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Users of Revel’s shared mopeds are no longer allowed to cross the Queensboro and Manhattan bridges, according to the company and the city’s Department of Transportation.
Revel informed its customers of the change late last week, rescinding a policy it instituted in July that had allowed drivers who had ridden more than 25 miles on its mopeds to “unlock” the ability to cross both. bridges.
A DOT spokesperson said it was the city that placed the kibosh on bridges due to “safety concerns” including “illegal use of cycle lanes”.
Mopeds go too fast for bike lanes and too slow for regular traffic, creating a serious problem, the DOT said.
“The speed limit on these two spans is 35 mph, the traffic is sometimes faster and there are no shoulders on the spans,” said agency spokesman Brian Zumhagen. “Since a Revel moped cannot go faster than 28 mph, there is a risk of an accident with faster cars.”
Zumhagen said the DOT “asked Revel to reverse the policy, and they complied.”
City transport officials clashed with the company already in the summer of 2020 when three of its mopeds suffered fatal crashes in 10 days.
At the time, the DOT told Revel to take its vehicles off the city streets for a month and ultimately only allowed their return after the company instituted new safety protocols, including the requirement for customers to take a photo of themselves in a helmet before riding.
Revel also phased out the use of its mopeds between midnight and 5 a.m., times when its data showed a higher crash rate.
The DOT promised in August 2020 that it would create “a more formalized set of regulatory requirements for Revel or any shared moped system that wishes to enter the city.” In the meantime, another company, Lime, has started its own “moped sharing”.
DOT has not yet adopted or proposed regulatory guidelines for vehicles.
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