Revel announced Tuesday that he will stop operating in New York City after an epidemic of accidents with his motorized scooters, including two that were fatal.
“New York riders: Starting today, the New York service will be closed until further notice,” the electric moped company said in a tweet. “We are reviewing and strengthening our liability and safety measures for drivers and we are communicating with city officials, and we look forward to serving you again in the near future.”
The announcement comes hours after Queens man Jeremy Malave, 32, died when he lost control of his Revel scooter and crashed in the district around 3:15 a.m.Tuesday.
CBS New York reporter Nina Kapur, 26, was killed on July 18 when a traveling Revel crashed in Brooklyn.
And on Saturday, a Revel driver and his passenger were thrown off the moped when they collided with a pole in upper Manhattan.
Mayor Bill de Blasio, during his daily city council press conference on Tuesday, called Revel’s decision to shut down the Big Apple service “the right thing.”
“We have seen too many times in the past few days painful realities of injured people and even worse lives lost by people who were just trying to have a pleasant experience and rented a Revel scooter,” de Blasio said.
Hizzoner called the matter “an unacceptable state of affairs.”
“Revel scooters have proven to be really troublesome,” said de Blasio. “It has been very, very dangerous … We have to protect lives first.”
The mayor added: “I think it is logical that if people use something that in many ways is like a motorcycle without having to have a license, it is logical that this endangers people.”
“I’ve been very clear with Revel: They can’t open in this city unless they find a way to make the service safe,” de Blasio said.
The recent Revel caused New York representative Andriano Espaillat to send a letter to the DMV urging the state to drop scooters off the streets of the city.
Revel launched in the Big Apple in July 2018, and also operates in other cities such as Austin, Miami, Oakland, and Washington, DC.
Scooters can reach a top speed of 30 miles per hour and helmets are included and required with rentals.
According to the latest company statistics, Revel’s average daily number of trips to the Big Apple more than doubled from 4,181 from the start of the coronavirus pandemic in New York in early March to 8,881 in late May.
Amid the health crisis, Revel, who previously only operated in Brooklyn and Queens, also expanded service to Manhattan in late March and the Bronx in late April.
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