After Two Deaths, Revel Mopeds Are Suspended In NYC

(after hundreds of fatalities, cars remain) [View this email in your browser]( And Just Like That, Revel Scooters Are Shut Down Plus: Nearly 9,000 yellow cab drivers haven't worked since March. The city is adding some Open Streets, while taking others away. And a Bloomberg-era transportation official shares her idea for a utopian New York City. By [James Ramsay](mailto:james@wnyc.org?subject=We%20the%20Commuters) [Two pals on Revel scooters in Manhattan] Jen Chung/Gothamist After the deaths of two riders in the span of two weeks, the electric scooter-sharing company Revel is suspending operations in New York City. On Tuesday morning, a 32-year-old man died after crashing a Revel scooter into a center median on Woodhaven Boulevard in Queens, according to the NYPD. This came ten days after [a 26-year-old CBS2 reporter]( died after falling off a Revel scooter in Greenpoint. Revel, which launched in Brooklyn in 2018 and eventually expanded to Queens, the Bronx, and upper Manhattan, announced on Tuesday that it would "shut down until further notice" while "reviewing and strengthening our rider accountability and safety measures and communicating with city officials." After an initial drop from the pandemic, scooter usage has since rebounded in the city — as did complaints of unsafe riding. In response, Revel had suspended nearly 2,000 users in the last six weeks for violations such as riding on sidewalks or not wearing helmets. Last week, the company announced additional plans to increase safety by requiring users to wear helmets and watch the entirety of an in-app tutorial video. (Previously, you could skip through it.) Still, a recent study from New York University’s Rudin Center for Transportation found that Revel mopeds, which top out at 30 miles per hour, [are relatively safe](. Out of nearly 900,000 Revel rides between July and December of 2019, there were 155 incidents, none of which were fatal. These two recent deaths were the first recorded fatalities in the company's history. By contrast, the number of vehicle-related deaths in the city rose in 2019 for the first time in six years. [At least 215 people]( — pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, or car passengers — died last year from an automobile crash. The persistent threat of car-related fatalities has led some to lament the abrupt cancellation of an alternative mode of transportation. [a screenshot of a revel scooter tweet]( "I would march in the streets against a ban on this wonderful, beautiful, silent, non-polluting vehicle that gets people around," said Andrea from Manhattan, who [called into The Brian Lehrer Show]( this morning during a conversation about Revel. "Some extra training should be added into driving one. That’s it, period." Streetsblog reporter Dave Colon told Lehrer that, ultimately, the issue was less about whether Revel as a company should exist in New York City, and more about reevaluating the dominance of cars over other modes of on-street transportation. "The most dangerous thing out there is already on the street," he said. "And nobody is really making moves to remove them. Nobody is making arguments that the corporations that make them have a moral obligation to keep people who use them, and exist outside them, from being injured." — [With reporting by Jake Offenhartz]( Janette Sadik-Khan: Why The Pandemic Represents A Historic Opportunity For NYC Streets [commuters bike over the Brooklyn Bridge] Gothamist "In a city with 6,300 miles of streets, we have 6,300 miles of possibilities," writes Janette Sadik-Khan, a former transportation commissioner under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Sadik-Khan, who oversaw the installation of the major pedestrian plazas and over 400 miles of bike lanes, is credited with changing the premise that street space belongs, by default, to cars. For Gothamist's New York City Tomorrow series, where we're asking New Yorkers to share their utopian ideas for the future, Sadik-Khan wrote about how the city should take advantage of the slowdown to change its landscape. "With one million New Yorkers now out of work, vehicle traffic is down around 40% at rush hour, according to traffic data company TomTom," she wrote. "Transit passengers may take months to return to subways and buses. Until that happens, the empty traffic lanes contain the bright chalk lines of the extended bike network, expanded pedestrian zones and interconnected bus lane networks that we need to build now for the supermajority of New Yorkers who do not drive. "New York’s recovery won’t be demonstrated by restoring the city to peak car traffic," she continued. "Peak traffic never reflected New York’s full potential before the pandemic, it limited it. A car-based recovery would suck the oxygen out of the city and suffocate the city. Normal in New York is founded on the principle of independent transportation and the freedom of not needing a car to live and work in the city." Read Sadik-Khan's full essay [here]( and check out the complete [New York City Tomorrow series](. Uber And Lyft Drivers Can Now Get New York State Unemployment Benefits [a black Uber picks up a passenger] Mikedotta/Shutterstock A federal judge ruled on Tuesday that Uber and Lyft drivers in New York must immediately be granted state unemployment benefits, even if they're not technically full-time employees of the app companies. This comes in response to a lawsuit filed back in May against Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state's Department of Labor, arguing that the state was placing an undue burden on drivers by forcing them "to prove their earnings and employment status." Without state unemployment benefits, app-based drivers in New York were eligible only for federally-funded Pandemic Unemployment Assistance — an expanded benefit for out-of-work freelancers during the pandemic. The judge who ruled in favor of drivers this week also issued a temporary injunction so drivers can begin collecting payments immediately, even if the state appeals the case. According to a [copy of the ruling obtained by the New York Times]( the state Department now has seven days to assemble and train a "work group" of "several dozen staff members who will identify backlogged claims by drivers who have sought 'reconsideration' after being told that they were ineligible, and take the necessary steps to pay them promptly. The state has 45 days to resolve this backlog." — [Reporting by Sophia Chang]( Here's What Else Is Happening Yellow taxi ridership in New York City was down 92% last month, and only one in five yellow cabs even hit the street. With tourism, airport trips, and commuting within Manhattan way down, yellow cab drivers are still hurting. Data released Wednesday suggests that nearly 9,000 taxi drivers haven't worked since March. One possible fix: Debt-laden medallion owners, who owe an average of $700,000, could declare bankruptcy, effectively resetting the whole industry. ([New York Daily News]( With 131 coronavirus fatalities among its workforce, the MTA has been one of the hardest-hit agencies in New York. The Times published this moving, photo-heavy feature about three MTA workers whose lives have been upended by the pandemic. Meet a subway conductor whose husband was hospitalized; a second-generation bus operator whose father died of COVID-19; and another bus driver who separated himself from his family out of fear of spreading the virus. ([The New York Times]( New York City Transit is testing out five new map designs. The 86th Street R train station in Bay Ridge now has five new maps pinned to the walls, including a subway diagram based on a minimalist design from the 1970s, a map of the local neighborhood, and a station blueprint meant to help disabled riders. The subway diagram takes from an old map by Italian graphic designer Massimo Vignelli, which became a cult favorite among transit enthusiasts, but angered other rides because it barely resembles the actual geography of New York City. ([New York Post]( NJ Transit riders can now buy single and round-trip light rail tickets on their phones. Until last week, Hudson-Bergen, River Line, and Newark Light rail passengers could only buy monthly tickets on the NJ Transit app. This will end the tedious process of having to buy a ticket from a vending machine and then get it time-stamped in a separate machine. ([NJ.com]( Mayor de Blasio announced last week that the city was adding 1.72 miles of Open Streets — but removing a separate 2.77 miles from the program and returning them to car traffic. Several locations will also now become Open Play Streets, providing games, crafts, and sports for kids from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. The stretches being cut from the Open Streets program include three sections in Queens, three in Brooklyn, one in Manhattan, and one in the Bronx. ([Gothamist]( [the logo for WQXR's Classical Commute playlist, featuring an illustration of Mozart in a conductor's car] Because it's always a good time for ragtime, this week's Classical Commute playlist features a number called, "Delicioso: Tango Aristicratico," performed by the Paragon Ragtime Orchestra. It's perfect strolling-through-the-park-on-a-summer-day music. And [it's streaming for free on Spotify](. Weekend Service Changes: Night of July 31st – Early Morning on August 3rd This is a partial list of major service disruptions scheduled for the weekend. For a complete list of the MTA's Weekender updates, [check here](. Note: The entire subway system is closed each night from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. until further notice. On Saturday and Sunday, South Ferry-bound trains will skip 238 St, 231 St, 225 St, 215 St and 207 St. On Saturday and Sunday, Flushing-bound trains will skip 111 St, 103 St, 90 St and 82 St. Uptown trains will skip 135 St, 155 St and 163 St. On Saturday and Sunday, uptown trains will skip 163 St, 155 St and 135 St. Jamaica Center-bound trains will skip 67 Av, 63 Dr, Woodhaven Blvd, Grand Av, Elmhurst Av, Briarwood, and 75 Av. Jamaica-bound trains will skip Sutphin Blvd, Briarwood and 75 Av, and no trains will run between Church Av and Coney Island-Stillwell Av. On Saturday and Sunday, Forest Hills-bound trains will skip 67 Av, 63 Dr, Woodhaven Blvd, Grand Av and Elmhurst Av. [Check here]( for complete details about the Long Island Rail Road. For NJ Transit, [check here]( for the latest service advisories. [a close-up of James Ramsay sitting on a vespa] James Ramsay is taking next week off, so look for the next We The Commuters newsletter on Thursday, August 13th! (Photo by Amy Pearl) Support WNYC + Gothamist Make a donation to support local, independent journalism. Your contributions are our largest source of funding and pays for essential transportation coverage and more. [Donate]( Copyright © 2020 New York Public Radio, All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: New York Public Radio 160 Varick Street New York, NY 10013 [unsubscribe]( [update preferences]( [privacy policy](