Scooter Sales Were Up In Big in 2011

ABOVE: My former 2004 Honda Metropolitan scooter, March 2006

Last year motorcycle sales were basically flat but according to the Motorcycle Industry Council models that sipped gas saw big increases:

Collectively, the dozen leading brands included in the MIC’s Retail Sales Report were up 0.3 percent in 2011, compared to the year before. Fuel-efficient models did especially well. Among these brands, scooter sales rose 11.8 percent and dual-purpose bike sales were up 14.2 percent. The MIC will announce first-quarter 2012 sales for these particular brands, which represent most of the market, on April 20. (Source)

This means other models saw decreases for the total market to remain flat. The scooter I had for nearly three years was great transportation, the miles per gallon was around 80-90!  The last year I owned it I didn’t have a car — it was my only motorized vehicle.

I’ve not kept up on scooters since I had to stop riding in 2008 but there are many models available. Interestingly Honda lists the 2009 Metropolitan as the most recent version of that model.

Laws vary from state to state (list) but I liked that Missouri didn’t require registration of low speed 50cc models like my Metropolitan. Like using transit riding a scooter required you to adjust shopping trips, namely more frequent smaller purchases. The scooter did give me 24/7 mobility on my schedule.

The scooter I had couldn’t exceed 30mph or so. As a result I didn’t venture out of the city often. When I did it was on weekends or I took back routes to reach my destinations. Depending upon where you drive and your storage options a scooter might be a good choice for you.

- Steve Patterson

Top Six Posts From The Last Six Years

This month I’m celebrating six years of UrbanReviewSTL.com.  This post looks at the top six posts from those six years, sorta.  My current analytics go back to mid-January 2009 so it is possible an earlier post was more popular prior to then.  No matter the rankings of #2-#6 I know the #1 is the #1.

#6 Missourians Against Red Light Cameras, February 17th, 2009

#5 The History of Problems in North St. Louis, May 26th, 2009

#4 Flashing Lights Outside Walgreen’s, February 5th, 2009

#3 NorthSide Project Has Potential to Transform St. Louis, May 27th, 2009

#2 Can We Please Ban Smoking in the St. Louis Region? Missouri?, January 29th, 2009

#1 My Honda Metropolitan Scooter, Two Years and Six Thousand Miles Later, September 4th, 2007

ABOVE: When I'd buy gas for the scooter I'd photograph the odometer

I loved that little scooter and this post is ten times more popular than any of the others.

- Steve Patterson

Five Years Ago Today

Five years ago today I bought a scooter — a red & white 49cc Honda Metropolitan scooter (see post).  I had witnessed the horror in New Orleans via CNN. Gas prices spiked.

ABOVE: by June 2007 the scooter was my only motorized vehicle, used in all weather

In two and a half years I put over 6,000 miles on the scooter — what a blast.  After my stroke I sold the scooter, no point keeping it around.  I had hoped to get another scooter at some point, but that is not looking to be a possibility.

- Steve Patterson

Motorcycle & scooter parking needed in our region

Before my 2008 stroke I got around on a 49cc Honda Metropolitan scooter.  Because of the small displacement engine it did not need to be licensed by the Missouri (some states require registering all scooters regardless of engine size).  I’d park in out of the way places but at times I’d get notes from officers suggesting I park in a metered parking spot.  My scooter was tiny and would be lost in a space.

ABOVE: Scooter at parking meter, wasting space

Recently I noticed a much larger scooter parked at a meter on Lindell Blvd near Grand Ave. What I don’t know is if the space was empty when the scooter was parked or if the owner slipped in front of a car that left before I took the photo.  Either way you can see the ridiculousness of having fixed-length parking – the one-size-fits-all formula that wastes lots of space.

In high demand areas we need to have motorcycle & scooter parking. In the space of one car you can fit in parking for 3-6 motorcycles/scooters.  For payment you use pay-per-space machines:

ABOVE: Motorcycle parking, San Francisco 2/2004

You pay for the number for the slot you park in. Regular meters can also be used where you have 2-3 spaces.  By creating the spaces perpendicular to the curb line you can fit in many motorcycles & scooters.  Motorists will be less frustrated by not having a scooter taking a full space.  Riders will be happy having a designated space for their compact tw0-wheeled vehicles. The city will collect additional revenue.

- Steve Patterson

A Year of Driving

A year ago today I bought my first post-stroke tank of gas. The 9 months prior to my stroke I did not have a car — my motorized transportation was a 49cc Honda Metropolitan scooter that got around 90 miles per gallon.  A year ago I felt guilty about going back to driving a car. I’m over the guilt although I want to, someday, go back to not having a car.

So the day I buy gas for the first time in nearly six months just happens to have been the day gas prices peaked in St. Louis.  I paid $3.979/gallon for basic unleaded. By December 30th I paid a low of $1.339/gallon – a 66% drop. I tracked each fuel purchase and my mpg on an application on my iPhone:

Cold winters and recent a/c use took a toll on my average MPG.  My last fill-up was on a return trip from Chicago – 70mph with a/c.  Pretty good numbers.

During the year I drove 7,200 miles which included a trip to Oklahoma and the recent one to Chicago.  Take out those two road trips and I drove about 5,500 miles around town.  Admittedly I have a big advantage of working from home.  But I also have a compact life shopping locally as well as combining trips. Even as the price of gas dropped I continued to conserve.

The above chart shows the price per gallon that I paid over the last year.  Yes, I’m a nerd by charting this but I’m a visual person.  As we seen the price per gallon has steadily increased in 2009.  It is still a long way from where it was a year ago – the climb up is much slower than the drop off.  But the prices from last summer will return at some point.  There will be a point in a year or two where $4/gallon seems low.

By the end of 2010 I hope to have another scooter — perhaps a hybrid or all-electric scooter.  Like before, I’ll go a couple of years having a car and a scooter before going to scooter-only.  This time I will be able to join Enterprise’s WeCar car-sharing program for those times when I need/want a car.

- Steve Patterson

I’m on Google Streetview

If you love Google maps then you probably love streetview — the ability to see what an actual street looks like.

Friends of mine, planning students from St. Louis living in New Orleans, recently blogged about spotting me on my former Honda Metropolitan scooter in a streetview at Washington & Grand (link).

Steve Patterson on Google's Streetview taken before 2/1/08.

Thankfully I wasn’t over the stop line!  Thank you to Matt Mourning and Michael Powers!  I’ll be back on a scooter by Spring 2010.

A Scooter For Graduation?

One of the most disappointing results of my February 1st stroke was of course the loss of function on my left side. I was left handed. But the big disappointment was selling my Honda Metropolitan and getting a car. I love having the car but it is just not the same as riding a scooter in the open air. Granted when it is raining the car keeps me dry whereas the scooter would not. Riding a scooter, however, was far cheaper transportation. Even with the windows down and the sunroof open the feeling of enclosure in the car is much greater than I prefer.

Goal setting is an important function to move individuals and organizations forward. Throughout my recovery I’ve set goals for myself. As I achieve them I set new ones. Resuming work on my Masters degree was an important milestone. I’m now on a schedule to graduate in December 2009. I think being able to scooter by that time is a goal worth striving for. That is a little more long term than my prior goals have been. Others in the same vein would be being able to type two-handed again, write with my left hand again, and to walk without a cane. Short term goals are mostly subtle at this point — largely improving my walking speed. But riding my bikes and getting a new scooter is real motivation for me.

I’ll graduate in just over a year and hopefully I can afford a new scooter at that time. This gives me time to research the myriad of new scooters on the market and coming to market. The Honda Metropolitan was excellent transportation, providing me with 9,000 cheap & trouble-free miles of fun transportation. So a new Metropolitan is certainly at the top up my list.  New hybrid & electric scooters are hitting the market.

I’ll probably do like I did before — have both a car and scooter at the same time until I’m ready to sell the car. Once I have reliable use of my left arm/hand I’ll be able to join Enterprise’s car sharing program, WeCar, for local trips and be able to rent a car for longer trips.

But a cute scooter for the spring of 2010 sounds good for now.

An Older Post is the Most Popular of Late

In the nearly four years that I’ve been writing Urban Review STL I’ve published over 1,500 articles — most written by me. So it came as a surprise to me that after installing a new “stats” program a week ago that my most actively read post is not current but from a year ago. The post My Honda Metropolitan Scooter, Two Years and Six Thousand Miles Later from September 4, 2007 is consistently read more than any other individual post (the main page is still more read). Why is this?

Google search.

It seems that many many people out there are searching for “Honda Metropolitan” and after Honda they get my post from last year.  More and more people are considering a scooter — if they can find one for sale.  If there was ever a time to be selling scooters 2008 is the right time.  We might be back to Hummers in 2009 but for now the scooter (and bicycle) reign supreme for personal transportation.

My Beloved Honda Metropolitan Scooter Has Been Sold

It was September 5th 2005 and I was so excited — I had just purchased a 2004 Honda Metropolitan that was only slightly used with 235.5 miles on the odometer (see, My Way of Dealing with Rising Gas Prices). Today I sold the scooter with just over 9,000 miles on it. Even in the cold & rain those were some very fun miles. I didn’t want to sell the scooter, it’s just that since my stroke I could not safely ride it with only one hand on the handlebar. As more time passes and I can once again ride a scooter I will certainly buy another.
With our gas prices now at $4/gallon more people should consider a scooter. On my first scooter post (link above) I was thinking about saving on gas. The timing was just after Katrina hit New Orleans but before Rita hit Texas. Gas prices spiked to over $3/gallon for this week but they quickly fell below $3/gallon but not below $2/gallon. At the time I wrote:

I estimate that given current fuel prices every 5,000 miles I can put on the scooter rather than my car I’ll save at least $600. As fuel prices rise the savings will be even greater. In less than 3 years the scooter will pay for itself in fuel savings.

Keep in mind that at the time I had a thirsty AWD Audi. So it turns out I didn’t do 5K per year on the scooter. I do think that by thinking more locally and combining trips I did manage to save nearly that many miles each year.

A year ago I sold my car (by that point I had a more efficient Scion xA). I made it through the hot summer and most of the cold winter on the scooter (I was in the hospital during some of the worst winter weather). There were a few days in December where the snow and ice forced me to stay in, but only a few days. There was this great high from getting around town on single gallon of gas (the scooter managed 85-90mpg but only held 1.1 gallons). Each passing month without a car payment or insurance bill I knew I had made the right decision.

My current set of wheels is the ultimate in green transportation — a plug-in electric, um, wheelchair. It gets me most places I need to go — I took it on MetroLink today (it was “Dump the Pump” day so I had a free day pass). My morning started with an 8:30am meeting on Delmar in the Loop and before the trip was done I was leaving Trader Joe’s and heading back to the Eager Rd. station. Again the chair, combined with mass transit, does a great job of getting me around.

Former St. Louisan, Chris Balish, author of “How to Live Well Without Owning a Car: Save Money, Breath Easier and Get More Mileage out of Life”, was right — you can live well without owning a car! Having said that, I’m reluctantly buying a used car.

I can do my job as a REALTOR® from a scooter but not from the #70 Grand bus and a wheelchair, so a car I must purchase. And yes I’ll be able to drive. I have to get a car with an automatic transmission as I can’t rely on my left leg being able to operate a clutch. The only two modifications will be a knob on the steering wheel (so I can turn the wheel with a single hand) and a device that connects to the turn signal stalk so that I can activate the turn signals with my right hand.

Going from not owning a car to buying one when gas is $4/gal. is not good timing on my part but it was not like I planned the stroke. So I’m focusing on two of the most fuel efficient & reliable non-hybrid used cars: Honda Civic & Toyota Corolla. Buying an efficient sedan is the best I can do to hedge my bets against rising gasoline prices. That and continuing to use the wheelchair and mass transit for as many trips as possible. Plus working on my walking too. Tonight I just walked around the block (for the third night in a row).

Except for those of you that regularly ride a bike for transportation, each of you could benefit from riding a scooter. Those little trips to the grocery store are just so much more fun on a scooter. Using a scooter for shopping is great too — you tend to not buy things you don’t need because you don’t have the space to lug a bunch of crap home.

So hopefully in another year I’ll be writing about the new scooter I bought and in a couple of years I’ll be back to not owning a car. At that point hopefully the WeCar car sharing plan will have a vehicle within a few blocks of my place (all are east of Tucker at this time). In the meantime I’ll still get to see my old scooter as I sold it to a neighbor in my building.

Missouri’s Helmet Law a Good Thing

Once again there is chatter about repealing Missouri’s helmet law. To do so would be foolish. Like seatbelt laws for adults, I get the freedom of choice argument.

However, in these last few months I’ve also been around so many people with severe head injuries and therefore I know more clearly than others how devastating such an injury can be. It doesn’t take much of an impact to cause brain damage which can result in the loss of speech, ability to walk, etc…

The question is if the government has a compelling enough case to mandate the use of a helmet. First, the use of the road is not a right. In the interest of safety for all, the government mandates safety equipment such as lights. A motorcycle helmet is a natural extension of this.

So why should the government care if you split your head open for not wearing a helmet? Well when you are dead or a vegetable you are no longer contributing to society.

When I can return to my scooter I will wear a helmet regardless of the law — it is simple common sense. Still many motorcycle advocacy groups are working hard to remove helmet requirements in Missouri and 19 other states that require helmets for all riders regardless of age. Another 19 states require riders up to a certain age (18 to 21 depending upon the state) to wear helmets (see list).

There are many types oh helmets on the market and critics of these laws correctly point out that the laws don’t define what constitutes a helmet per the law. Fine, let’s work on a definition but not toss out the requirement all together.

If you are bicycling or riding a scooter.motorcycle please wear a helmet regardless of the law.