USA Today article, More cities push scooter commuting

hcstrider · Post by **hcstrider** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 10:19 pm

I am not sure if someone has already mentioned this but in the December 4 issue of USA Today there was an interesting article on how some cities are becoming more scooter friendly. Here is the link to the USA Today article:

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/ne ... st.art.htm

Mary Somerville · Post by **Mary Somerville** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 3:20 am

I hadn't seen that--thanks! Stuff like that is helpful when you want to look up ideas for your city too.

I went to a city meeting last week where you could talk with all sorts of local officials. I had some scooter parking questions for the Traffic & Parking director and was all prepared to have to explain scooter features. He stopped me short and said, "I have a scooter." Cracked me up.

r0sa · Post by **r0sa** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 4:47 pm

there are many perks to riding a scooter, and i love it

in Austin, TX, we get free parking all day at the meters downtown, not only that, its easier to find parking at restaurants and on campus! scooters/2wheels always get rockstar parking

Coffeejunkie · Post by **Coffeejunkie** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 5:43 pm

I love seeing signs that say "Scooter Parking Only" it just brings a smile to my face.

rsrider · Post by **rsrider** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 2:22 am

Scooter and motorcycle sales may have been up in 2008, but in 2009 they're way down....as in 47% for mc's, and a whopping 63% for scooters. And cities may want to be scooter friendly, but the cagers in those cities sure as hell aren't. The one thing that cities do to curb (pun intended) mc and scooter use is to limit 1 vehicle to a parking space, while not providing any more two wheel parking. You can easily cram 4 mc's and probably up to 6 scooters in a single parking space. It's all talk until they work out the details for providing a real accommodating system for two wheel vehicles. Until then, it's just feel good community PR cr@p. What good is 4 extra parking spaces in a lot when you have 20 two wheelers trying to park in it? And if bicycles can park on a sidewalk why can't 150cc and less scooters? They're about the same size........

Post by **ericalm** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 2:55 am

r0sa wrote:there are many perks to riding a scooter, and i love it

in Austin, TX, we get free parking all day at the meters downtown, not only that, its easier to find parking at restaurants and on campus! scooters/2wheels always get rockstar parking

You have ModernBuddy member madtolive to thank, in part at least, for Austin's pro-scooter policies.

Post by **ericalm** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 3:05 am

rsrider wrote:Scooter and motorcycle sales may have been up in 2008, but in 2009 they're way down....as in 47% for mc's, and a whopping 63% for scooters. And cities may want to be scooter friendly, but the cagers in those cities sure as hell aren't. The one thing that cities do to curb (pun intended) mc and scooter use is to limit 1 vehicle to a parking space, while not providing any more two wheel parking. You can easily cram 4 mc's and probably up to 6 scooters in a single parking space. It's all talk until they work out the details for providing a real accommodating system for two wheel vehicles. Until then, it's just feel good community PR cr@p. What good is 4 extra parking spaces in a lot when you have 20 two wheelers trying to park in it? And if bicycles can park on a sidewalk why can't 150cc and less scooters? They're about the same size........

Here's a lesson for those cities from San Francisco. Convert one metered parking space every block or two (in dense population and traffic areas) into 4 motorcycle/scooter-only spaces. Charge less for the space, but significantly more than 1/4 the cost of parking a car there. Rake in more money.

Reasons cities don't want 150cc scooters in bicycle parking:
The don't want people driving them on the sidewalks.
Scooters are, in fact, much bigger and heavier than bicycles and it doesn't take much to knock one over.
They are also very hot and dangerous for, say, children to be around for several minutes after being ridden.

I suspect that in places where 50CCs are allowed to park in bike parking, it's a bit of a loophole because they're classified as "mopeds."

I'm not saying I agree with any of this reasoning. However, I do think that there are viable solutions for both street parking and private lots which can benefit riders, cities and cagers alike.

r0sa · Post by **r0sa** » Wed Dec 09, 2009 2:02 pm

ericalm wrote: You have ModernBuddy member madtolive to thank, in part at least, for Austin's pro-scooter policies.

i haven't seen her around on the forums in a year or so! its been awhile, the last i remember she mentioned something about changing the scooter laws

beeporama · Post by **beeporama** » Thu Dec 10, 2009 5:48 pm

Inspirational. If your city has nothing, low-level politicians (city councilmen etc.) are usually very receptive to their constituents, and the internet makes it easy to find out who represents you (and the phone number and address for their office).

Here in Pittsburgh, there is an overpass adjacent to downtown with a ton of otherwise unused "sidewalk" space beneath it. About fifty motorcycles and scooters can fit in there, and somebody worked out an agreement with the city to not enforce parking laws as long as the pedestrian sidewalk stayed clear. I don't know who the fellow was, but I wish I did so I could shake their hand.

I imagine private parking garages can be made to see the light in the same way, too. Parking four motorcycles/scooters, at half-price each, makes them twice as much money as parking a single car in a space.

If you are lazy or politically disinclined, I'd imagine a local dealer would be a happy partner in advocacy.