Scooters as City Vehicles?

The City of Fort Collins, Colorado has purchased some Yamaha C3's as official city vehicles. City employees can volunteer to use these scooters instead of motor-pool cars. They are being given training, and must wear helmets, long pants, and closed-toe shoes. To read more, click here.

The comments on the article show the ignorance of the general populace about scooters. The same old arguments come up: they're bad for the environment, they're toys, they're not safe. All bunk! Modern 4-stroke scooters aren't the polluters that the old 2-strokers of the 60's and 70's were. The C3 is probably the most environmentally-friendly scooter made. It's as clean as any standard car, probably more so, since it gets over 115 MPG. As for safety, I always find it ironic when car drivers call scooters dangerous because most of that danger comes from car drivers. To read more about whether scooters are safe (and interesting facts about scooter thefts) see this NPR story.

Anyway, kudos to Fort Collins for putting their money where their mouth is. Lancaster may have written into its Strategic Plan that they want to encourage scooter use, but Fort Collins is actually being the change they promote.

Lancaster, Scooters on FOX News

Check it out! Steve Horst made the big time. Click here for video.
This is what this blog is about: promoting scooters and Lancaster. Can it get any more perfect? How about they use the very same model and color scooter that I have? Yes.

Scooter Rentals

It's been pointed out that Jaboba's website no longer exists. No matter, I hear that Country Road Cycles is getting into scooter rentals with Yamaha scooters.

"Scooters Have Gone Nuts This Year"

That is a quote from the service manager at B&B Yamaha. Last year I was told that my C3 was the only daily driver they knew of. All the others they sold were being used as pit bikes. But I saw 2 blues ones in on the street over the weekend. Keith at B&B said, "I have a blue one and a white one going out today!"

And those white ones are nice. You can't tell from the picture, but it is a sort of pearlized white. And they aren't going to offer that color next year, so get 'em while they last.

Keith also told me a familiar story: existing scooter owners are saying that those who thought they were crazy last year are this year asking, "Where did you get that?"

WSJ

Scooters make the big time with an artcle in the Wall Street Journal: Linky! They even mention my C3, which they call "ultra-utilitarian" and at the high end of the fuel efficiency range. Yep, that's why I got it.

The Other Classic Scooter

When you think about classic scooters, chances are that the Vespa springs to mind. That is probably why some modern scooters, including the Honda Metropolitan are styled after Vespa. But the Yamaha C3 brings to mind another classic scooter company: Cushman

Today I went to a swap meet at the Farm Show Complex in Harrisburg. It was mostly Harley and chopper parts. But there were a few classic scooters, including this red one from 1947. Cushman scooters were used famously by meter maids in New York and by the Army in World War II.

The styling cues that make this stand out from Vespas are the lack of a leg shield, a headlight that turns with the front fork, and the oversized, blocky rear bodywork. The seat is more like a stool than a saddle.

Rally Scooter

Scooters just seem to want stickers and decals. I tracked down some self-adhesive vinyl at the craft store in the Golden Triangle, and after a little work with a knife and some scissors, I made some rally graphics for my C3.


The other day, a college kid leaned out the window of his passing car and yelled, "That's hot, man! I like it!" Why, thank you, so do I.

About Your Host

I live in the City of Lancaster and recently purchased a Yamaha C3 (that's her, to the right, parked outside of Central Market). It's a 50cc scooter, and it tops out at 40mph. I bought it to commute to work, and to ride to locations around town to save on gas and parking costs. But it's also just fun to ride.

The Mayor of Lancaster, Rick Gray, is a rider too. And he has vowed to promote scooter use in the City by asking the Parking Authority to set aside dedicated space in the nooks and crannies of City lots for scooter and motorcycle parking. It's even a goal in the City Strategic Plan: "More alternative modes of transportation are seen in the City (e.g., scooters, bikes and motorcycles)." Note, scooters are first... heh.

So, where civic duty and self-interest collide, lies this blog. I want to help myself by helping my City promote scooters.

Part of my day job is making maps. I've been making them for myself, plotting out routes I can take to avoid the big roads where people like to go faster than 40mph. And I thought others might like see them also. After all, the fun in a scooter isn't in the parking, it's in the riding!