I lived in Florence in 1997, and Orcutt is right. The pollution is nauseating. Worst I have ever experienced.

Electric motors are the answer.

It’s just a question of standards. The scooters that are so popular in Europe (zero of which are Vespas with color-coordinated helmets) are very cheap and very loud compared to the princess-mobiles sold here. Young people can’t afford cars, and you have to be at least 18 anyway, which is all in all a great thing. But someone dropped the ball along the way in regulating them, both in terms of noise and pollution. Apparently we do have such regulations here, or Piaggio is just afraid that the princess’s ears will bleed if she hears the real thing. But by all means, let’s import the imaginary trend of European adults riding Vespas, because we can afford to make them as quiet and efficient as they ought to be (compared to cars that are fifteen times their mass).

Maybe bicycle manufacturers could pay for a Schwartz-Co study?

Taiwan has more scooters per capita than any other “country or region” (*), and they blow incredible amounts of pollution into the air. They’re probably better carbon-wise, since they consume less gas, but certainly worse particulate-wise, since their engines are less efficient.

Glenn is right that electric motors don’t have this problem, but they do share the range issues of all electric vehicles, plus additional infrastructure considerations in New York, since there are few private garages in which to charge them.

(*) This phrase is commonly used in East Asia when one wants to refer to Hong Kong, Macau, and/or Taiwan as separate entities from China as a whole.

I’m highly skeptical of this study. It’s funded by the manufacturer. Let’s see an independent investigation. Electric scooters would be perfect, because these things don’t need to have remotely anything like the range that an electric car would.

Electric scooters are not just possible, but are available now at retailers in your area, like this one in mine, which only sells electric powered bikes.

http://www.nycewheels.com/

There are definitely scooters available that are far more environmentally friendly than cars. Much easier to park than cars, too. Still, nothing is as friendly to the environment as a bike or even two good feet.

I’m pretty sure there are engineering solutions to scooters’ emissions problems, but other issues might be harder to resolve.

The big problem is that scooters are not bikes, and they’re not really cars; so how do they fit into the traffic mix? You can’t allow them on bike paths or bike lanes, but they can’t compete with cars except on local streets. I suspect the complexity they add to the traffic mix is one reason for the increase in crashes in Paris.

So how do you commute into Manhattan by scooter from Staten Island or New Jersey, or even Queens? The major bridges and tunnels all perform like freeways, and scooters don’t work in that environment. You might be able to ride a scooter to work from the Bronx or Washinton Heights, but if all the auto-commuters from those areas switched to scooters, you wouldn’t take many cars off the road.

where can you park these things? We need municipal garages for more energy efficient, space saving vehicles including bikes.

The last thing we really want is to encourage more private motor vehicle use. This study is ridiculous.

What makes anyone think they won’t be as gutsy? The whole reason why people are buying scooters is to add a little adventure and individuality to their commute. Sam’s office is very well respected at the DOT – hopefully with Iris leaving as commissioner, they will listen to a report like this and install someone with a little more street savvy who will add more dedicated motorcycle/scooter parking and stop towing those that are parked on the sidewalk.

I’ll take a touch of bias is Piaggio sponsored the survey – they sell Vespas, among other brands.

However, many of the comments posted don’t quite reflect the truth.

I did a journey from Seattle to LA, and was stunned at the number of gas guzzlers on the road, (although I feel the Canadians were worse, all running big stinking pick-ups) especially after two weeks in Europe, and Italy.

Here in Australia, lots of people run big 4wd vehicles wanting to live the Australian Dream of “going bush” (not “Bush” -not Bush as in mad politician – bush as in country ), but never do, so these things end up clogging our city roads.

The problem in Florence is not scooters, but old clapped out autos and trucks. Italy is enforcing Euro2 and Euro3 standards on scooters, meaning they run very clean and very lean, for the very reasons others have expressed concern over – polution. Old Vespas (and cheap crap made in Asia) may still pong, (and make lots of two stroke noise) but new models are very different.

The problem is prising people out of their autos, and onto public transport (grossy undercapitalised here in Adelaide) or onto alternatives like scooters.

at 70mpg – thats a lot cheaper and a lot cleaner than most cars!

Rainman, you can add a little “individuality” to your commute by riding a bike. With the sorry state of the bicycle infrastructure in this city, there is simply no reason to encourage people to switch to another type of motor vehicle.

And hopefully the city will step UP its towing of scooters and motorcyles parked on the sidewalk, not step down.

sweet ride