Revel revs back up
Scooter share a go again with new safety standards
Get ready to scoot around town an again — Revel’s mopeds will return to New York City streets Thursday morning, city transportation officials announced Wednesday.
The scooter share’s return comes one month after it shut down its 3,000-vehicle fleet after three fatal collisions in the span of just 10 days. Two of the three victims were not wearing helmets at the time of their crashes, according to police reports.
Mayor de Blasio had said the electric-powered blue scooters would not be welcome back until city officials were “satisfied it can be done safely.”
Since then, the company has added mandatory in-app “how-to” videos as well as a requirement that riders snap pics of themselves in their helmets before taking off.
Revel also now requires a 20minute safety test, which a rep for the company said consists of 21 questions.
The scooter-share service, launched in New York City in 2018, boomed in popularity after the start of the coronavirus crisis in March.
The number of average daily rides in the Big Apple more than doubled from 4,181 in early March to 8,881 by the end of May.
The service goes back online Thursday at 9 a.m.
CBS New York reporter Nina Kapur, 26, became what is believed to be the first person to die in a crash involving the scooters when she was killed on July 18.
A Revel she was riding on as a passenger crashed at Franklin Street near India Street in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
The following Saturday, a rider and his passenger were thrown off their two-wheeler when they crashed into a pole in upper Manhattan.
The driver, Francis Nuñez, 30, succumbed to his injuries just over a week later. A third scooter driver, Jeremy Malave, 32, died after losing control of his scooter in Middle Village, Queens, that following Tuesday.
A spokesman for de Blasio told Streetsblog that City Hall will be closely monitoring the service as it resumes. “New Yorkers deserve more mobility options, and we’ve focused on welcoming a safer, more accountable service to City streets,” the spokesman, Mitch Schwartz, told the outlet.
“But dangerous operations will not be tolerated. We’re watching closely for reckless practices, and we won’t hesitate to suspend shared-moped services the moment we see them. We’ve worked hard to make our streets safe, and we won’t turn back now.”