Segway Scooters
As the world's first and only self-balancing electric transport mechanism, the Segway Human Transporter has set a new standard for eco-friendly sightseeing fun! Experience for yourself why a Segway is the ideal way to tour the waterfront or climb the hills. Guaranteed fun for individuals, families or groups!
Segways are also good machines for getting around crowded warehouses, where tight corridors make it difficult to use bulkier vehicles. People may find them useful for getting around large pedestrian areas, such as airports or amusement parks. There is really no limit to how people might use the vehicle. The Segway can fit in most places you might walk, but it will get you there faster, and you won't exert much energy.
A recent article in Business Week indicates the tide may be turning against the Segway. Various reasons are given for not supporting the Segway -- as one postal worker in Concord, N.H. In Pasadena, a sub-committee of the City Council recently called for the drafting of an ordinance to ban Segways from the city's sidewalk, citing pedestrian safety concerns.
Kamen believes more and more people will want the machine, after they get familiar with it and see what it is capable of. To this end, he initially targeted government agencies and large corporations, not the consumer market. Three groups in Atlanta, Georgia, including the Atlanta Police Department, were the first to try out the Segway on city streets. Currently several police forces, including the Chicago Police Department, use the HT i180 Police model.
Anybody who has traveled to other countries, such as in Europe, has probably come across cities where a large percentage of the population commutes by bicycle or motor scooter. This works, and automobiles do not work as well in those locales. The Segway is perfect for some of those, but more importantly, it shows that the automobile (being covered, and taking up lots of space for a single driver) is not the only personal mode of transportation that works in cities. A nice Vespa or Honda motor scooter costs on the same order as a personal Segway.
Kamen's aspirations are even grander than that. He believes the Segway "will be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy." He imagines them everywhere: in parks and at Disneyland, on battlefields and factory floors, but especially on downtown sidewalks from Seattle to Shanghai. "Cars are great for going long distances," Kamen says, "but it makes no sense at all for people in cities to use a 4,000-lb. piece of metal to haul their 150-lb. asses around town."
