It’s not surprising that scooter sales are lower now that gas prices are as well, but a 67% year-over-year nationwide drop in sales is higher than I would have expected.
Scooters aren’t as hip since gas prices dipped
Sales set a record last year, but they’re tumbling
Monday, September 14, 2009 3:08 AM
By Erin Dostal
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCHA record 220,000 Americans bought scooters in 2008, and for a moment, it seemed like the zippy two-wheelers weren’t just for hipsters and Europeans anymore.
But Aaron Saez, manager of the Speed Factory on High Street, thinks that after the scooter sales boom last summer, people aren’t riding them or have lost interest.
“A couple thousand scooters that sold (in Columbus) should be on the road, and I’m not seeing them,” he said. “On my block, I see five or 10 people with scooters just sitting in their garages.”
Mike Allen, owner of Motohio, a dealership on Scarborough Boulevard, said his scooter sales are down about 50 percent from last year.
…Because of demand from riders, Columbus created 25 corrals for scooter and motorcycle riders Downtown, in German Village and in the Short North. Collectively, they have space for about 280 two-wheelers.
But only 142 permits have been sold since the city began requiring them in March. The permit costs $50 per year.
A $50 permit for vehicles that cut our dependence on foreign oil, take up less space, put less wear and tear on city streets, and often emit less pollutants? Why is the city charging for the permits? The cost should be covered by license fees for cars and heavy trucks- that destroy roads and curbs.
Scooters will be back.