GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS IN THE BIG APPLE

Two bills have been introduced in the New York State Senate that would seriously impact NYC motorcyclists. First, the good news. New

York State Senator Leroy Comrie has introduced S. 4102, which would require the forthcoming congestion pricing plan for the city’s central business district to charge motorcyclists half of what the plan would charge other vehicles.

While the AMA firmly believes that any congestion pricing plan should fully exempt motorcyclists (as our vehicles inherently reduce congestion), this bill is a step in the right direction. The AMA thanks motorcyclists in New York City, particularly Riders Against Congestion, who have been fighting for motorcyclists to be fully exempted from the congestion pricing plan for years.

The second bill is bad news for dirt bike and ATV riders who live in the city. New York State Senator Liz Krueger has introduced S. 2773, a bill that seeks to ban the sale of off-highway motorcycles and ATVs by dealers or individuals within New York City, and enact a fine of $1,000 for the first offense and $2,000 for each

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority has asked the California Public Utilities Commission to stop issuing new permits to Cruise and Waymo, automated vehicle companies currently testing in the city. The call comes after 92 incidents in seven months, where self-driving test vehicles belonging to both companies came to a stop in traffic causing chaos for other drivers as the automated vehicles sat idle.

In one incident, 60 Cruise “robotaxis” came to a stop in the street one night in July of 2022 over a 90-minute period when the vehicles lost contact with Cruise’s servers, according to a report by Wired. The information cited by Wired comes from a letter sent to the California Public Utilities Commission by an anonymous Cruise employee seemingly blowing the whistle on their employer’s actions.

The letter from San Francisco CTA to the state regulator also cites incidents where Cruise staff have called 911 when passengers in their automated vehicle became unresponsive, only to have police or firefighters respond and find a sleeping passenger each time. The letter complains that these incidents and others (such as when a Cruise robotaxi ran over a fire hose at an active fire scene) are a drain on taxpayer-funded emergency services, and reduce the availability of those services to members of the public in true need.

Cities in California have little ability to regulate automated subsequent offense. It also allows for any dirt bike or ATV sold in the city to be impounded.

The AMA strongly opposes this bill and will fight vigorously this blatant attempt to stop New York City residents from legally purchasing off-highway vehicles. While the bill’s goal is to address illegal use of OHVs on public roads, this bill needlessly punishes law abiding residents, and will do nothing to address illegal use of off-highway vehicles on city streets.

For New York state residents who want to take action on these bills, check out the AMA’s Action Center for alerts at AmericanMotorcyclist.com/action-center