Scooting Past The Gas Pump

Registerguard
PIERRE, S.D. - Gasoline pushing $3 a gallon? Why worry? Buy a motor scooter like thousands of other Americans and stretch that single gallon of gas a week or more.

``As people start driving them, they start finding more reasons to use them,'' said Doug Day, owner of Scooter Centrale and Vespa Hartford in Plainville, Conn. ``They're practical, easy to park and get great gas mileage. I put $5 worth of gas into mine when it's totally empty, compared to $50 in my SUV.''

As gasoline prices soar, the popularity of peppy, fuel-sipping motor scooters - most easily get 50 miles per gallon and some of the smaller ones get up to 80 mpg - is soaring. Sales, estimated at 86,000 last year in the United States, have doubled from 2000, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council.

``I put about 20 miles a day on mine, and I only have to fill it up twice a month,'' said Jessica Meuchel, 23, who uses a scooter to deliver daily newspapers in Pierre, S.D. She bought the two-wheeler this spring because it was costing her $200 a month to fuel her truck.

Small scooters, especially those made in China, Korea and Taiwan, sell for as little as $800 to $900. Larger scooters, capable of legal highway speeds and faster, can cost $4,000 to $6,000.
Scooters, while fun to drive, also can be dangerous. Other motorists often don't notice the small two-wheelers, and that can land scooter drivers in the hospital - or the morgue.
This was on the front page of the RegisterGuard, Eugene's local fish wrapper.
With gas prices approaching three dollars a gallon, are they suggesting that we all start driving scooters?
When I was a teenager, I owned a little Honda 65 motorcycle, top speed 45 miles an hour and it ranged about 100 miles to the gallon. I would NEVER own a motorcycle that small again simply because you do not have enough POWER to get out of the way when cars do not see you.

Also if people start using scooters more, then that means less money that odot will receive in gas taxes unless they put the GPS systems on the scooters for the per mile tax.

One other little detail about alternative transportation such as scooters and bicycles, this is Oregon, it really does rain here more than it doesn't.

My very first vehicle was a motorcycle, and I spent three years riding freezing my tutu off in the rain and snow. I have done my time thank you very much.