NY Daily News
The number of mopeds on New York City’s streets has nearly doubled overnight thanks to a local startup.
Revel, a Brooklyn-based tech company, on Wednesday deployed 1,000 street-legal electric two-wheelers across Brooklyn and Queens, which can be rented by the minute.
To use them riders must download Revel’s app, snap a photo of their driver’s license and fork over a $19 sign-up fee. After that, they can be rented for 25 cents per minute on top of a $1 base charge.
The mopeds are made by Chinese manufacturer Niu, and top out at just over 30 mph. They are not allowed to be used on bridges, highways or tunnels, and Revel’s owners do not expect people to take them into Manhattan.
The company launched a pilot last July with 68 bikes, limited to the Brooklyn areas of Bushwick, Williamsburg and Greenpoint. Wednesday’s expansion widens that zone to cover areas up to Astoria, down to Red Hook and over to Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant.
By making them more available, Revel’s owners think mopeds will become much more popular in the city.
“We’ve learned that this is a safe operation,” said Revel co-founder Frank Reig, 33. “We’ve had a great track record since we launched.”
While mopeds are less likely to injure pedestrians and cyclists than cars and trucks, research has shown that their riders are just as likely to be killed as motorcyclists.
A 2018 study published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine looked at emergency room records at the University of Louisville Hospital — it found that riders who were in moped crashes were just as likely to die as those who were in motorcycle crashes.
Another 2016 study out of moped-crazy Denmark found that 78% of moped accidents were the result of rule-breaking behavior on the part of the rider.
This is going to be a disaster. But with the subways sure to get worse, Citibike suspending the e-motored cycle fleet because of exploding batteries and faulty brakes and now that de Blasio's ferries are as tardy as him, this city is really desperate to fulfill and more concerned with the commuting demands of the hipsters and yuppies that they are willing to compromise the safety of everyone and take up whatever little parking space is left available.
18 comments:
Where’s my parka and zoot suit?
@Jimmy
Nice Quadrophenia reference. But the dinks that will be riding and falling off these things are not as cool as you.
How romantic!
The Big Apple turning into the Eternal [Infernal?] City. Check it out HERE.
Re: Roman Holiday.
Where are Greg and Audrey's helmets?
BIG APPLE WILL LOOK MORE LIKE BANGKOK & VIETNAM IF THIS START UP GETS IT'S WAY.
JQ. Their helmets are on the Nanny State's drawing board.
PS He's wearing a suit and tie and her dress is ankle-length. THOSE were the days, no?
Anyone here ever spend any time in Saigon during the war years?
City was full of mopeds.
Very dangerous, they are electric, heavy and low riding. You can not see or hear them coming. Its like being hit by a car.
I saw it happen on City Island Ave, a guy delivering food blew the red light and hit a a man in the crosswalk who just stepped off the curb and started to walk.
No noise NOTHING then BOOM must have knocked the guy 50 feet.
Hoo Boy! I can only imagine what this will bring. If you thought biker lanes were bad, wait'll you see what happens when the mopeds hit the streets of NYC. Always happy I left. Gets crazier and crazier!
@GTA
That was actually before my time. Yeah Peck and them really looked sharp. Even Ray Milland look spiffy when he was getting loaded and bottoming out in that movie he was in.
I love Ms. Hepburn.
Several years ago I was crossing Madison Ave in the 50's when some asswipe on a bicycle blowing a whistle attempted to ride through a red light. In an instant he was about two feet away from me. I grabbed him and he went to the ground and his bike went into the intersection. He and I were OK but his bike was mangled by a pickup truck. The butthole then attempted to blame me for the incident and he also tried to skedaddle. A bystander and me held him for the police. The truck driver stayed because the bike was under his vehicle.
But guess what?
He claimed not to have ID and wanted an ambulance and my contact info because he was going to sue me for damages and injuries. The police asked me for ID and I told them I didn't have any and wanted an ambulance because I was injured by a vehicle going through a red light. The cops called a sergeant to the scene and he ordered the bicyclist arrested. He then took me aside, made sure I was OK and told me to get lost, he would handle the details. He then got contact info from the truck driver so he could proceed with a claim against the cyclist.
As I wandered away I giggled seeing the bicycle guy in cuffs being led away.
This is going to be an every day occurrence in NYC but many, many will be injured.
The insurance companies will go wild.
These schemes never last. I give it three months before it fades away.
LOL Do you want Saigon? Because this is how you get Saigon. And don't get me wrong - I love visiting Saigon. But I would not NYC traffic to become Saigon. UGH.
Great! In can't wait to be knocked down by one on the sidewalk and break a hip.
What is the difference between a moped and a motorcycle?Will a motorcycle license and helmet be required? They are silent and go fast,cars, pedestrians and bicyclists better watch out.
I've rented them a few times in Bermuda and have seen some nasty accidents with inexperienced riders and it doesn't help that they drive on the wrong side of the road there haha.
Also if people are on public assistance or have a sanctuary card they can rent these **motorcycles** 1/2 price. This includes all the drunks that cant afford cars because a DWI gets your insurance renewal dropped and makes in near impossible to buy new and affordable insurance in the assigned high risk pool.
You will soon see the nasty blood, brains & guts accidents of Bermuda, Vietnam and Saigon here!
Insurance premiums in NYC zip codes are going to skyrocket, perhaps this is part of the mayors war on private automobiles.
""What is the difference between a moped and a motorcycle""
Moped has one gear, limited to pedal assist, and 50cc of engine size and you can hear them coming.
Not the case with electrics that ride low, have instant torque and acceleration power.
I had both mopeds and motorcycles and want no part of them on city streets.
I got enough bruises from drunk granny carts that hit me in the store
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