scopus, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, TRID, the National Transportation Library, and the ITS Deployment Evaluation database.
Task 2 – Perform Data Collection and Analysis.
- C2SMARTER will conduct a screenline sampling data collection to understand the percentage breakdown of delivery workers using mopeds, e-bikes, and pedal bikes and how many cyclists are delivery workers versus other cyclists/commuters.
- C2SMARTER will also develop and conduct a survey, which will cover a range of topics related to delivery worker profiles, e-bike battery usage, safety concerns, cost considerations in purchases and maintenance, and barriers for participation in ECP’s trade-in program. Insights related to the following five categories will be studied: 1) trip pattern and e-bike/moped usage, 2) battery life and charging habits, 3) safety concerns, 4) factors that influence respondents’ choices of e-bikes, mopeds and batteries, and 5) level of interest, and barriers, for delivery workers to participate in the ECP rebate program.
Task 3 – Perform Benefit and Cost Analysis.
- C2SMARTER will conduct a cost analysis to estimate the total ownership cost for two alternative scenarios: 1) Scenario A involving gas and electric mopeds, and 2) Scenario B involving UL-certified e-bikes, utilizing available data.
Task 4 – Final Written Report.
Related Media
Personnel
Jingqin Gao
SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, NYU
Jingqin Gao is the Principal Investigator on this project.
enola ma
Researcher, NYU
Enola Ma is a Researcher on this project.
Lizzie Pohl
Researcher, NYU
Lizzie Pohl is a Researcher on this project.
Holly Chase
Researcher, NYU
Holly Chase is a Researcher on this project.