BY NYC MAYOR ERIC ADAMS | Public safety and livability are key to creating a prosperous city — a city in which all New Yorkers can be comfortable as they go about their daily lives. That is why the Adams administration is taking two important steps to make our public spaces safer and more restful for residents of the five boroughs. We are cracking down on illegal mopeds and scooters on our streets and sidewalks, and increasing the availability of public toilets across the five boroughs.

In the last few years, we have seen a dramatic rise in the use of illegal mopeds and scooters that endanger and terrorize pedestrians when they are driven recklessly. Since 2022, we’ve seen a dramatic rise in criminals using these vehicles to ride around and snatch property, like cell phones, jewelry, and wallets from unsuspecting New Yorkers. Recently, two of our officers were shot by a suspect who was driving a motorized scooter the wrong way on a street in Queens. Thankfully, the officers were saved by their protective gear, but we are reminded again of the risks that New York’s Finest take to keep our city safe.

In response to the uptick of illegal behavior, we have seized tens of thousands of illegal mopeds and scooters and destroyed them to prevent them from ever returning to New York City streets. The NYPD will also ramp up a summer enforcement strategy to curb the illegal use of motorized scooters, bikes, ATVs, and other unregistered vehicles; deploy more Community Response Team officers focused on removing these illegal vehicles; and increase the use of strategic checkpoints at bridges, tunnels, and other major roadways and crossings.

These operations have already proven highly successful, and we have already seized more than 40,000 illegal motorized scooters, mopeds, ATVs, and other illegal vehicles since the start of our administration, including nearly 13,000 scooters and mopeds confiscated in 2024 alone.

If current projections hold over the next seven months, we are on pace to confiscate over 30,000 illegal mopeds and scooters by the end of 2024 — beating the 2023 record numbers by 72 percent. This is in addition to driving down overall crime in our city. Index crime dropped another 2.4 percent in May, homicides were down more than 20 percent in May, car theft decreased by 9 percent, and transit crime declined by nearly 11 percent. Crime has now dropped every single month this year and because of our efforts, New York City remains the safest big city in America.

In addition to reducing crime, we are also taking care of New Yorkers’ other basic needs — because we’re here for New Yorkers when they’re on the go and gotta go. Over the next five years, in partnership with the Parks Department and the Department of Transportation, we will be building 46 new public restrooms and renovating 36 existing restrooms across the five boroughs. This will add to our city’s supply of nearly 1,000 public restrooms in parks, libraries, subway stations, plazas, and more. And because all the bathrooms in the world won’t help you if you don’t know where they are, we created a Google Maps layer that you can access on your phone so that you can quickly and easily find a public toilet when you need one. You can find it at on.nyc.gov/restroom.

We have also installed changing tables in all public restrooms in our parks wherever feasible — three years ahead of schedule. Additionally, we are establishing a joint task force to help site and fast-track approvals for 14 new high-tech, self-cleaning automatic toilets on city streets and plazas.

We came into office with the clear goal of improving public safety, rebuilding our economy, and making New York City more livable for all New Yorkers. Every step we take — whether it’s removing illegal vehicles or creating more public bathrooms — is in service of creating a safer, more livable city for everyone.

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To visit the Office of the Mayor of New York City online, click here.

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