Anyone for a scooter?

Lots of good thoughts there nimh....I'm really pooped right now, and just want to read a little and sleep...

I'll read over again tomorrow, and we can talk.



Lord E.....haven't talked to you much lately!!!!
Hope everything is well!

You're right, I do agree re the planning, nimh. I live now in a city with whatever planning that happened in recent years being completely befuddled, at best.

Scooters and bicycles are popular in Italy. But then, the whole shopping for food thing is somewhat different, with, at least until recently, a culture that appreciates fresh food of the season, and many shopping with that in mind, much more often but buying less each shopping excursion.. oh, and more little shops to stop in on the way home. Hard for me to generalize, I'm a straniera after all. Ah, and cars tend to be much smaller, the match up with scooters is quite a bit more even. I've some photos from Viterbo that I'll post one of these days. I took them because of all the nifty scooters and wee cars..

Fine thanks, Chai. I've not been in full A2K mode for a while, due to loads of stuff going on involving paperwork etc. so I have just been "dipping" in to threads here and there.

Love your new avatar....it reminds me of a girl I knew at school.

And Alfred E Neuman. No disrespect, he is one of my heroes.

And this is so neat. I just saw it on TV so tried to find more about it through Google. Not much, Some outfit in England just got the license to test it out in Brighton and then London. I'll see if I can find a good photo.

Basically, what it is is a three-wheeled rickshaw with protection on the sides and top against the weather. Runs on LPG so zero-emission.

http://www.tuctuc.co.uk

Licence granted for Europe's first motorised
rickshaw service in London

Brighton & Hove selected as test-bed for radical new form of transport
TucTuc Limited today announced the launch of Europe's first TucTuc service, which will begin official operation on Monday 10
July 2006. Brighton & Hove has been chosen as the test-bed for this pioneering service, which is due to be introduced in
London in May 2007 and across the rest of the UK and Europe in 2008/2009.

The service will provide tourists, shoppers and visitors with a safe, economical and environmentally friendly means of getting
around the city.

Ideal for moving through congested urban environments, motorised rickshaws (or TucTucs) are commonplace in Asia.
TucTuc Limited has been awarded the first known operator's licence of its kind outside Asia.

Super-low emission vehicles, the TucTucs have been specially imported from India and run on ?'CNG' (Compressed Natural
Gas) making this a virtually zero-emission mode of transport. The vehicles are also very compact, helping to ease congestion
and addressing the huge demand for new and innovative forms of public transport.

Set to completely change the urban landscape of cities and become a massive tourist attraction, the TucTucs will be individually
wrapped with one of twelve distinctive designs, including the tongue-in-cheek ?'Chavrolet' and the fruity ?'Strawberry'. Each
eye-catching design is guaranteed to get passengers noticed! Drivers will sport a custom-made uniform, designed by hip
Brighton celebrity tailor, Gresham Blake.
The new operation will provide around 50 full and part-time jobs, for people looking for a sociable and socially responsible
career.

The TucTuc service will offer the public a safe and trustworthy means of travel, which is particularly important late at night. All
drivers will undergo stringent road safety and knowledge tests, rigorous vetting procedures and must hold a full UK or international
driving licence. Drivers will also be trained to undertake minor mechanical repairs. Specially fitted safety features include
passenger and driver seatbelts and strengthened overhead and side impact protection.

The service will operate all year round from 8am-2am, Monday to Saturday (8am-11pm, Sundays and Bank Holidays). A
reduced service will operate during November to March, with a peak during the summer season. The all-weather vehicles
come complete with weatherproof hoods and side curtains to keep out the rain and cold.

An extremely economical service, fares start from just £1.50 per passenger, regardless of distance travelled. Vehicles will pick
up and drop off passengers from any stop along the rout

[IMG]newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/41855000/jpg/_41855460_tuc_203.jpg[/IMG]

Drat. I'll go find the link to the BBC article that had a couple of images.

BBC article with photos

On a similar note, I was reading today:

Novel form of transport makes an impression in Prague (Radio Prague)

Admittedly more low-tech, it's a kind of rickshaw that complements the cycling driver's "manpower" (though there's a few girl drivers too) with a low-power motor for backup.

Certainly seems more humane than the fully manpower-driven (I mean, -cycled) version we have in Amsterdam for tourists on the hop:

Cycle Rickshaw in Amsterdam ;-)

How many people fit in the tuctuc?

We have small trollys that are free that only run little downtown circuits, it's called a 'dillo (armadillo - get it?) I think they run on natural gas.

nimh - I think our realities of downtowns are very different. Downtown here is not a place to go to in order to do your shopping. Granted, they are building high(er) rises for people to live in, however.....They are not really geared toward low or even in my opinion, middle income people. It's all so new getting them, right now it truly is the "hip" thing to do. There really aren't stores for clothing, groceries and what I call "normal stuff people buy" Sure you can get great sushi or a shirt that costs $150., but you couldn't find a place to buy a fuse or roll of duct tape.

Whole Food remodeled its flagship store there but it's on the edge of downtown.

Question...you've mentioned "walking distance" several times. How far do you consider walking distance if, let's say you're at home and need to go out to buy groceries for a couple of days, maybe a CD and rent a DVD or buy a book? The ONLY thing I really go DT for is to go to the main branch of the library.

Yes, we have malls here, but I avoid them at all costs. I can get everything I need on a Saturday shopping trip, running all errands, library, etc. by making a circuit trip totaling about, oh, 10 miles. I enjoy that because I also get to see what new things are out there.

You and osso are correct in that city planning is necessary.

However, I'm looking at it from the view of...What will help people right NOW? Billions of dollars would be spent to change the infrastructure, this is great news for our children, but what can be done to keep the planet cleaner, save money with what we have now?

Like I was alluding to in a previous post, so many are so caught up in producing another consumer item to go out and buy, they don't see the obvious, simple things they can do with what they have.

Many wouldn't hesitate to spend money on some new thing they may never recoup their investment on, or, they can slow down a little, literally and figuratively, and utilize and enjoy what is there.

But, that's just not as sexy as getting the latest gizmo.

I think it would be interesting to figure out how many gallons of fuel would be saved every day by just slowing down 5 or 10 mph, and arriving at your desination about 4 minutes later.

A little unrelated, but I was reading how some gas stations are willing to give a discount of a a couple cents a gal since of course they must pay the credit card companies for taking their credit card.
The article said that if in one day no one used a card to buy gas, that would total an additional $60 million profit....At least that what my memory remembers, it's at LEAST that much.

sumac...what are your thoughts on right here and now solutions?

In my neighborhood there are quite a few scooters, but we have a
great climate all year round, plus people tend to go to the supermarket
quite often - at least it's packed when I am there and I go 3 to 4 times a week shopping.

We also have a lot of these driving around...