But, to be useful, these vehicles also need to get people to their destinations in one piece. Which is why Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration needs to commit to expanding and improving the city’s network of protected bike lanes.

Citi Bike has been in New York for five years and is increasingly popular. The system clocked more than 80,000 trips in one 24-hour period this summer — that’s equal to about a quarter of the 300,000 yellow cab trips that take place in a typical day. Even during the frigid first three months of the year, the system averaged nearly 30,000 trips a day. Contrary to the overblown jeremiads against them, the bikes have not caused mass chaos. The city and Motivate, the company that operates Citi Bike (and whose core operations are being acquired by Lyft ), ought to keep expanding the system.

New York is already making room, too, for electric bikes. E-bikes, as they’re called, are outfitted with battery-powered motors that make pedaling less effortful. Citi Bike is planning to introduce them this week . It eventually will add a thousand as part of the plan to help commuters affected by the impending L train shutdown in April. The city also has started field trials with several similar firms — with catchy names like Lime, Pace, Ofo and Jump, which is owned by Uber — offering bike rentals, both traditional and electric, in the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island.

Then there are electric scooters. Also powered by batteries, scooters can travel as fast as 15 miles per hour and are meant to be ridden in bike lanes. Electric scooters are currently illegal in New York, but at least one company, Bird — yes, a name four letters or less does seem to be required in this sector — already is exploring introducing them here in coming months; other services will surely follow.

So far, scooters — or, really, their riders — have not universally won over cities where they’ve landed. Yes, both scooters and e-bikes are useful to people who cannot get on a regular bicycle for health or fitness reasons, or who prefer not to arrive at work drenched in sweat. But in certain places, pedestrians have been imperiled by users riding scooters on sidewalks. And that dangerous tendency is only where the complaints begin.