a Hoboken city councilman is taking to Heart A Promise he made on the campaign trail that he'd keep pedestrians safe from The Surge of ebikes that have been zipping up and down sidewalks to find a solution councilman Paul penano took a part-time gig delivering for Uber Eats getting a firsthand look at what it's really like as a delivery worker in the mil Square City Senior correspondent Joan gagas has the story the problem we have is with unfortunately our e delivery are on the sidewalks and it's an accident waiting to happen Hoboken councilman Paul Prenos traded in a suit and tie for a bike and riding vest he's taken a part-time job as an e delivery Rider with Uber Eats to better understand the challenges that delivery Riders face a move he says is meant to inform an ordinance he's recently proposed we tout Vision zero in this town and we're very proud of it that we've had zero deaths in 7 years I do not want to have a statistic where we have one death on the sidewalk and none on the street he was just elected in November and campaigned on the promise to prioritize pedestrian safety his ordinance would require all ebike delivery Riders pass a one-page test to prove they understand the rules of the road or rather the sidewalk and they' need to purchase a safety vest that would be required when they ride not only am I really protecting the people on the sidewalk because we can see them in a distance and we could kind of situate ourselves but also making it safer on them for when they're on the streets but several local groups oppose the ordinance saying it doesn't get to the root of the infrastructure problem in Hoboken double parked cars that Force cyclists onto sidewalks if there was more loading zones for cars for drivers then and there was a protected bike lane then each one would have its own space and it would be safer for everyone bike Hoboken chrisad says it creates unnecessary barriers to e delivery which has impacts Beyond Hoboken we don't want to like create barriers and deinen divize that because that's going to help New Jersey and Hoboken get to carbon neutrality their carbon neutrality goals and while Hoboken grapples with this ordinance there's a bill making its way through the legislature right now that would require drivers of any motorized bikes or scooters that go up to 20 or 25 mes an hour to be licensed and carry Insurance there's really no current insurance on the market that could cover this so that is a big obstacle in and of itself and that's where these Hoboken opponents find themselves on the same side I really want to know how they're going to do this with the DMV we're struggling with real IDs and we can't even get in there to do that and then we're going to add a percentage of more people coming in for ebikes how do we do that we have to think about what it cost to train our police force because we need to do that for liability sake we need to think about how certain towns are set up for this in a transportation Committee hearing last week Senator Raj McGee said he doesn't love the bill and does expect amendments to be made on the current version and while it's not clear what enforcement of any of this would look like we did speak with one delivery Rider who said ticketing would have a big impact on his fellow Riders I feel like enforcement is a big one because here's the thing I get a ticket I'm going to tell all my friends another guy gets a ticket he's going to tell all his friends next thing you know nobody's on the sidewalks but to really get to the heart of the issue Ron Bautista says you have to look at why these Riders operate the way they do in the first place he blames the delivery companies their payment method for for workers uh they encourage unsafe riding and they say because they the way they they get paid is based on how much they ride what I would like to see is uh for our local government to push delivery companies to one pay them the right amount and he'd like to see them pay fees to the city they're calling for all stakeholders to create a more comprehensive plan together in Hoboken I'm Joanna gagas NJ Spotlight news w