Charles, look what was in my local paper today!
Riding past the sky high price of gas- NJ.com Riding past the sky high price of gas
Monday, June 16, 2008
By Lucas K. Murray
lmurray@sjnewsco.com
For more than half a century the motorized scooter has been a preferred mode of transportation for men and women from Beijing to Barcelona.
Though helmeted riders jockey with traffic on the streets of crowded European cities with regularity, scootering has yet to get rolling here the way it has abroad. Now, whether it be for recreational, social or economic reasons, more and more Americans and more of your South Jersey neighbors are getting around on two wheels.
Take Dr. David Carrozzino for example.
The podiatrist said he regularly makes the trip from his Mantua home to his office in Woodbury on his Italian-made Vespa scooter and has done so for a decade.
"Ever since I was in Italy ten years ago, I knew I just had to have one," Carrozzino said.
He just upgraded from his 50cc scooter to Vespa's top of the line Granturismo 200. The bike can keep up with most small cars with its 80 mph top speed. Carrozzino said his not-so-secret pleasure is to take a relaxing drive through the some of the more scenic parts of Gloucester County when he's not making house calls.
"I'll make a left turn onto Route 45 and head out to the farms and just cruise," the doctor said.
He'll make his way down the shore on the weekends or cross the bridge into Philadelphia for a cheesesteak. In the City of Brotherly Love, scooters can be found far easier than in South Jersey. The same goes for organizations and clubs where owners can share their love of riding. New York City and Washington, D.C. have long-established groups. Philadelphia has its share with several dozen riders, but the scene only continues to grow as sales skyrocket.
Back on the Jersey side, Steve Przybycin, manager of Admiral Vespa in Mays Landing said in the past three weeks he has moved about 30 scooters. That's a 200 percent increase compared to this time last year for the year-old dealership. Rewind to twelve months ago andgas prices were also about a dollar cheaper. It's that dollar difference that Przybycin thinks has so many motorists augmenting their travel with smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicles.
"Look at your guys in the large SUVs and ask them how much it costs to fill their tanks up," Przybycin said. "It commonly exceeds $100 for them. You can take that $100 and knock a zero off it to fill the tank of your scooter."
Most scooters are equipped with gas tanks with a capacity of two to three gallons. Many of the scooters Przybycin sells get between 70 to 80 miles per gallon and cost as much as $6,000. Compare that to a 2008 Toyota Prius with a combined city and highway mileage of 45 and a $22,000 price tag and many people are opting for two-wheeled transport.
Przybycin said he's seeing customers coming in from as far away as New York, but for him, there's no typical Vespa rider.
"It's all over the board, from 18 to 80," Przybycin said. "It's not gender-specific. Everybody's buying them."
Williamstown-native Dawn Pritchard has had her eye on a scooter for several years now, but it wasn't until recently she caved and picked up one of her own. Now living in the Philadelphia suburbs, the 29-year-old horticulturalist opted for a TNG Milano an American-designed and made alternative to a Vespa.
"My car uses way too much gas and I was just getting sick of it," Pritchard said. "On top of that I thought a scooter would just be a lot of fun."
In her eyes the machine definitely pays for itself. She estimates in a normal work week, her scooter payment is equal to what she has to spend to fill up the tank of her car. Unlike Carrozzino, Pritchard isn't ready to take her prized pearl green scooter she calls "Ellie" out on the highway or out in bad weather.
"Even when it's a light rain, it hits you like BBs," Pritchard said.
To pilot a scooter in New Jersey, one must pass the state's motorcycle drivers test, just like the Harley-Davidson's and sport performance motorcycles more commonly found on area highways. The same goes for riders in Pennsylvania. Carrozzino said it's not unusual for him to chat about bikes with those on more powerful machines and will share the biker wave a flat palm extended low and to the side with them when passing on the road. It's people who aren't familiar with scooters that ask the most questions when they see him in his helmet and goggles.
"I get mostly stares," Carrozzino said with a hint of mischief in his voice. "People will roll down their windows and say oh my god, what is that."
"It's an eye catcher."
Linear Mode
