You Can Soon Travel Around Brooklyn and Queens by Electric Moped

Wanna weave through rush-hour traffic, but worried that those flimsy little electric scooters look like death traps? Not a bicycle person? Trying to get home as quickly as possible without committing to a four-wheeled rideshare vehicle?

New Yorkers will soon be able to explore an additional mode of app-based rental transportation: electric mopeds.

Brooklyn-based transportation startup Revel announced Wednesday that the company is installing 1,000 mopeds throughout a number of neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens. The shared service vehicles replace 68 beta launch mopeds that were sprinkled across Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Bushwick last summer as part of a nine-month pilot.

What’s the fine print? Revel mopeds are street-legal and have a max speed of 30 mph, but are not permitted on expressways or other high-speed roads and bridges. (You won’t want to try them on the Williamsburg Bridge, nor are you allowed to ride them into Manhattan.) They are safety certified by the US Department of Transportation; registered with the New York Department of Vehicles; and come with third party liability insurance and two helmets per moped (“Choose the one that fits snugly but comfortably,” the service suggests).

Would-be riders who are over 21 years of age can register for the service through the Revel app, which requires a valid standard Class D driver license and a $19 motor vehicle license check. International driver licenses are welcome as well, as long as they come with a clean driving record to match.

Similarly to shared bikes and scooters, verified users will be able to use the app to unlock nearby mopeds and hit the road. For just $1 more, you can even set up foot rests for a second passenger, as long as they’re over the age of 18. Mopeds cost $1 per passenger to unlock, $0.25 a minute to ride, and $0.10 a minute to pause your ride. If you feel shaky about your wheel skills, Revel offers free lessons.

All images courtesy of Revel.