Now comes another player — mopeds.
A moped-sharing program that started modestly with 68 electric vehicles in a small slice of Brooklyn has expanded dramatically in recent weeks to 1,000 Vespa-style scooters, spread across many more neighborhoods in Brooklyn and now reaching into Queens.
Frank Reig, a founder and chief executive of Revel, the company that started the program, said moped sharing “fits New York City of 2019.”
Too much of the city’s public transportation network, he said, is focused on funneling riders into Manhattan while treating the other boroughs as afterthoughts.
“But if you need to move anywhere within Brooklyn or Queens and get within the 6 million people that live here, it’s a hassle,” said Reig, during an interview at his company’s cavernous headquarters in Gowanus, Brooklyn. “That was the genesis for this.”
For many Revel users, the program offers a quicker alternative to CitiBike, the city’s bike-sharing service, and a more exciting option than ride-hailing companies like Uber or Lyft.
“We’re all looking for new experiences in this city, and this is a fun new experience,” said Jesse Cannon, 41, a record producer who lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and has started using mopeds to commute to his job in another part of the borough.
But his favorite time to hop on a moped is not when he’s alone.
“They’re very good for dates,” he said. “I definitely prefer that to the single ride.”
Lauren Meyer, 38, has also started riding mopeds rather than taking a bus to her job. Otherwise, on hot days, she said, “I am a sweaty mess.” Now, she added, “You get some fresh air, plus there’s a little bit of a thrill.’’
The reason some riders love the vehicles — their speed — is precisely why others are terrified of them. Revel’s mopeds can travel up to 30 mph, faster than the 25 mph speed limit all vehicles are restricted to on most New York City streets and 15 mph faster than electric scooters. Their expansion in New York comes at a time of heightened anxiety about street safety in New York, with the deaths of 18 cyclists so far this year, 13 of them in Brooklyn.
“I’m as worried about the Revel operators as I am the pedestrians,” says Daniel Flanzig, a lawyer who focuses on cases involving cyclists and traffic accidents. He represents a cyclist who recently filed a lawsuit against Revel, saying he had been hit by a careless moped user.
The cyclist said that a Revel user rammed him from behind while he and the moped rider were trying to make a left turn. He fractured his ankle.
A spokeswoman for Revel said the incident was “unfortunate” but had no further comment.
Flanzig said he was a “big fan of alternative transportation” but added: “My fear with Revel is they haven’t tested this thing. They’ve brought them out and about without any real study.”
Other New Yorkers echo his concern about how Revel has proliferated with little municipal oversight.
“I dislike that inexperienced riders can simply pick one up and start riding,” said Daniela Asaro, who lives in Williamsburg and describers herself as an avid cyclist. “I’ve seen people riding them on sidewalks, blowing through red lights without even stopping to check for incoming traffic, riding with one leg out.”
Revel, unlike CitiBike or electric scooters, which may soon be permitted in parts of New York, did not need any specific city approval to start its program because state law already allowed mopeds on public streets. There are some restrictions — the mopeds cannot be driven on sidewalks, in bike lanes, on bridges or in tunnels.
“So far we aren’t seeing any big safety issues,” said Polly Trottenberg, the city’s transportation commissioner. “We seem to think this is a good addition to the city’s transportation system, but obviously we keep our eye on the safety piece of it.’’
A handful of cities, including San Francisco and Washington, D.C., have either introduced or are starting sharing programs involving mopeds or similar devices. A pilot moped sharing program that started last year in Atlanta was shut down last month.
There are more than a dozen moped-sharing programs in other countries, including Cityscoot in France and Vogo in India. It was while visiting Europe, Asia and South America that Reig said he was inspired to create a sharing program in his hometown. “I kept thinking, ‘How are these not in New York?’ ”
Taking the wheel of a moped is relatively easy. After downloading the Revel app for $19, users take a photo of themselves and their driver’s license, which is checked to ensure it is valid and the driver has a clean record. Each ride costs an initial $1 and then 25 cents per travel minute or 10 cents for each minute the ride is paused.
For a first ride, users are given a brief operating tutorial on the app that covers the basics like how to start and accelerate (watch out for the sensitive throttle) and requirements, like wearing a helmet (two are included in the moped’s trunk).
Personal lessons from a Revel employee are available (if riders are willing to wait a month) but are not mandatory, which is disconcerting to those who have had close encounters with the mopeds.
“It seems very dangerous to be able to rent one of these without taking a lesson,” Asaro said.
Company officials say “hundreds of thousands of rides” have been taken each month since the program expanded in June but were unwilling to provide specific figures.
Joe Cutrufo, a spokesman for Transportation Alternatives, said mopeds can be another substitute for the cars that are choking the city’s streets.
“Would you rather live in a city that’s full of these small electric vehicles that move relatively slowly,” he asked, “or would you rather live in a city that’s full of cars?”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.