It’s Electric Moped Time, America

My Google Maps route from Bushwick to Greenpoint, in North Brooklyn, was in the red—no surprise there: It was evening rush hour in New York. But that was for cars; here I was, weaving in and out of traffic on a electric moped. Google Maps said 20 minutes, maybe. I made it in 15 flat.

One of Frank Reig and Paul Suhey’s many pitches for their new rent-an-electric-moped startup, Revel, is that it’s just plain fun: Users will take that first or second ride—which is given to them for free on the app—and get hooked on the thrills. As I cruised down empty, industrial backroads, I sort of understood what they were getting at: Who would want to be crammed onto two subways in the after-work crunch (which is what my trip would’ve required) when you could be out on this?