Related: How bad is Boston traffic? It’s on the sidewalk now.
“The consistent failure of those operating on your behalf to abide by rules and regulations indicates a concerning lack of oversight and care in regard to public safety,” the letter said.
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The officials said the city has started passing out materials to drivers and area restaurants laying out the “obligations” delivery apps have to ensure their contractors are using registered vehicles and complying with traffic rules. The city wants the companies to send the materials to drivers as well, the letter said.
“The City will consider your company responsible for continued violations by drivers operating on your behalf,” the letter said. “These dangerous behaviors cannot continue.”
Cox and Franklin-Hodge gave the three companies until Friday to answer a list of six safety-related questions, which include, “How does your company verify that drivers are licensed, utilizing a properly registered vehicle[s], and do not have a history of unsafe driving?”
The letter didn’t specify how the city would consider the companies responsible, but the officials cited a state law governing “motorized bicycles” that requires anyone using them to be at least 16, have a valid driver’s license, maintain a 25 mile-per-hour speed limit, and obey all traffic rules. Violators, the law says, face maximum fines of $25 for a first offense, $25 to $50 for a second offense, and $50 to $100 for subsequent infractions.
A DoorDash spokesperson said most drivers do “the right thing and like all drivers must follow the rules of the road. If they don’t, then they face consequences — just like anyone else.”
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The company added that it regularly sends reminders of local regulations to drivers and has also taken a number of steps to reduce congestion, particularly in the Back Bay, where residents have complained about delivery drivers zipping down sidewalks or against traffic on scooters or mopeds.
A Grubhub spokesperson said the company plans to continue working with city officials on the issue.
“To deliver with Grubhub, our delivery partners agree to obey all local traffic laws,” the spokesperson said. “While enforcement of the law is best handled by the police, we take safety seriously, and any reports of unsafe driving will result in removal from our platform.”
Uber didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jan Devereux, a former Cambridge city councilor who works on Huntington Avenue in Boston, said her office directly overlooks the area where a large number of delivery drivers park their motorbikes. She called the constant movement of their vehicles “super irritating.”
She commutes by bicycle and often encounters delivery drivers riding motorcycles in the bike lane.
“If I’m riding my bike the right way, they will sometimes be operating their vehicle the wrong way in the same bike lane,” said Devereux. “It does really worry me when I see somebody operating a motorcycle much faster than anybody can pedal. If they’re going to be on the road, they should be on the street where they belong.”
Nearby, Katherine Growney, a fourth-year mechanical engineering student at Northeastern University, complained that many of the drivers are “making up their own rules.”
“A lot of times they’ll drive up on the sidewalks on campus trying to get to buildings that aren’t actually on the road, which is very much a hazard,” said Growney. “They need to start following the rules and there needs to be more rules put in place.”
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Jack Reilly, who lives near Symphony Hall on Massachusetts Avenue and uses a wheelchair, said he often sees delivery drivers riding on the sidewalk outside his apartment building.
“I’m constantly dodging delivery people,” said Reilly, 74. “It’s like a game, how quickly they can go without paying attention. They’re dashing in and they’re slow to recognize [I’m] in the chair.”
But one of the Doordash drivers who congregates below Devereaux’s office, Manuel Mateo, said he and many of his colleagues follow traffic regulations.
“I respect the law, I wait for my light and the pedestrians,” said Mateo, 35. “I also know there are drivers who are reckless, who do not respect pedestrians, and go on red lights.”
City Councilor Ed Flynn said he had flagged the issue earlier this year.
“In a hearing order from February, I called on the city to focus on regulating the increased public safety challenges with the usage of mopeds, electric scooters up to 25 mph, and other devices from third-party delivery drivers,” Flynn said in a statement.
“Residents across Boston have witnessed speeding along our streets and sidewalks, often running stop signs and red lights, going the wrong way on one-way streets, and navigating between vehicles either in traffic or at traffic lights,” Flynn continued. “Everyone using city roads needs to abide by the rules of the road. . . . It can no longer be the Wild West on the streets of Boston.”
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com. Lila Hempel-Edgers can be reached at lila.hempeledgers@globe.com. Follow her on X @hempeledgers and on Instagram @lila_hempel_edgers.
