1,000 Mopeds To Hit Austin Streets

AUSTIN, TX — By now, Austin residents are accustomed to having to negotiate around the abundant electric scooters left along sidewalks after use. Now, another company is poised to unleash a fleet of mopeds on the crowded landscape.

Revel, a shared electric vehicle company, on Tuesday announced it will launch a fleet of 1,000 mopeds in Austin on Friday, Nov. 1. The Revels, which are currently being placed on city streets, will be turned on Friday following a kick-off event outside City Hall, officials said in a press advisory.

These electric mopeds are not e-scooters, a company official told Patch in an email. Rather, insured riders drive and park the vehicles in the street, and the mopes are registered as motor vehicles with license plates.

Revels will be available to rent for Austinites over the age of 21 with valid drivers’ licenses who pass an initial safe driving record background check, according to company officials. The moped onslaught is scheduled on Friday but a time has yet to be determined. Revel officials will be at Austin City Hall Plaza, 301 W. 2nd St., for the unveiling, according to an email.

So get your motor running, Austinites.

The news comes on the heels of an announcement from officials of Oxnard, California-based Ojo Electric of plans to 100 of its sit-down scooters to Austin — with plans to make 500 of the vehicles available in the capital city and Dallas combined. The sit-down scooters rev up to 20 miles per hour on a 48-volt lithium-ion batter with a range of some 50 miles on a single charge.

The Revel and Ojo offerings add to the 15,500 (or thereabouts) scooters and e-bikes now in circulation locally. The city tallies up the permitted vehicles, with the latest breakdown as follows:

• Bird — 4,500 scooters.
• JUMP — 2,500 scooters, 2,000 e-bikes.
• Lime — 5,000 scooters.
• Lyft — 2,000 scooters.
• OjO — 500 scooters.
• Spin — 750 scooters.
• VeoRide — 300 scooters, 50 bicycles.

ABOUT REVEL

Revel is a shared electric vehicle company that helps people who live and work in cities get where they need to go in a safe, reliable, and convenient way. Qualified riders use our app to unlock and ride a licensed, regulated, and insured electric moped parked in our service area. For our riders, we provide two helmets on each Revel and offer free riding lessons via our app or in-person so that they can ride as safely as possible. For cities, Revels are easy to deploy as they fit seamlessly into current regulatory, transportation, and parking systems. Revel was founded in March 2018 by Frank Reig and Paul Suhey with a small pilot program in Brooklyn, New York. Revels are now available throughout much of Brooklyn and Queens, Washington, DC, and are coming to other cities soon. Revel also can be found at GoRevel.com and on Twitter @_GoRevel.