Scooting around New York City

When it comes to getting around NYC, there are a variety of ways to go. We are lucky enough to have a pretty robust public transportation system, and of course some choose to own cars or even motorcycles.

I live in an outer-borough of New York City (Queens) and although I own a car, I also thought it might be more economical (and fun) to purchase a scooter as well.

I've had my Honda Ruckus for about 3 weeks now, and everywhere I go, I get questions. Everything from "What's the MPG on that thing?" (90 - 100, depending on how you drive), "Do you need a motorcycle license?" (Nope, as long as it goes under 40 mph, all you need is a drivers license), "Where can I get one of those?" (Motorcycle dealerships mostly, although there are some places that specialize) and just about every driver that sees me filling it up gets a wistful gleam in their eye when they notice the ticker has stopped below $5.

A slow ride through central park, we saw parts of the park we had never seen before.

I've also noticed that ever since I've gotten it, I find myself using it far more than my car. I look for excuses to go for a ride, and my girlfriend and I find ourselves making more stops on the way from A to B, at places we normally wouldn't visit otherwise.

We made some new friends at the Brass Monkey, a bar where scooter/bike riders meet every Wednesday to eat and socialize.

There are a couple of things to keep in mind, however, if you think a scooter might be a good option. The first is of course safety, always wearing a helmet is a no brainer but non-required gear like gloves, riding-jacket and riding boots are certainly worth considering.

Secondly, as opposed to getting around on a car or even on trains and buses, you might need to travel lighter than usual. Maybe swap out that binder full of loose leaf notebook paper for a few Galison Mini Journals? A backpack is probably a better option to a messenger bag, but either is good for extra storage as long as they don't make your balance awkward.

You may have to keep better track of the weather. When you're taking the subway and buses, it may be relatively easy to dart from station to station, or just pick up an umbrella, you won't have that option on a scooter. I like to check Weather.com, they have hourly forecasts for any web-enabled cell phone, you can obviously also check it from any computer with web access. You can buy special wet-riding gear, but most people would probably just rather avoid the rain all together.

A final tip my girlfriend discovered is to bring a small tube of sunscreen, after a day of driving around Brooklyn and Queens, she wore a minor sunburn as proof.

Thanks to our scooters, we've also had the opportunity to meet some great people that are part of New York City's 2-wheeled community, including a rider named Wan, who came to American from Korea and has logged 17,000 miles in the past 8 months traveling at an average of 35MPH. He's camped on the side of roads and crashed on couches of people he's met in the scooter community and after his visit to New York, plans to ride down to Washington D.C. before heading back at his original starting point in North Carolina and then finally boarding a plane for home.

- Oje Ihonvbere

You can probably figure out which one of us is Wan in this picture (Yes, the one standing), I'm 2nd to last on right.

 

As we entered the city to show Wan around on June 25th, we were promptly pulled over by an NYPD officer, also riding a scooter. Wan had some plate issues, but by the end of the encounter, the officer and Wan had swapped scooters after hearing his story, they both posed for pictures.

Comments

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