The practicailty of riding a scooter

Earlier this year I took a 3 week trip to Colombia, South America. I visited many regions of the country and noticed a view of life outside of America quite unique. I'll definitely visit again because people there live an entirely different life from what we here in America are used to. And although I can go on and talk about all the differences I have found, I'll leave that to a future post.

One of the things that ran through my mind as I was out there was, if people in Colombia make less money than people in the United States of America, how do the people of Colombia confront the price surge of gasoline in 2008 to go to and from work and basic necessities? While I was in Bogota, I saw numerous smart cars and pretty much lots of scooters. It didn't dawn on me much until I saw scooters all over the country and my cousin came up riding in one.

Anyway, the trip was a blast in January and as I got back I started realizing gas prices kept going higher. The scooter was completely out of my mind until a co-worker told me she enjoyed riding her scooter. A light bulb came on in my head telling me, this is incredible.

I am sitting next to an individual that rides a scooter in America. Be it at that Houston, Texas. It's not like you run into somebody you know who has a scooter everyday. So I asked her more questions in curiosity and listened to her tell me that she has been riding a scooter for 4 years now and is completely satisified.

I immediately researched everything I could about scooters and before you know it I became a proud owner of a Kymco People 250. I took a motorcycle safety course and took a written test at the DPS and got a new license. And all I can say is I enjoy riding it more than driving a car. I guess I'm so sick and tired of driving cars, this adds spice to my life.

The overall benefits is it is a two seater, it gets 70 mpg , and I've taken it to 80 miles an hour on the highway and fills up for less than $10. I added the largest Givi trunk on the market to the back of the scooter so I can use it to carry items from the grocery store to home or home to the post office to mail items, etc... It even fits my briefcase to go to work.

So yes I do take it to work as well. Automakers can't beat the mpg for the moment. Sure there is talk about a 100 mpg vehicle coming in 2010 but at what price? $30K or $40K. It sure isn't going to be $3K. That's all I spent on the scooter. And I found out as long as I maintain my Kymco it will last me 40 years. Holy Sh*t, I can't even count how many cars I've had since the age of 17. And I'm 32.

Now when I am on the road with my scooter, people stare hard at me like they never seen anyone on a scooter and I can't help but stare back at one person driving a large SUV by his or herself with out anyone else in it. And I say to myself what a waste of lugging around a big piece of equipment that tells me most likely more than half the time that person is riding that vehicle by his or herself. I mean how much space do you need. If people are using it all or most of the time for a specific purpose then great. But something tells me each person has to feel special about having their own 15 mpg big vehicle for power status purposes. It sure hurts their wallets at the gas pump. Why follow the herd? Which I conclude is not practical at all.

Please feel free to share other contrarian ideas that come to mind.