After a five year run, the electric rideshare company, Revel announced that it will be decommissioning its fleet of 3,000 mopeds in San Francisco and New York City, effective Nov. 18. The plan was announced via a Nov. 3 company wide email, in which Revel CEO and co-founder, Frank Reig, stated that Revel would discontinue the moped service. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the decision comes following a 30% decline in ridership. Sophie Fudge, sophomore nursing major, said she will miss Revel. “I think its always unfortunate when there’s one less alternative method of transportation to get around the city, especially something like a moped, which is very convenient in San Francisco.” She continued, “I thought they were a good time, they definitely had a use. I’m sorry to see them go, especially since they were electric.” In a statement to The San Francisco Standard, Revel spokesperson Robert Familiar said that the company would be shifting its focus towards “electric car ride-hailing and charging” moving forward.
Road closures and local traffic restrictions will occur Nov. 7th through Nov. 18th due to the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s website. The annual APEC summit event, occurring between Nov. 11 and Nov. 18 which will be hosted at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco, is expected to host over 20,000 attendees from 21 different countries, Kron reported. President Joe Biden and China’s president, Xi Jinping, are among those expected to attend, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Road closures and detours will surround the Moscone Center and Yerba Buena Gardens, affecting parts of Mission Street, Market Street, and California Street to name a few. There will also be pedestrian checkpoints at various locations, including at Howard Street, Mission Street, Folsom Street, and Huntington Park. Nikki Thomas, a junior psychology major, said, “It’s pretty crazy that San Francisco is hosting this event, but I can’t say I’m looking forward to [the closures]. It’s already hard enough to get around SF without detours and checkpoints too.”
According to San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, there have been approximately 15,000 car break-ins in San Francisco this year. On Oct. 26, Senator Scott Wiener held a press conference at the Palace of Fine Arts, where he introduced new legislation which aims to close a “legal loophole” that Wiener suggests complicates the process of prosecuting car break-ins when they occur. The legislation would eliminate the “open door defense,” which requires prosecutors to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that one’s car door was locked at the time of the break-in to convict for auto burglary, the San Francisco Standard reported. At the press conference, Wiener said that he plans to introduce the bill in January when the legislature reconvenes, in hopes that it will be signed into law by the end of 2024.
