Kaman Cruises for Support for Segway Bill
By Kelly Field
WASHINGTON, Feb. 14–Dressed in his signature work clothes-jeans and a button down shirt-a pager by his side, Manchester’s Dean Kamen zipped through Congress’ ornate halls this Wednesday, cruising for support for a law that would allow his Segway “human transporter” to travel on sidewalks and roads.
Kamen, who met with legislators and cabinet members yesterday, said he was “not sure” what sort of regulation his self-balancing “Ginger” would face, since the scooter doesn’t fit into any existing transportation category.
“It is neither car, nor sneakers,” observed Kamen after a meeting with Washington-area high school students at the Commerce department. “I’m down here to try to figure it out.”
There is currently no law regulating the use of electric scooters such as the Segway on sidewalks and roads, but Congressman Charles Bass, R-Peterborough, has said he plans to reintroduce legislation to ensure that the Segway is classified as a consumer product and not a motor vehicle.
Bass, whose district will benefit from growth at the new Bedford assembly plant and the Manchester Millyard Segway LLC headquarters, said he will work to shield the scooter from “unnecessary and burdensome regulations” and to “enable the use of Segway on sidewalks and other public ways.”
Bass also said he would “work to ensure that Segway qualifies for any tax credits for buyers and manufacturers of environmentally friendly products with low emissions.”
Last month, the New Hampshire Senate passed an act designed to integrate scooters with pedestrian traffic. The act was supposed to be heard in the New Hampshire House yesterday, but the vote was postponed upon request by Representative Paul M. Mirski, R-Grafton.
If approved, the bill would require Segway scooters to be fitted with reflectors and lamps for use in the dark.
Kamen hopes that his 60-80 pound scooters, which can travel up to 15 to 20 miles at a time, will ultimately become as mainstream as their manual counterparts. Currently, the scooter is only being marketed to industrial and commercial users like Police Departments and the United States Post Office. The Boston Police Department will begin a six week test of the scooters the third week in March, Deputy Superintendent Bill Casey said.
“We’re trying to see whether they make sense for policing,” said Casey. “I’ve been on them, they’re fun.” Casey said the six prototypes will be used to police downtown Boston, including the Boston Common, Boston Gardens and Fanueil Hall, as well as walking areas in East Boston.
Police hope the scooters will help officers travel further and respond to emergencies more quickly.
“We believe this may enable our officers to have far-reaching contact and access toá.residents, visitors and businesses,” said Police Commissioner Paul Evans.
Another pilot program will be conducted at the Concord New Hampshire Post Office, where the test scooters will be outfitted with snow tires for winter travel. Jim Adams, District Manager at the Manchester Post Office, said that five Concord mail deliverers will “conduct their usual route delivery” to see if the scooter will make their route faster and less exhausting.
Brian C. Toohey, Vice President of International and Regulatory Affairs for Segway, said that the company will begin marketing to individual consumers in about a year. The company first wants to establish the scooter as “a serious transportation alternative,” Toohey said.
But the cost of the Segway could be prohibitive. Asked by one honor student yesterday how much Ginger cost, Kamen said that his company hoped to get the cost down to $3,000 once demand increases.
“Maybe it will be just like cell phones. Ten years ago, nobody had heard of them,” said Kamen.
The students, for their part, were only moderately impressed by the scooter.
“I’d like to have one, but I’d rather have a truck,” said Knycos Ferguson, an honor roll student at a Washington science and technology charter school.
Published in The Eagle-Tribune, in Lawrence, Mass.
