As of July 2025, gig drivers in Boston are facing a new wave of rules that could reshape how they work, earn, and move through the city.
Approved by an 11-2 vote by the Boston City Council in April, the regulations now require food delivery companies like DoorDash, UberEats, and GrubHub to carry liability insurance, apply for city permits, and submit quarterly reports on their operations, as per Insurance News.
There’s a lot to unpack. If you’ve ever zipped through Boston traffic on a scooter with a bag of takeout or waited for a stacked order in a car, these new rules will likely affect you in some way.
Let’s take a closer look at what’s changing, what it means for gig drivers, and where the pressure is coming from.
Why Boston Cracked Down on Delivery Apps
It didn’t happen overnight. Between 2019 and 2021, the number of food delivery trips in Boston doubled. According to the Boston Globe, that sharp rise brought a flood of mopeds, scooters, and bikes weaving through neighborhoods.
By 2024, complaints about reckless delivery behavior poured into the city’s 311 system. More than 100 reports cited red-light running, sidewalk riding, and collisions. Fourteen crashes involving delivery drivers were documented that year, and seven of them resulted in injuries.
The tipping point came in June 2024, when the city’s Chief of Streets, Jascha Franklin-Hodge, and Police Commissioner Michael Cox sent a stern letter to delivery app companies. The message: clean up your act, or enforcement is coming.
Mayor Michelle Wu followed with a formal ordinance proposal in February 2025. It wasn’t just about punishing bad actors. It was about reshaping how gig delivery fits into the city’s streetscape – safely, fairly, and with more oversight.
The New Rules, Broken Down
The ordinance targets companies processing over one million orders a year in Boston, which puts DoorDash, UberEats, and GrubHub front and center. It doesn’t apply to smaller operations or delivery services like Instacart, UPS, FedEx, or Amazon.
Here’s what’s required:
1. Permits for Operation
Delivery companies must now apply for an annual permit from the Boston Transportation Department. Without it, they can’t legally operate in the city. Each restaurant they serve is also on the hook – if they work with an unpermitted platform, they face daily fines.
2. Mandatory Liability Insurance
The ordinance requires companies to provide full insurance coverage for all their drivers – no matter the vehicle type.
Minimum Coverage Per Incident:
Type of Coverage
Minimum Amount
Operator Injury
$50,000
Injuries to Others
$100,000
Property Damage
$30,000
The insurance must extend to:
This applies whether you’re driving a car, pedaling an e-bike, or buzzing around on a scooter.
3. Data Reporting Requirements
Every quarter, companies must submit detailed reports to the city that include:
City planners and transportation officials will use this data to pinpoint hotspots, adjust traffic patterns, and investigate reckless behavior.
How It Hits Gig Drivers Directly
While the city ordinance doesn’t target drivers individually, it reshapes the landscape in ways that hit close to home.
Insurance Might Finally Have Your Back
For a long time, many drivers – especially those on scooters, bikes, and e-bikes – have worked without much coverage. One wreck could mean weeks off the road and thousands in out-of-pocket costs.
Under the new rules, if you get injured while delivering, your company’s insurance should cover up to $50,000 for your medical bills. That’s huge.
For injuries to others, coverage goes up to $100,000. If you’ve ever been hit with a deductible or forced to explain to your car insurance why you were on a delivery run, you know how big a deal this is.
But there’s still a catch. The availability of insurance for non-traditional vehicles like bicycles and scooters isn’t clear yet. Companies might struggle to find providers, and some drivers could slip through the cracks if platforms can’t get coverage approved in time.
For drivers exploring legal recourse after crashes, Michael D. Kelly Esq. provides expert guidance and free consultations.
Pressure Could Shift Earnings
The biggest question on most drivers’ minds: who’s paying for all this?
DoorDash and GrubHub have both said that the extra costs – especially for insurance and compliance – could lead to price hikes. That might come out of the company’s pocket, the consumer’s wallet, or the driver’s pay.
Drivers could see:
Back in 2023, New York’s delivery law raised minimum pay rates. While some drivers welcomed the change, others noticed a drop in tips as customers assumed they were earning more already. It’s not a direct comparison, but it’s a reminder that every change has ripple effects.
Tighter Rules, More Eyes
The city has made it clear it plans to enforce the new regulations. In 2024, Boston towed nearly 500 mopeds, many of them tied to food delivery.
With permits now required and more data flowing into City Hall, drivers using illegal vehicles or violating traffic laws may face more enforcement.
That means:
For drivers who depend on their flexibility, the increased oversight might feel like a constraint. Companies may start tracking speeds more closely or penalizing late deliveries if the city starts flagging patterns.
What Drivers Are Saying (and Not Saying Yet)
As of July 2025, reactions from drivers have been quiet. That’s partly because the rules haven’t been enforced yet – they take full effect nine months after approval, which puts implementation into early 2026.
Still, it’s clear some drivers are watching closely.
Those who’ve worked under similar laws in other cities have mixed reviews. In British Columbia, new rules introduced in 2024 provided wage protections but led to intense competition for shifts.
In New York, the wage floor helped some workers while cutting into others’ income through reduced tips.
In Boston, the city dropped a proposed 15-cent delivery fee from the ordinance, which many saw as a win. Drivers were concerned that even a small fee could be passed on through reduced pay or fewer orders.
But there’s one big difference in Boston: the focus isn’t just on pay. It’s about safety, insurance, and traffic management. That shifts the conversation away from just economics and toward how gig work fits into a broader public infrastructure.
Stakeholders Weigh In
City Officials
- Mayor Michelle Wu said the goal is to make streets safer and hold companies accountable for protecting their drivers.
- Councilor Sharon Durkan didn’t hold back, criticizing the platforms for valuing speed and profit more than public safety.
- Councilor Ed Flynn called the move “a good start” and backed stronger enforcement across the board.
Delivery Platforms
- DoorDash was relieved the 15-cent fee got dropped but said the new rules might not actually improve safety.
- GrubHub echoed that sentiment and promised to keep talking with the city to find common ground.
- UberEats didn’t issue a public comment at the time but was among the companies warned by city officials in 2024.
Local Community
- State Rep. Jay Livingstone spoke out about near-misses with mopeds in his own neighborhood.
- Meg Mainzer-Cohen, president of the Back Bay Association, supported the new rules as a response to resident complaints about sidewalk riding and speeding.
Putting It in Perspective
Boston isn’t the first to tighten the screws on delivery platforms, and it won’t be the last. What’s happening here mirrors a national – and even global – shift in how cities handle the gig economy.
From New York’s minimum pay laws to British Columbia’s worker protections, the trend is toward more regulation, more accountability, and better integration of delivery work into broader labor and safety frameworks.
At the same time, a legal battle in Massachusetts over whether gig workers should be treated as employees is heating up. That could change everything from benefits to scheduling, depending on how the courts and ballot measures go in late 2025.
In other words: what’s happening in Boston might just be the opening act.
Summary
@bostonglobe Food delivery by two-wheeled motorized vehicles is a growing phenomenon in Boston and other cities like New York and Washington, D.C., largely carried out by a growing migrant population. The faster drivers go, the more money they stand to make, and it’s led to a rising tide of complaints: mopeds going the wrong way in bike lanes, running red lights, weaving between cars, narrowly avoiding pedestrians on sidewalks. Delivery drivers, too, sense the growing tension. The attention being paid to these drivers is shining a light on a food delivery system that relies on low-wage workers with few job protections trying to get by in one of the most expensive cities in the country. Click the link in the @bostonglobe to read the full story. Reporting by Katie Johnston and Esmy Jimenez Video by Randy Vazquez and Jaeel Beato #boston #bostontiktok #food #delivery #drivers ♬ original sound – The Boston Globe
Boston’s new delivery regulations aim to bring more order, safety, and transparency to a fast-moving industry. For gig drivers, the changes could mean better protection through insurance and smarter delivery systems.
But they also come with questions about pay, flexibility, and how much control the platforms will tighten in response.
As the new rules roll out, drivers will need to stay informed, adjust to operational shifts, and speak up if things start cutting into their ability to earn. City officials, companies, and community advocates will be watching too, hoping the ordinance strikes a balance between freedom and responsibility.
For now, the safest move is to keep an eye on your app updates, stay street legal, and know that Boston’s delivery scene is entering a new era. Whether it makes life better or harder for gig drivers is still being written – one delivery at a time.
