Greenpoint Post
North Brooklyn residents are speaking out about the dangerous misuse of a recently deployed fleet of rent-by-the-minute mopeds in the area.
The mopeds, put on the streets last month by tech startup company Revel, are reportedly being driven through local parks at high speeds, used without helmets, and taken on the highway.
Revel released its fleet of 1,000 mopeds across more than 20 neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens on May 29 after a successful test run in the Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Bushwick neighborhoods.
Residents in North Brooklyn, however, have taken to social media and spoken to the Greenpoint Post about their apparent misuse since the official launch last month.
One resident, Angie Bee, says she witnessed two boys riding a Revel moped on the shoulder of the southbound BQE near the Metropolitan/Marcy entrance. Neither boy was wearing a helmet, Bee said, and both were laughing.
“My boyfriend pulled up next to them, shouted something about them being stupid for not wearing helmets and we took off,” Bee said. “They didn’t reply, they just stopped smiling.”
Revel mopeds max out at 29 miles per hour and users must agree to not drive them on the highway, bridges, or through tunnels, and to use the helmets provided with each bike, before being allowed to create an account on the company’s mobile app.
When signing up, applicants must provide a picture of their driver’s license, which the company uses to check the applicant’s driving record, as well as a selfie to prove that the license is their’s. Applicants must be 21 years of age and older.
Greenpoint resident Haley Papageorge, who lives across the street from McGolrick Park, says she recently observed a group of young men riding the mopeds through the park around 9 p.m. at night, honking their horns and yelling at pedestrians to “get out of the f***ing way.”
“I went to the window and saw about five scooters flying through the park from the Nassau and Russell entrance,” Papageorge said. “There were definitely people out walking.”
7 comments:
AND who thought this was a good idea in the worst 3rd world city in the country. Glad I left this crapfest as NYC goes down the shitter each and every day. Since NY is losing their population, NYC will be just the mega rich & hipsters and the mega poor & third worlders. Neither is good for a strong economy or stability for the future.
'cause no one would ever do this "users must agree to not drive them on the highway, bridges, or through tunnels"
Boy, I wish these were around in the 80s. The hell on wheels my old crew would have caused is mind boggling. Hah!
Most states/towns in America already went through the moped/scooter craze and shut it down. Where's NYState and NYCity on the learning curve? I no longer live in NYC either and am glad of it. Does the state require these scooter owners to have a driver's license? Insurance? Registration? License Plates? I doubt it. When you have the kids running everything, this is what you get. I'm livin' the good life in Utopia. Watching NYC implode on it's own ignorance!
Last Saturday morning, two idiots on one of these things cut me off in my truck, on the left side of me. Almost crushed them. Told them politely that my truck doesn’t stop on a dime and they need to be careful. They laughed and sped off down the street. Plus these mopeds take up a lot of parking in the Sunnyside area. Just a matter of time before they start getting vandalized.
Last anon re: truck.
Maybe when one of these retards get killed, his peers and Revel will paint that moped white and chain it to a pole.
I condone any vandalism of these awful things. In a way, they are vandalism itself the way their worst riders are using them and where everyone is parking them. Those startup dweebs gave out some weak ass apology statement but it's clear that they don't care who uses them just so they can get some fools to invest a billion in them
Cellphones and laptops are not allowed - no exceptions, Elon Musk. They may be the latest fad but they are not safe because they have the potential to catch fire. All stored energy, hydrocarbon, battery or nuclear are explosive by their very nature, dear science deniers.
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