Citizen complaint of the day: Apparently, the city's yet to start enforcing its ban on Segways in parks

Am I the only one who notices that people look so foolish on these things? Do tourists actually say "I can't wait to go to Boston and ride a Segway around busy city streets"? Can't they stay home on their farms and do this?

without bicycle paths that could also be paths for these machines? It's great that the City is trying to encourage people to drive less, but yesterday walking down Atlantic Ave. at rush hour a few blocks away from South Station, I first had to dodge a flock of the new Hubway bicycles and then get out of the way of a group of people on Segways who were speeding along oblivious to all of the pedestrians around them.

Meanwhile, across the street, there was virtually no one on the Greenway. I guess that means that's where I and every other pedestrian should take refuge if we don't want to risk getting knocked down, but shouldn't sidewalks be sideWALKS? If there's really no place for bikes and Segways to go except on the sidewalks because no one planned for bike paths during the Big Dig, then please, let's give pedestrians a fighting chance and get travel lanes painted on these wide sidewalks that the wheeled among us adore so much.

Gosh, the city is awful, isn't it? Personally, I wouldn't go there - you get stuck behind a duck boat in your car, and you can't see the lights, the street signs. Same goes for a bus, or a big truck, or a large SUV. Then, if you take the train, they aren't always on time, and the people on there often talk on cell phones, loudly, or softly, either way it bothers me. Then, once you're in Boston, why there are crowds, and they don't always walk in an orderly fashion, and at times, they walk too slowly (if I'm behind someone) or too quickly (if they're behind me). Now "they" have added bike and Segway traffic to the mix. I walked through Columbus park a few weeks ago, and got stuck behind a couple of baby strollers who obviously thought they owned the walkway. Now, I've decided to stay at home in my easy chair, with the lights, tv and radio off. People, huh?

On street segway lanes? Give me a break.

So enforcement of the ban on driving segways on sidewalks and parks will wait until the city builds on-street lanes for segways? That is not true for cyclists, who are banned from riding downtown on sidewalks whether or not there are bike lanes or paths on the street. Why is the priority given to wealthy suburbanites over residents trying to bike to work?

Does this mean the bike lanes the city recently promised along Atlantic ave are going to be filled with lazy tourists riding segways? That will render them useless for cyclists.

Segways are motorized and should drive where other motorized vehicles are, in the streets.

And on a bit of a tangent, when I visited the Museum of Science a few weeks ago, there seemed to be a start point for Segway tours outside the museum. What was hilarious though is that the guys running the tour and waiting for customers (they were wearing some sort of official polo shirt). Both of them were wearing those thick black injury braces- one fellow had one on his knee and a second had his entire lower arm in a brace...
When the people running the tours look like they were in an accident, maybe it's time to try a different way to get around the city...

I've never heard Segway lanes mentioned anywhere before. I think the city is technically supposed to be enforcing this now, since the tour operator was denied an injunction. The city is passing up $1,200 in revenue from the violations in this snapshot. Multiply that times 20 something tours per day and it's serious money for both the city and the egregious scofflaw.

If you actually read the ordinance, it makes no sense that enforcement has to wait until regulations are in place. Except for those who can show they need them due to a disability, operation of Segways on the sidewalk are forbidden, period. The city needs to make regulations dealing with specific routes, safety devices and training materials, etc. However, no matter what regulations are created, it is the law that the tours have to operate on the street. There is no reason that the police cannot enforce the prohibition of Segways on sidewalks and in parks or other pedestrian areas. Authorized enforcement includes seizure of the offending vehicle, which would seem justified since the same tour operator continues to violate the law with impunity.

Get rid of 'em! Vile things. The tour operators are rude and show a disdain for anyone on foot, especially for little children who seem to be are treated as 'obstacles' in their fat lazy-ass segway-riding path.