A lady scooted past me on the road on one the other day and I thought of them positively for a change.
I now see rental e-scooters are to be legalised to help commuting during Covid but not privately owned ones.
This seems bizarre.
This is because it’s part of trial, before potentially legalising all e scooters. Under current legislation they must be insured so by including only rental scooters the insurance is covered by the rental organisation. The long term aim is to treat them like electric bicycles, which seems sensible. There is all the background you need on the government website. https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/legalising-rental-e-scooter-trials-defining-e-scooters-and-rules-for-their-use/legalising-rental-e-scooter-trials
A bloke I know has one and uses it to get to work rather than driving.
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Thanks for the link.
I don’t know much about them in all honesty but for those commuting short distances in cities /towns they would seem to offer another potentially viable travel option and might be more practical to store at workplaces than cycles. Less need for shower/changing facilities too.
Naturally they could be a bit of a nightmare if inconsiderate riders used them illegally on pavements or pedestrianised areas.
So what about the Segway?
Put simply they could be “Part of the solution.“
Company that makes Segway has just announced it is stopping production
Thought they’d recently folded or stopped making them.
Just beat you to it!
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Just seen a teenager coming uphill on the road at quite some speed on one - enough to stop me doing a right hand turn in the car on the downhill section as I found it hard to gauge his speed for some reason - quite impressive motors on these things I assume. I rented an electric motor assisted cycle last year and it was very enjoyable for someone who’s not regularly cycled for some years - made uphill stretches a breeze.
As a cycling commuter I find e- scooters a bit of a nuisance. However, as a Londoner who has to contend with congested roads and polluted air, I strongly feel that e-scooters, e- bikes etc are what we need to break the general addiction to using cars for short journeys. For my 4.5 mile commute to work there is no faster way than a bicycle. I am sure that will be shenanigans at first but ultimately it is the right thing
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Unfortunately my commute would be over 10 miles each way on dangerous coastal lanes as there’s no simple route.
I tried it 8-10 years ago with a colleague but never felt safe on narrow twisty roads with speeding cars, now it’s pretty much impossible time wise given ‘school run’ duties 3/5 normal days which are necessary until the kids are much older and can safely negotiate dangerous roads by themselves (not joking about the roads).
Soon my place of work may be even more distant as we have a new site which is another 10 miles or so away - an impossible commute unless you were a young seasoned road cyclist with many uphill sections and would require using several roundabouts which join/exit motorway sections. 
Would happily work from home long term if I could, but am unlikely to be allowed to do so.
I entirely get the point about narrow country lanes on a daily commute and not sure I would do it either. 10 miles is quite a lot for a commute but (say for someone in London) an e- bike actually allows you to turn up for work not in a sweaty heap and still faster than any other means. That’s why I think they are the future for cities
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What really frustrates me is town planning - why on earth instead of butchering existing car lanes with completely silly start and end points do they not gradually change them radically to incorporate decent, perhaps covered, cycles lanes and adjust regular motor traffic to suit - existing roads look horrendous due to token cycle lane/paths which are often not continuous and seem ill-fitted to safe cycling.
I’m sure other countries have incorprated changes which are far more harmonised with practical living for cyclists/drivers/residents than we see in most UK towns where planning departments just seem intent on using and maintaining their budgets with little regard to the effects of increased street furniture and road changes which are ineffective and widely resented.
Town planning, and in particular roads, is not our forte! Entirely agree about proper cycle paths and not the token efforts we have now. I also think we need to make life less easy for drivers so we can change our car dependency. IIRC there are about 40000 deaths a year in UK due to air pollution (about same as Covid funnily enough). Cycling to work in lockdown with clean air was brilliant
Its a shame the Segway is no longer made but good to see that the company has diversified.
The powers that be were adamant that the Segway wouldnt be allowed in public places although they were throughout most of Europe. A short sighted response but then, thats all they are good for.
Given the wake up call that is Covid19 maybe they can start looking a bit farther than the end of their collective noses.
Driving was quite fun too🙂
Though in all seriousness I miss the ‘quietness’ of peak lockdown.
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I agree that it would be good if the authorities committed to proper cycle facilities in a real attempt to edge people out of their cars. I do have one observation about proper cycle paths though and that is they need to be maintained, that is cleared of glass. Understandably these lanes run through residential areas and ours attract people who like to drop glass bottles.
I thought i was very lucky when i started to commute to work by cycle, 12 miles each way, more than 90% on cycle paths, after a year I traded the paths for 9.5 miles on the road, where the cars grind the glass up and the number of punctures I had fell dramatically. The last straw was seeing a cyclist being harassed by a gang of yoof, then the same happening to me a couple of weeks later. Cycle paths in my city are not always what they seem.
I am all for e-bikes and e-scooters, they are part of the solution, they could help to reduce congestion on the roads and make low carbon travel more accessible.
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Just took a look at some scooters on Halfords - the majority of the reviews say how great they are to get to work/shops or for parks!!!
They mention great speed and good on hills, some suggest firmware can be hacked to increase the speed.
Surely these purchasers must realise they are currently brreaking the law using them anywhere apart from private land?
One poster says his was confiscated by the police and he’s several hundred pounds down.
There are concerns from charities for the blind as apparently scooters of up to 55kg have been allowed for commercial usage to reduce recharging requirements.
I am from a cycling background, in all honesty I have spent my entire working life in the cycle trade but we also sell other things and one of these things is scooters. Mainly Push Scooters like the kids use, we sell A LOT of those. We dabbled in electric ones from a few suppliers including Segway but they have sold very poorly. We are currently selling them below cost and they are still slow! Maybe things will change but it seems the appetite for them is still pretty small. It would be good to move the stock we have so anything that the government does in a positive manor is welcomed here!!!
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Perhaps you just have sensible customers Steve - if they are currently not road legal there is a limited customer base, but still surprises me the likes of Halfords have hundreds of reviews for these scooters.
They seem like they could be an excellent solution with responsible riders, though I’m not sure the state of our roads is that conducive to scooters with small wheels.
I’d love to try one to go to work, but would be looking at 40 mins each way for a 20 mile round trip at maximum speed, and as noted earlier the routes to work are poor and subjectively dangerous. Admittedly travelling by car can take quite some time at peak times.