Scooter-sharing service Revel announced Tuesday that it will temporarily stop operating in New York City following an epidemic of crashes involving its mopeds — including two that were fatal.
“New York riders – starting💜 today, NYC service will be shut down until further notice,” the company .
“We’re reviewing and strengthening our rider accountability and safety measur🥂es and communicating with city officials, and we look forward to serving you again in the near future.”
The sudden announcement came h🔴ours after 32-year-old Brooklyn resident Jeremy Malave died when he lost control of his Revel scooter and crashed in Queens at around 3:15 a.m. Tuesday.
Police sources say it appeared Malave, who was the only rider on the scooter, was wearing a helmet when he slammed into a light pole on Woodhaven Boulevard near 67th Drive in Middle Village, but the he꧃adgear was not properly secured.
He is just the 💜latest in a series of recent tragedies involving the controversial scooters.
CBS New York reporter Nina Kapur, 26, was killed on July 18 when a Revel she was riding on as a passenger crashed in Brooklyn. And on Saturday, a rider and his passenger were thrown off the two-wheeler when they crashed into a pole in upper Ma💎nhattan.
Mayor de Blasio said sಞhutting down the Big Apple service was “the right thing to do.”
“We have seen too many times in the last few days painful realities of people injured, and even worse, lives lost by folks who were just trying to have an enjoyable experience and rented a Revel 🦋scooter,”
d﷽꧃e Blasio said during his daily City Hall press briefing Tuesday.
Hizzoner called 🗹the matter “an unacceptable stat🌺e of affairs.”
“The Revel scooters have proven to be really problematic,” de Blasio said. “I’ve been very clear with Revel — they cannot open in this city unless 🅺they find a way to make the ꩵservice safe.”
Revel launched in the Big Apple in J꧙uly 2018 and also🍨 operates in cities including Austin, Texas; Miami, Oakland, Calif.; and Washington, DC.
Operators of the scooters, which can hit a top speed of 3꧙0 mph, only needed a regular driver’s license — not 🌞a specialized motorcycle permit.
Business had boo🌜med during the coronavirus pandemic — with the number of average daily rides inܫ the Big Apple more than doubling from 4,181 in early March to 8,881 by the end of May.
The bikes — which could be picked up on city streets via an app — came with helmets, but riders were often seen without them. The company had🦹 recently announced that more than 2,000 users had been suspended for safety violations.
Malave’s heartbroken adoptive father, Carlos Malave, 70, blasted Revel on Tuesday and blamed 🌟the company for his son’s death.
“They should be꧅ ashamed of themselves,” Carlos said. “They should have done more work — the right work before they put [the scooters] on the streets. They are dangerous.”
Additional reporting by Georgett Roberts