On Wed, 5 Dec 2001, Russell McMahon wrote:

> > Not any cars in any cities anywhere near me.  I don't think most people
> > around hre, for example, would use an open 12MPH scooter for a year-round,
> > 10+ mile commute -- and that's in a medium-small city.  We have snow,
> > rain, winds, traffic, and I haven't noticed my house moving any closer to
> > my office (or anywhere near my office suddenly becoming a viable pace to
> > live).
>
> Probably not, but they noted that the average vehicle speed in London is
> lower than the top speed of the Ginger.

But in London you'd have to go slow anyway so as not to ruin the umbrella,
correct?

I spend *part* of my 8-mile commute to work stopped or at a slow crawl,
the rest between 40 and 70MPH.  Max 15 to 20 minutes on a bad day.  On a
12MPH scooter - no thanks.  But hey, I live in the Midwest USA.  I'm sure
it would make more sense in, say, NY or DC...  oh, wait, no, people there
have **LONG** commutes.  LA?  Err...  maybe not.

No doubt there are people for whom a scooter might make sense...  of
course most of them can't afford and/or wouldn't put up with the hassle of
Ginger.  As long as both work and home are completely barrier-free (cause
I'm not lugging that thing up stairs) it's a workable solution.  And it's
got to be a *short* commute.  Of course, I have to live somewhere with
weather conducive to riding an open scooter year round.  Now there has to
be enough cash in the budget to spend the equivalent price of a reliable
used car on a new, very high tech, absurdly expensive to repair gizmo
instead of a $500 electric or gas scooter.  OK, so there IS a market for
Ginger, but it's so very narrow and limited that I think the people
claiming this will revolutionize the whole world are trying very, very
hard to sell something.  Thinking this toy will replace any significant
number of cars is -- well, a little naieve.  If that were going to happen
the Honda Spree or the Vespa before it would have already done the job.

Dale

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