News bits, June 3, 2007

Some news from the last few weeks, See if you can spot the Bob Balaban reference!

• Despite a high-profile drunk-scootering case involving a local radio personality, Sydney, Australia’s Lord Mayor Clover Moore has vowed to turn the city into “the Rome of the Pacific.” Scooter and motorcycle-specific spaces have doubled to 700 in the last two years, with hundreds more slated to be added soon. (Aside from designated parking, similarities to Chicago abound, including meter confusion and strongly-established support for bicycles.) Perhaps part of Moore’s plan to Rome-ize Sydney will involve particulate cocaine in the atmosphere?
• Budapest, Hungary’s government has teamed up with local scooter dealers to promote scootering in the Józsefváros district. The area hopes to reduce overcrowding and pollution with discounts and free accessories for scooter buyers.
• The Observer reviews the Piaggio MP3: “That’s a big iPod! Where are your headphones mate?”
• In another UK review, Metro.co.uk calls the MP3 “the transsexual of scooters”. (Note: The MP3 prefers to be called the “executive transvestite” of scooters.)
• Davison, Michigan Rite-Aid manager Don Dunklee has covered more than 1,100 miles commuting on an EVT4000 electric scooter that he converted to solar power. Two wing-like solar panels fold out to charge the scooter when parked, and fold in when riding.
• Resort-area cable TV network Plum recommends a Vespa to get around Aspen, where gas prices are expected to reach $6 over the summer and scooter parking is free citywide.
• Scooters are neat-o, and growing in popularity, and save money on gas, and Audrey Hepburn and latte and so on. Boilerplate stories from South Bend, IN, Columbus OH, Austin TX, Salt Lake City, UT, Seattle, WA, and Des Moines, IA
• Vespa Milwaukee cites gas prices as the impetus for a recent 25-percent increase in sales, though their Chicago-area pickup and delivery service probably hasn’t hurt sales from Chicago riders fed up with the local dealers.
• Sales in Miami are also up, to a fault: Scooter backlash is underway, and the scooter market has gone downscale (”I had a woman in here last week; she wanted to finance a $600 used bike”), Lane-splitting, slow, helmet-less scooterists are frustrating Hummer and Escalade drivers on Biscayne Boulevard.
• Any High Rollers Rally-goer will tell you that a scooter is a great way to get around Las Vegas, but renting mobility scooters from hotels is pretty lazy.