NEW YORK — Citi Bike has agreed to curb the speed at which its e-bikes can go at 15 miles per hour — a move that came in response to a service suspension threat from Mayor Eric Adams’ administration.

The electric Citi Bikes can currently ride at 18 miles per hour, a limit the service’s operator, Lyft, previously set as part of an agreement with Adams’ Department of Transportation.

But late Thursday, Citi Bike general manager Patrick Knoth said that due to “direction from City Hall,” the new speed cap will be 15 miles per hour.

“We’re working to meet that mandate and best serve our riders,” Knoth added without offering a timeline for how soon the lower speed cap could be effective on the hundreds of e-bikes Lyft operates across the city.

Knoth’s announcement came after the Daily News first reported Wednesday that Adams, citing growing concern in neighborhoods over the dangers posed by e-bikes, would enact a 15 mph speed limit on all e-bikes in the city. In response to The News’ report, Knoth said late Wednesday the mayor’s office had not told Lyft of the policy shift and said he would “express deep concern” about it.

Randy Mastro, Adams’ first deputy mayor, then sent a letter to Lyft late Thursday saying that due to its refusal to comply with the demand for a new 15 mph speed limit he was declaring the current 18 mph speed limit an “emergency threat to life and property.”

Under that declaration, Mastro’s letter, which was also signed by Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez, said Lyft had to come into compliance with the new 15 mph speed limit within 15 days. If it didn’t, Mastro suggested Adams’ administration could invoke a provision of Lyft’s contract that says the city government reserves the right to start “removing, replacing, relocating, reinstalling or locking all or any portion” of Citi Bike’s fleet if doesn’t comply with rules set by the city in the event of a “threat to life” emergency.

Within hours of Mastro making that threat, Knoth announced Citi Bike was “working” on complying with the new mandate.

Mastro, a controversial attorney who served in the Giuliani administration, cited the need to invoke such a drastic emergency to the fact that 11 people have died on electric Citi Bikes since 2021. He also noted 1,170 have been injured in that stretch.

Since becoming Adams’ top deputy at City Hall in early April, Mastro has been at the center of several other controversial policy disputes, including signing a legally disputed order to let ICE back on Rikers, issuing a directive to freeze certain fines on landlords and pressuring a concert promoter to cancel a performance by a pro-Palestinian singer.

Most private e-bikes can currently ride at 20 mph, a limit that would have to be lowered under the Adams administration’s new regime. It remains unclear how exactly the administration will enforce the new speed limit, but Mastro acknowledged in the letter to Lyft that the matter still needs to go through a formal rulemaking process, meaning its official implementation is likely still over a month away.

Since Adams took office in 2022, the Department of Transportation has fallen way short of bike lane construction targets set as part of a citywide master plan.

In his letter to Lyft, Mastro argued the city’s progress on bike lane construction is being inhibited by e-bike fatalities.

“The lack of action to address this issue is hindering the city’s ability to advance bike lane and micro-mobility infrastructure and safety across the city,” he wrote.

The mayor has recently portrayed cracking down on bike riding as a matter of public safety amid widespread concern.

Last month, his NYPD started handing out criminal instead of civil summonses to bike riders for running red lights or otherwise riding recklessly, a drastic shift that has outraged transit advocates and City Council members who note car drivers do not face such penalties for similar infractions.

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