Reinventing the wheels

At 6 a.m. today, users of the smartphone app for Revel, which now rents out a network of baby blue electric mopeds on New York’s streets, will be able to arrange for a ride in one of Revel’s baby blue electric Tesla Model Y cars. The drivers of the small fleet are on salary from Revel and the passenger fares are supposed to be comparable to Uber or Lyft, which, like Revel, only came very reluctantly under the authority of the city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission.

These tech start-ups, which have delivered better service to thousands, all claimed at times that they shouldn’t be restricted by hide-bound rules and regulations. But as we’ve learned when tens of thousands of app cars choked traffic, the streets are a limited government-owned resource and supplying transportation is a public accommodation that must treat customers fairly. And some owners of yellow taxi medallions, who paid fortunes for the exclusive right to pick up street hails, have been financially ruined by the flood of competition.

Still, Revel is welcome to add to the mix of options, even if marginally. There are only 17 of the Teslas, and they will only serve Manhattan below 42nd St. And they won’t take people using wheelchairs, despite that being a requirement.

Revel thought that they could add Teslas without TLC okay under rules that exempted battery electric vehicles and wheelchair-accessible vehicles from the caps. After Revel did the paperwork for 50 Teslas, the TLC rightly closed the exemption, so now a gasoline car must be removed in order to add a Tesla. For now, the 17 can grow to 50, but that will still make catching one a rarity.

It’s legal for Revel to refuse travel outside of their limited zone, but they say they have plans to expand. On accessibility, Revel has contracted with app car Via for wheelchair-accessible vehicles, but Via has a poor record in providing timely WAV service, says a new TLC report. Improvement is needed.