We mentioned last spring that MotorcycleUSA was planning on commuting on a Vespa for a few months to see if PiaggioUSA’s “Vespanomics” held up. We just noticed they posted their conclusions last December, which match what we’ve been saying all along: It’s hard to justify the cost of a new scooter (including maintenance, insurance, and) if you already own a car, but it’s a great substitute for a new car or second car, for a single person without kids. They didn’t really explore the ecological benefits, which are usually overstated, but worth mentioning, but they do mention that it’s a fun way to get around, which we think is the biggest selling point of a scooter.
5 thoughts on “MotorcycleUSA’s “Vespanomics” conclusions”
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“…it’s a great substitute for a new car or second car, for a single person without kids.”
…who lives in a city with a mass transit system to act as backup transport when the weather is bad and also who lives where they don’t have to travel the Interstate to get to work and who isn’t afraid of being injured in a crash and on and on and on…
I *love* scooters. I really *love* scooters, but I would never try to sell a Vespa to someone as economical transport, even as a coy misspelling of “economical” as “Vespanomical.”
Plus, you can park anywhere! Right?
I talked a friend out of buying a scooter just last week. Am I a bad scooter fanatic?
But I think the best way a scooter can qualify for ‘paying for itself’ is when you can drive it to save on parking. I save about 700.00 on parking by commuting on the ET2. And that’s only 6 months of the year. But that only works with the moped plate. I guess that makes it more likely to help ‘pay for itself’ in a couple years. And it’s more reason to ONLY be interested in 50cc moped-plated scooters and to live in places like Minnecrapolis.
What’s the deal with motorcycle parking anyhow. I’m riding to Minneapolis and they are cracking down on scooters parked without moped plates in typical places where you’d park a scooter. The city motorcycle parking was raised to $5 a day, not to far from the $5-8/day for a car. One ramp still charges $2, but that’s on the edge of downtown.
Minneapolis is not a scooter/motorcycle friendly city. Great riders, some great places to go, but the city doesn’t exactly welcome two wheeled vehicles.
If you have dedicated motorcycle parking, and it’s only $5 a day, you’re doing a hell of a lot better than most U.S. cities. In Chicago, there’s no dedicated motorcycle parking anywhere in the city, and motorcycles pay the same rate as cars at meters and in city-licensed garages, despite using 1/6 the space.