Revel Relaunches NYC Moped Service After Safety Revamp

NEW YORK CITY — Revel riders, rejoice — the popular moped sharing app will relaunch in New York City under a strict set of safety protocols.

The “relaunch” — as announced by the city’s Department of Transportation — begins Thursday. All riders will be required to fill out a 30-question safety training and take a selfie showing them wearing a helmet, among other protocols, before they can hop on the mopeds.

“Revel was born and bred in New York City, and we’re proud to relaunch in our hometown with an even better service,” said Frank Reig, CEO and co-founder of Revel, in a statement. “With support from partners like the NYC Department of Transportation, we’re coming back stronger than ever and providing continued access to the more than 360,000 New Yorkers who rely on Revel to get around their city.”

The app shut down service in July after a high-profile string of fatal crashes and increased scrutiny on its safety record.

The crashes — one of which killed CBS2 reporter Nina Kapur — were an "unacceptable state of affairs," Mayor Bill de Blasio said last month. He said Revel would temporarily halt service and couldn’t restart until it meets the city's safety standards and concerns.

"No one should be running a business that is not safe," he said.

Revel’s new safety protocols outlined by the Department of Transportation not only include the safety training and helmet selfied, but also:

• Increased access to in-person riding lessons, growing from 112 class slots per week to about 1,164
• New rider accountability, monitoring and account-sharing policies, along with increased penalties for bad behavior, using data to identify riders who scoot through parks and spotting those riding the wrong way on one-way streets
• A 60-day trial period in which the app suspends operations between 12 a.m. and 5 a.m. when data shows a higher rate of crashes

The city still has the right to suspend the service, a release states.