Commute Performance Info

For those who may be looking to incorporate the Boosted Rev as part of their commute, I thought I would post my first experience. I live in the NJ suburbs and commute into downtown NYC. My plan was to use use the scooter to get from my house to the train station (1.1 miles), ride the train into Penn Station, and then use the scooter to ride to the West side bike path which I would then take down to TRIBECA (3.2 miles). I hope this is useful for those in a similar situation.

​

My two main concerns were 1) fitting it on a crowded train, and 2) getting the heavy ass scooter off the train and out of Penn Station. Below is what it looks like folded up and "under" the bench seating:

​

Boosted Rev under NJ Trains seat

I wish I had been able to convince a friend to film me lugging the scooter through the station, but I was on my own. By a bit of luck, I exited the train right by an elevator and was able to hop on before the crowd rushed in. This made getting off the platform easy, but I won't be able to rely on that every day. Instead, I'll just have to wait 3 to 5 minutes for the crowds to thin out before taking the stairs. The real problem for navigating narrow spaces is the handle bars of the scooter stick out and catch on things. This is annoying to me when it is a seat or door frame. This is a lot more annoying to innocent passers-by when it snags on them. For my first trip, it took 5 minutes to get to the street.

​

My total commute (on the Rev) is only 8.6 miles (4.3 each way). I thought I would have plenty of juice, so did the morning in mode 3 and did not spare the horses. Traffic was a bit of a pain, but I commuted by bicycle in London for three years so felt somewhat comfortable being in close proximity to moving vehicles. What really threw me was my inability to signal my intentions to change direction. I can not imagine taking a hand off the handle bars of this thing while in motion. I'll need to look at getting the bar end turn signals posted earlier in this thread (I'd love to hear if they work or not). Let me say here that the weather in the city yesterday was fantastic and riding this scooter down a smooth, protected bike lane was joy itself. I was only sad it was taking me to work and not to meet up with friends for coffee.

On my way home I notice by battery was pretty low so I switched to mode two. This was not so bad on the bike path, but in traffic I didn't feel I had the responsiveness I needed to be safe (speed and maneuverability are our only defense when it come to being on surface streets). The batter indicator was red by the time I got back to Penn Station.

I learned that getting off a crowded train requires me to be either first in line or to let everyone else off before exiting. I just couldn't bring myself to push through a crowd with the Rev being so unwieldy.

Once on the platform, I still and 1.1 miles to go to get home. I really thought I would be walking part of this. I kept it in mode 2 and was conservative in my acceleration. The journey home was mainly level or downhill. The last 200 yards to my driveway the Rev was moving in spurts as it expended the last of its power.

​

Batter level at the end of the trip; but even with the report 1 mile range it wasn't moving under its own power

I have to admit to being disappointed with the range. Other than going fast on the smooth, level bike path, I was not doing anything crazy with this scooter. At 8.6 miles, this is less than half the advertised range. Having the scooter die as I'm pulling into the driveway is just cutting it too close for my comfort. It means I can't speed back to the station at the end of the day or take any trips on it during lunch.

If my office had power outlets in the bike room, I could at least charge it up during the day. But as off right now I'm not confident I will keep it past the 30 day trial period. At least with a smaller device I could hide it under my desk and plug it in.