NYC E-Bike Ban Is Disaster For Immigrant Delivery Workers

NEW YORK — 

Aimin Liu's food delivery job is an exercise of muscle memory and physical endurance. He scans the Chinese kitchen's receipts and addresses before placing his hands on the padded handlebars of his e-bike. Lifting his body, he is off — as fast as the bike will allow, against the sting of the winter wind.

The goal is to deliver 30 to 40 orders a day, six days a week, across New York's midtown and lower Manhattan, sometimes as far as 20 city blocks away. Liu has been doing this for almost as many years.

"My legs are no good," Liu tells VOA in Mandarin, rubbing his 59-year-old kneecaps. "Both of my feet hurt. I have arthritis on both sides."

If it weren't for his electric motor-powered bicycle, Liu says he might collapse or deliver half the number of orders on any 12-hour shift — not an option in a low-wage profession that is dependent upon customer tips.