Saturday, February 05, 2005

 

Articles Segway Doesn't Want You to Read!!!

  1. pulse24.com Toronto news story March 1, 2005:They’re completely useless for overall city travel, they don't take you that far, and they cost a small fortune. And despite all that they hope to make the device the next must have for those with money to burn – but who’d rather not walk to the furnace. The Segway isn’t meant for the road. “It is designed for sidewalks and paths and to work in conjunction with pedestrians,” advises Robyn Reisler of Segway of Ontario. But for the moment, the law here doesn’t even allow them to go there. So how much will these marvels of modern transportation cost you? Try between $5,200 and $7,200. Or you can rent one for $39 an hour. That’s a pretty large amount just to go from two feet to two wheels."
    March 1, 2005
  2. Bush's spill puts scooter in spotlightBy Joanna Weiss, Globe Staff, Globe Correspondent6/14/03It would have been brilliant publicity: the leader of the free world, tooling around the family compound on a newfangled Segway scooter. If only the leader of the free world hadn't fallen off. When Ann Hershfang spied the pictures in a newspaper yesterday, she couldn't suppress a giggle. As president of the advocacy group WalkBoston, she questions the New Hampshire company's bid to make its scooter legal on Massachusetts sidewalks. So she didn't mind a black eye for the big-wheeled contraption some have billed as a transportation revolution.
  3. Segway's Breakdown By Gary RivlinWired Magazine3/01/03Price isn't the only hurdle slowing Segway's consumer launch. Consider this: The vehicle weighs more than 80 pounds and can travel maybe 11 miles on a charge, depending on terrain. Paul Saffo, a director at the Institute for the Future in Menlo Park, California, describes a ride on a Segway as a "gas" but adds that the machine "costs three times what a consumer device should cost, and it's about 40 pounds too heavy." He believes the real Achilles heel is limited battery life.
  4. Lobbying To Put the Segway on Profit Path Scooter's Inventor Seeks Federal Aid By Jim VandeHei Washington Post2/23/03Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway Human Transporter, wants the federal government to provide a big financial boost to his new-age scooter. Kamen, the multimillionaire creator of the futuristic vehicle, is lobbying the government to buy some of the self-balancing electric devices so U.S. Special Forces can scoot into battle and rangers can zip through national parks.
  5. Is Segway Going Anywhere? By Faith Keenan Business Week1/16/03A year after the Segway was unveiled in a flurry of cover stories and network morning-show appearances, the scooter finds itself with more detractors than customers. Consumer and health advocates warn of possible injuries and rising obesity. City governments worry about chaos on their sidewalks. And key execs are heading for the exits. All that before the scooter is even available to consumers.
  6. Santa Cruz council may ban Segway transportation device APContra Costa Times1/8/03San Francisco outlawed the gizmo from city sidewalks after pedestrian and senior citizen groups argued it was a danger to people walking. With similar complaints in Santa Cruz, officials are considering adding the Segway to an ordinance banning electric bicycles on sidewalks. Debbie Bulger of the pedestrian advocacy group Mission: Pedestrian is confident the city will approve the ban. She says the Segway is just too fast for sidewalks.
  7. No way for Segways? More cities may ban scooter By Matt MarshallMercury News1/8/03But the fascination appears to be wearing thin in Northern California. After San Francisco decided to ban the Segway from its sidewalks late last year, a number of other Bay Area cities -- from Oakland to Santa Cruz -- are considering the same move.
  8. And Now, a Scooter That Can Be Driven on the Sidewalk By Patricia BrownNew York Times1/5/03Ask an urban planner to define the cradle of civilization, and thoughts drift to that innocuous but vital ribbon of concrete, the sidewalk. "Lowly, unpurposeful and random as they appear, sidewalk contacts are the small change from which a city's wealth of public life may grow," Jane Jacobs wrote in her classic "The Death and Life of Great American Cities." So perhaps it was not surprising that earlier this winter, the city of San Francisco became the first municipality in the country to ban the Segway — the $4,950 self-balancing scooter that resembles a balletic wheeled pogo stick — from the city's sidewalks.
  9. We were told it would change the way we lived ... where did the future of transport go wrong? By Stephen NaysmithScotland Sunday Herald1/5/03However, pedestrian action groups are celebrating their first victory over Segway, after one of the world's most cosmopolitan cities, San Francisco, banned the Segway from its pavements. Kamen's invention has also come under fire from obesity campaigners. One columnist in San Francisco said that as his compatriots already took too little exercise, the Segway was 'the ultimate American doomsday machine'. 'This device isn't evil, we think it is innovative, and phenomenal technology. But it shouldn't be on the sidewalks.' Pi Ra, spokesman for WalkSF, a San Francisco pedestrians group, said other cities were now looking to follow the city's lead, regardless of state laws. 'This is a great device,' he said. 'Put it on the streets, with the bicycles.'
  10. Showing Segway the Highway By Matt SmithSan Francisco Weekly12/18/02Dave Snyder, former executive director of the Bicycle Coalition and founder of the lobbying outfit Transportation for a Livable City, gave the device a try. He had a hard time getting the hang of it. Then Skelton hopped on to demonstrate. She hopped off, presumably to show that the machine stops itself when unmanned. Last week, Snyder showed me two foot-long cracks, joined together in an "A" shape, that he said the pilotless Segway left in the Grant Building wall.
  11. Segway Aims To Keep Rolling After San Francisco Setback By Brain DeagonInvestor's Business Daily12/5/02The two-wheeled tech-powered electric scooter known as the Segway Human Transporter hit its first speed bump last week when city supervisors in San Francisco voted to ban it from sidewalks. If Mayor Willie Brown does not veto the bill, which the Board of Supervisors passed 8-2, San Francisco would be the first city to prohibit on sidewalks what is arguably the most-watched invention in a long time.
  12. Every city makes way for Segway - except oneBy Mark SappenfieldChristian Science Monitor12/2/02Yet, ironically, it is here in San Francisco - where leg-numbing hills taunt timid feet, and technology is seen as the answer to many ills - that a backlash has begun. Worried that walkers could be steamrollered, the Board of Supervisors last week voted to ban Segway. Although the vote is not final, it is the first significant anti-Segway action taken in any city or state.
  13. S.F. supervisors vote to ban Segway scooters from sidewalks By Rachel GordonSan Francisco Chronicle11/26/02San Francisco may be at the heart of high-tech gizmos and innovations, but on Monday safety-conscious supervisors voted to adopt an ordinance banning two-wheel Segway scooters from city sidewalks. If the ban gets final approval next week from the Board of Supervisors and withstands a threatened veto by Mayor Willie Brown, San Francisco will be the first city in the state to prohibit the so-called "electric personal assistive mobility devices."
    Supes propose Segway banBy David KieferExaminer11/15/02San Francisco is not ready for the Segway. On Thursday, the Transportation and Commerce Committee recommended that the futuristic self-balancing, electric-powered transportation device should be banned from city sidewalks. The machine, which weighs as much as 95 pounds and travels up to 12 miles an hour, is designed for sidewalks and was recently tested by local postal workers, but critics say it's a menace.
  14. Group wants to bana motorized scooters from sidewalksBy Dan WhiteSanta Cruz Sentinel11/4/02A group of local pedestrians-rights advocates wants to ban the much-hyped Segway Human Transporter from city sidewalks. The devices look like a cross between a push lawnmower and a two-wheeled Roman chariot. Debbie Bulger of Mission Pedestrian, an advocacy group, said Santa Cruz must act soon to keep sidewalks safe. The group is connected to California Walks, a coalition of groups promoting "walkable, safe and accessible communities."
    Segway Scooter ProtestBy Carolyn TyleABC710/17/02The U.S. Postal Service has tested them out and 32 states including California have legalized them. They are the Segway scooters that are hyped as revolutionizing transportation. But protesters say they're dangerous and a group is hoping to ban them one city at a time.
  15. The Scooter Debate CON Not on our sidewalks By Chris DalySan Francisco Chronicle10/16/2002After meeting with advocates for seniors, pedestrians, children and persons with disabilities, I introduced an ordinance to ban the use of Segway scooters on San Francisco sidewalks. After hearing from the many concerned seniors and people with disabilities who have called my office to express their thoughts, I believe that scooters traveling up to 12.5 mph on our sidewalks pose a danger to some of our most vulnerable residents. While it certainly may be easier to look the other way when a big company with powerful friends comes to town, that's not what the state law requires.
    Rob Morse ColumnBy Rob MorseSan Francisco Chronicle10/1/2002Whatever your age, walking San Francisco sidewalks is difficult enough when you have to compete with scooters, bikes and inline skaters. Good for Chris Daly for introducing legislation to ban Segway scooters, which had been given dispensation by Gov. Gray Davis under the fancy name "electric personal assistance mobility device." That means they're expensive. Why should a $9,000 motorized scooter be sidewalk legal when $200 ones aren't? The rich always get off scoot-free, but not when Daly is on the case.
  16. Move to ban scooters from S.F. sidewalks By Rachel GordonSan Francisco Chronicle10/1/2002Two days after Gov. Gray Davis signed a bill legalizing the use of the electric Segway Scooter on California sidewalks, San Francisco Supervisor Chris Daly introduced legislation that would ban the two-wheelers in the city. "These things are dangerous," Daly said Monday. "We need to take action."
  17. Sidewalk scooter now up to Davis Senior, pedestrian groups oppose device By Greg LucasSan Francisco Chronicle8/31/2002California's two-legged pedestrians will share their sidewalks with expensive two-wheeled contraptions that zip along at 12 mph under a bill sent to Gov. Gray Davis on Friday. "This is a yuppie fantasy, poorly thought out, wildly dangerous and not at all addressing the concerns of seniors and the disabled," said Bob Planthold of the Senior Action Network. Segway is a privately held company. One of its investors is the venture capitalist John Doerr, whose money helped start major companies such as Amazon. com, Netscape and Sun Microsystems. Since June 2001, Doerr has contributed $125,000 to Davis' campaign
  18. Zero-emission pedestrian killer By Bruce LivingstonSan Francisco Bay Guardian8/28/2002 This is a story of corporate greed, inventive genius, and gullible lawmakers. Sadly, it will end in death and injury to thousands of walkers nationally. If S.B. 1918 passes the California legislature this session, you had better not stop on a sidewalk to say hello to a friend, because a person on a silent, 12.5-mile-an-hour scooter could be commuting right behind you.
  19. Seniors battle scooters in S.F. turf war By John KoopmanSan Francisco Chronicle8/27/2002Senior citizens of San Francisco would like to remind lawmakers and office-holders that there's a reason it's called a sidewalk. Wheels and pedestrians, they say, don't mix. To that end, a group from the Senior Action Network -- representing 30,000 senior citizens -- began a campaign to fight a proposed state law that could allow the newfangled two-wheeled Segway scooters to hum along city sidewalks.
  20. Walkers fight to keep scooters off sidewalk By Ann E. Marimow San Jose Mercury News8/14/2002Advocates for senior citizens, the disabled and pedestrians say the bill would turn California sidewalks into raceways, imperiling people who don't move as fast as the Segway's maximum 12.5 mph speed. ``It will forever change our definition of the sidewalk as a safe place where people can walk and converse,'' said Bruce Lee Livingston, executive director of the Senior Action Network in San Francisco, who has assembled a coalition of opponents.
  21. Legislature should put brakes on high-powered drive for Segway By Dan Walters Sacramento Bee6/19/2002Were the Segway just another computer or some other technological device that wasn't inherently dangerous, it would not be an issue. But a machine and rider weighing several hundred pounds and capable of going 12 miles per hour pose an intrinsic threat to real pedestrians.
  22. Segway hits bump in its progressby Staff reportsAtlanta Journal-Constitution5/2/2002The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 5/3/02 ] Segway hits bump in its progress Staff reports Andy Kjellgren / Special A member of the Ambassador Force is treated for his injuries after an accident on his Segway Thursday night. The heralded Segway has claimed its first Atlanta victim. A member of the Central Atlanta Progress Ambassador Force toppled from one of the personal scooters on Cone Street near Luckie Street about 8:40 p.m. Thursday.
  23. Segway's assault on walking By Christopher OrletSalon.com12/7/2002Dean Kamen readily admits that his Segway Human Transporter, unveiled Dec. 3, is not the futuristic answer to his nation's transportation woes, crowded highways and poor public transit, nor will it replace the SUV, the bus or the commuter train. The push-lawnmower-size scooter travels only 12.5 miles per hour with a 17-mile range between charges. It will have no impact on air quality nor will it reduce the reliance on fossil fuels. What it will replace is walking.
  24. Who needs this SHT?By Patrick O'GradyVeloNews.com1/19/2002A multimillion-dollar feat of overengineering that dwarfs the best efforts of Microsoft, NASA and Rube Goldberg, inventor Dean Kamen has unveiled his Segway Human Transporter (SHT), a 65-pound, $3,000 "smart" scooter that can travel a dozen miles on a dime's worth of electricity. Trouble is, notes Paul Saffo, director of California's Institute for the Future, "it's about $2,000 too expensive and 40 pounds too heavy." And about 200 years too late. That's how long the bicycle's been around.
  25. Scooter may not change world, experts say. Electric urban vehicle raises road-use problems By Joe GarofoliSan Francisco Chronicle12/4/2001After getting their first look yesterday at a much-hyped gadget predicted to change the world, experts yawned, stretched and counterpredicted that it probably wouldn't. After all, some said, the Segway is only a motor scooter. A $3,000 one- passenger model that resembles grandpa's push-mower, at that. "You can get a great bicycle, a great one, for $300," said Leah Shahum of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

# posted by Segway for Ontario @ 12:41 PM

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