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Ban on two-wheeled food delivery vehicles gets cold reception in City Council

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  Published in Food and Wine on Thursday, September 18th 2025 at 10:06 GMT by Boston.com
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Boston City Council Rejects Ban on Two‑Wheeled Food‑Delivery Vehicles, Raising Questions About Urban Mobility and Safety

Boston’s City Council voted last Thursday to keep two‑wheeled food‑delivery vehicles—electric scooters, motorbikes, and even bicycles—on the streets, after a heated debate that highlighted a clash between public‑safety concerns and the economic realities of gig‑economy workers. The motion, which had been drafted by Councilor Sarah Lee, was defeated 6‑3, leaving the city’s downtown and residential districts open to the continued flow of “food‑delivery scooters” that have become a familiar sight in the city’s fast‑paced food culture.

The ban proposal, which was introduced in a Council session on September 18th, had been drafted in response to a surge of traffic‑collision statistics published by the Boston Police Department (BPD) that blamed two‑wheeled delivery vehicles for 12% of all pedestrian‑related crashes in the city last year. A link embedded in the Boston.com article led readers to the BPD’s detailed annual report, which notes that between January and August 2024, 18 delivery‑related injuries were recorded—seven of them involving scooter riders. The report also cites the rapid rise of “micro‑delivery” companies, such as DoorDash, Uber Eats, and local startups, that have increasingly employed electric scooters as the primary means of getting food to customers within the city’s 25‑minute “speed zone” promise.

Councilor Lee’s proposal would have required all two‑wheeled delivery vehicles to be banned from the city’s core after 8 p.m. and from all residential areas entirely. The ordinance also called for the creation of a “Delivery Vehicle Safety Committee” to investigate whether new signage or stricter speed limits could mitigate the risk without a full ban. Lee cited the BPD’s 2024 report and a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Urban Mobility Lab, which found that the average speed of delivery scooters on Boston streets was 12 mph—significantly higher than the 6 mph median for bicycles and the 25 mph cap for cars in the city’s “speed zone.”

During the debate, several council members and delivery‑service riders countered Lee’s safety arguments with data and personal anecdotes. Councilor Mark Reyes, chair of the Transportation Committee, argued that the “bike lanes that we’ve expanded over the past decade have made our streets safer for pedestrians, and the scooters are just another variable.” Reyes further emphasized the city’s plan to double the number of traffic cameras in high‑accident zones, a measure that he said would discourage reckless scooter usage.

Opposition from the riders’ perspective was voiced by the group “Delivery Riders of Boston,” which has a website (linked in the Boston.com article) that chronicles the daily hardships of gig‑economy workers. The group’s spokesperson, Amara Patel, said: “We’re not asking for a blanket ban; we’re asking for better lighting, clearer markings, and fair enforcement of existing laws. Banning scooters will push us to use less efficient, less environmentally friendly options, or push our wages down further.” Patel pointed out that many riders rely on scooters to get around congested streets quickly and that a ban would reduce their earning potential by 15–20% over a three‑month period, according to a survey she cited from the group’s own data.

The council’s decision to keep the scooters on the streets has already drawn attention from Boston’s mayor, who is scheduled to announce a citywide “mobility‑innovation” initiative later that month. Mayor Thomas M. Keane, in a statement released on the Boston City website, said: “We recognize the legitimate concerns about safety, but we also know that scooters are an essential part of our city’s food‑service ecosystem. Our plan is to work with both the delivery companies and riders to implement better signage, stricter speed limits, and mandatory helmet usage in high‑traffic areas.”

The debate also highlighted an often-overlooked issue: the lack of dedicated infrastructure for scooters. A link to the Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA) website in the article revealed that Boston has not yet updated its street‑circuit design to accommodate two‑wheeled vehicles. BPDA officials admitted that “our current street design is a legacy from the 1970s, and we’re in the process of re‑evaluating our street codes to include a separate lane for electric scooters.”

The city’s Transportation Committee plans to re‑examine the ordinance in early October. In the meantime, a citywide “safety audit” of the 15 most accident‑prone delivery routes is scheduled to begin next week. The audit will be conducted by the BPD in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and will include on‑site observations, speed‑metering tests, and interviews with local residents. The results are expected to inform future policy decisions.

In the meantime, the delivery industry’s growth shows no signs of slowing down. The Boston.com article quoted a DoorDash spokesperson, who noted that the company has “more than 3,000 active drivers in Boston alone.” The spokesperson added that DoorDash is already testing a new “eco‑friendly” scooter model that would run on a 40‑minute battery cycle and come equipped with a collision‑avoidance system. Such innovations could provide a middle ground that satisfies both safety advocates and riders alike.

The council’s vote on the ban underscores the broader tension that many cities across the U.S. are experiencing: balancing the gig‑economy’s benefits to consumers and workers with the need to protect pedestrians and maintain order on increasingly congested streets. Boston’s decision to keep two‑wheeled delivery vehicles on the roads may set a precedent for other municipalities grappling with similar challenges. The upcoming “mobility‑innovation” initiative and the forthcoming safety audit could prove decisive in determining whether scooters can coexist safely with the city’s traffic ecosystem—or whether a new regulatory approach will be necessary to protect both riders and pedestrians.