Revel, which launched in Brooklyn last week, is the latest installment of what some consider to be the Next Big Thing in shared mobility: a vehicle faster and more capable of going toe-to-toe with traffic than dockless bikes or electric kick-scooters, but smaller than car-shares like Car2Go. Seen already in cities like Atlanta (Muving), San Francisco (Scoot), and Pittsburgh (Scoobi), Revel is New York City’s first.

The mode might seem relatively novel in America, but these kinds of almost-motorcycles have long served as affordable people- and stuff-haulers worldwide. Stylish Vespas filled mobility gaps in austere postwar Europe, and sputtering gas-powered mopeds and minibikes remain popular throughout Asian and Latin American cities.
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