Comments on: Gridlock Sam: Avert Climate Catastrophe, Ride a Vespa®

By: ridwanzero

ridwanzero — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:23:09 +0000

Hello…I did a journey from Seattle to LA, and was stunned at the number of gas guzzlers on the road, (although I feel the Canadians were worse, all running big stinking pick-ups) especially after two weeks in Europe, and Italy.

Here in Australia, lots of people run big 4wd vehicles wanting to live the Australian Dream of “going bush” (not “Bush” -not Bush as in mad politician – bush as in country ), but never do, so these things end up clogging our city roads.

onlineuniversalwork

By: lala

lala — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 17:48:28 +0000

Rainman, you can add a little “individuality” to your commute by riding a bike. With the sorry state of the bicycle infrastructure in this city, there is simply no reason to encourage people to switch to another type of motor vehicle.

And hopefully the city will step UP its towing of scooters and motorcyles parked on the sidewalk, not step down.

By: lala

lala — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 17:45:08 +0000

What can we say, money talks.

By: mt14l

mt14l — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 04:33:32 +0000

I’ll take a touch of bias is Piaggio sponsored the survey – they sell Vespas, among other brands.

However, many of the comments posted don’t quite reflect the truth.

I did a journey from Seattle to LA, and was stunned at the number of gas guzzlers on the road, (although I feel the Canadians were worse, all running big stinking pick-ups) especially after two weeks in Europe, and Italy.

The problem in Florence is not scooters, but old clapped out autos and trucks. Italy is enforcing Euro2 and Euro3 standards on scooters, meaning they run very clean and very lean, for the very reasons others have expressed concern over – polution. Old Vespas (and cheap crap made in Asia) may still pong, (and make lots of two stroke noise) but new models are very different.

The problem is prising people out of their autos, and onto public transport (grossy undercapitalised here in Adelaide) or onto alternatives like scooters.

at 70mpg – thats a lot cheaper and a lot cleaner than most cars!

By: Theresa

Theresa — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 23:06:34 +0000

I own a scooter and lived in Austin, Tx. a big scooter community all i can say is that they get great gas mileage and donâ€™t smell like a big diesel truck!

By: Rainman

Rainman — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 16:19:35 +0000

What makes anyone think they won’t be as gutsy? The whole reason why people are buying scooters is to add a little adventure and individuality to their commute. Sam’s office is very well respected at the DOT – hopefully with Iris leaving as commissioner, they will listen to a report like this and install someone with a little more street savvy who will add more dedicated motorcycle/scooter parking and stop towing those that are parked on the sidewalk.

By: Angus Grieve-Smith

Angus Grieve-Smith — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 04:13:20 +0000

Mitch, the picture at the top was taken on the main roadway of the Brooklyn Bridge. Here’s another shot that shows it more clearly:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/64521105@N00/128402308/in/set-72057594118121309/

I agree with your main point that not all scooter drivers are going to be as gutsy as this woman, though.

By: bob

bob — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 03:08:25 +0000

The last thing we really want is to encourage more private motor vehicle use. This study is ridiculous.

By: James Frey

James Frey — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 03:00:01 +0000

Vespas rule!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/58689343@N00/pool

By: daisy

daisy — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:38:30 +0000

where can you park these things? We need municipal garages for more energy efficient, space saving vehicles including bikes.

By: Nicolo Macchiavelli

Nicolo Macchiavelli — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:18:50 +0000

If you are interested in the latest tech and can tolerate a little Italian, try this piece on French state of the art scoots.

http://www.repubblica.it/2007/02/motori/febbraio-07/torna-velosolex/torna-velosolex.html?ref=mothpstr1

By: Mitch

Mitch — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:15:56 +0000

I’m pretty sure there are engineering solutions to scooters’ emissions problems, but other issues might be harder to resolve.

The big problem is that scooters are not bikes, and they’re not really cars; so how do they fit into the traffic mix? You can’t allow them on bike paths or bike lanes, but they can’t compete with cars except on local streets. I suspect the complexity they add to the traffic mix is one reason for the increase in crashes in Paris.

So how do you commute into Manhattan by scooter from Staten Island or New Jersey, or even Queens? The major bridges and tunnels all perform like freeways, and scooters don’t work in that environment. You might be able to ride a scooter to work from the Bronx or Washinton Heights, but if all the auto-commuters from those areas switched to scooters, you wouldn’t take many cars off the road.

By: Nicolo Macchiavelli

Nicolo Macchiavelli — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 23:29:52 +0000

The EU is increasing regulation of scooter travel. And outlawing two-stroke motors is the chief element of such regulation. The new generation of gas powered scoots in Europe are pretty clean. It is now a question of getting the old ones off the road. Asia is a different story. Highly efficient,relatively clean and quiet new scoots come on market in high-income areas but the old two stroke smoke scoots are hard to take away from poor people. Perhaps there is more to class analysis than meets the eye.

By: Erik Feder - The Parking Expert

Erik Feder - The Parking Expert — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 22:15:37 +0000

There are definitely scooters available that are far more environmentally friendly than cars. Much easier to park than cars, too. Still, nothing is as friendly to the environment as a bike or even two good feet.

By: Some Jerk

Some Jerk — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 20:49:57 +0000

Most of the pollution from scooters comes from 2-stroke models burning a mix of gasoline and oil. The advantage is more power from a smaller engine, but of course that is offset by terrible unburnt hydrocarbon emissions.

Four cycle engines are less noisy and naturally less polluting. While catalytic convertors have not been fitted to motorscooters yet, a Honda subsidiary has developed a new paper based catalyst design which will make emissions controls for these scooters possible.

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/12/fcc_develops_pa_1.html

In short, don’t dismiss scooters based on the stinky and noisy fleet that roams the third world.

By: Glenn

Glenn — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 20:27:04 +0000

Electric scooters are not just possible, but are available now at retailers in your area, like this one in mine, which only sells electric powered bikes.

http://www.nycewheels.com/

By: crzwdjk

crzwdjk — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 19:33:23 +0000

Scooters are definitely horrible for air pollution. They might burn less gas, but they still aren’t terribly efficient. And they emit hydrocarbons (unburned gas) and probably lots of carbon monoxide and particulates and so on. And they produce lots of noise. Electric scooters might be the answer, if they can get a decent range. Remember, this is designed to be transportation for use in the city, so the required range is relatively short, and with modern battery technology might be feasible.

By: mfs

mfs — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 19:27:42 +0000

I’m highly skeptical of this study. It’s funded by the manufacturer. Let’s see an independent investigation. Electric scooters would be perfect, because these things don’t need to have remotely anything like the range that an electric car would.

By: Orcutt

Orcutt — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:02:13 +0000

Also, I spent some time in Florence in the early 1980s and the air pollution then was nothing to remark about, unlike it was five years ago after the scooter plague had descended.

By: Ian Turner

Ian Turner — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:00:33 +0000

Taiwan has more scooters per capita than any other “country or region” (*), and they blow incredible amounts of pollution into the air. They’re probably better carbon-wise, since they consume less gas, but certainly worse particulate-wise, since their engines are less efficient.

Glenn is right that electric motors don’t have this problem, but they do share the range issues of all electric vehicles, plus additional infrastructure considerations in New York, since there are few private garages in which to charge them.

(*) This phrase is commonly used in East Asia when one wants to refer to Hong Kong, Macau, and/or Taiwan as separate entities from China as a whole.