There's one other factor which contributed to Revel's moped ridership decline in NYC and thus their demise, that none of the post mortem analyses have touched on: NYC's regulatory choices.
Pre-pandemic, Revel was confined to less dense areas of Brooklyn and Queens, Manhattan was a big political no go, because... Community Boards hate things that take away "their" parking and NYC DOT barely has backbone to fight CBs on demonstrably positive projects, much less debatable, flashy start ups.
Access to Manhattan came to Revel by way of the unique mobility politics of front line worker support in mid 2020. Ever since then, the city has further cut and cut and cut away at where Revels can be parked, making the utility less and less and continuously shrinking the target audience. The current map of acceptable parking zones looks like a couple slices of Swiss cheese on Manhattan, conspicuously missing most of the places people want and need to regularly travel to. It's a UX nightmare.
So, I'd go so far as to say NYC killed shared Mopeds, just like they killed point to point car sharing, and dockless bikesharing before it. Especially insofar as they supported Citibike expanding ebike availability and it's network growth in outer boroughs (finally!) and both righted the screws over and over again on Revels service are and deliberately didn't tackle other challenges, like figuring out how to enable and enforce safe crossing of East River bridges on (e)mopeds, a huge problem for saferg and sustainability that will continue unabated after the last Revel Niu finds its way to the scrap heap.
Of course Revel will not say any of this publicly, because their remaining business lines require the conitued support and cooperation of the City. But it's a shame to have one less mobility option available, especially a form factor where ownership will never be as feasible or attractive as bikes and scooters.
Super interesting, especially as you say the political bind it puts them in
There's one other factor which contributed to Revel's moped ridership decline in NYC and thus their demise, that none of the post mortem analyses have touched on: NYC's regulatory choices.
Pre-pandemic, Revel was confined to less dense areas of Brooklyn and Queens, Manhattan was a big political no go, because... Community Boards hate things that take away "their" parking and NYC DOT barely has backbone to fight CBs on demonstrably positive projects, much less debatable, flashy start ups.
Access to Manhattan came to Revel by way of the unique mobility politics of front line worker support in mid 2020. Ever since then, the city has further cut and cut and cut away at where Revels can be parked, making the utility less and less and continuously shrinking the target audience. The current map of acceptable parking zones looks like a couple slices of Swiss cheese on Manhattan, conspicuously missing most of the places people want and need to regularly travel to. It's a UX nightmare.
So, I'd go so far as to say NYC killed shared Mopeds, just like they killed point to point car sharing, and dockless bikesharing before it. Especially insofar as they supported Citibike expanding ebike availability and it's network growth in outer boroughs (finally!) and both righted the screws over and over again on Revels service are and deliberately didn't tackle other challenges, like figuring out how to enable and enforce safe crossing of East River bridges on (e)mopeds, a huge problem for saferg and sustainability that will continue unabated after the last Revel Niu finds its way to the scrap heap.
Of course Revel will not say any of this publicly, because their remaining business lines require the conitued support and cooperation of the City. But it's a shame to have one less mobility option available, especially a form factor where ownership will never be as feasible or attractive as bikes and scooters.
Ali,
I don't see you "eye rolling" very often! Keep up the excellent writing!
Amy