Tiny scooters - big issues

You said: "My specific beef is with Massachusetts and the city of Boston. They have new scooter legislation that takes effect in a few days, the gist of which is that all scooter-like vehicles (motorized bikes, mopeds and scooters of all sizes) must be licensed, plated and parked according to the same regulations of a car. If there was ever an apples to oranges comparison, putting scooters and cars in the same category is it."

Wrong. The new law requres "scooters" that have power outputs above a certain point to be regulated like motorcycles, not cars.

Your "200 pound scooter" is less of a motorized bike than it is a malnourished motorcycle and should be subject to the same rules.

Solution? Get a bigger bike or a smaller moped. End of story.

they should also be registered, follow the rules of the road, etc; but riders often don't understand why they are being stopped and ticketed for violations. On the other hand, how many casual riders do the type of thing that make you want to yell from your car window, "That's how cyclists get killed?"

Same with scooters. It's one thing when you have people who treat it with understanding and respect but I'm seeing more and more idiots with a death wish. There is a piece of me that screams "evolution in action!" and another part that screams "you give the rest of us a bad rep."

If the City of Boston is serious about this, then they should create scooter areas the same way they have bike racks rather than force a scooter to take a full parking spot. So converting one parking space to a "scooter zone" - say in the middle of the block - then it should work much better and send a message to drivers: hey, maybe you want to think about different transportation.

Technically, all the scooters affected by this (only those capable of 30+ mph) are currently classified as motorcycles and should be getting plates, registration, etc.

This just creates an intermediate category between little mopeds and full-blown motorcycles, which is totally sensible. Technically, everybody riding one of these could already be ticketed up the wazoo for failing to meet motorcycle standards.

I rely on a scooter to commute to/from work each day. I live and work in two of the most impossible to park areas of the city (Beacon Hill and Harvard Square). If these idiots think I'm going to park my vehicle on the street without being able to secure it properly, they've got another thing coming. Last time I checked, no MA insurance provider will write for a scooter, and without that assurance, why would anyone risk having their mode of transportation lifted into a truck while they're at work or in their home?

There's a thread about these new laws at urbanscootin.com: http://www.urbanscootin.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=...

So far, the good news looks like the laws allow the RMV to put new rules into effect, but don't force them to. From what I've heard, the RMV has no immediate plans. That said, I have no idea if the parking regulations will be more strictly enforced as of Aug 1. As anecdotal evidence that they might not be, it is technically illegal in Cambridge to park a scooter on the sidewalk, but I have never witnessed a ticket being written. Whether or not that will change with pressure from the state is the real question.

Regardless of its enforcement, the idea of writing laws for an infrastructure that isn't ready to handle on-street scooter storage is just down right stupid, and is one more nail in the coffin of Massachusetts' alternate transportation world. Raise the MBTA fares, tax small two wheeled vehicles, write more tickets... let's face it, this state wants us in cars or it wants us off their grid.

I wrote the governor's office by going to this site: http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3utilities&sid=Agov... to express my dissatisfaction with the new laws going into effect. I suggest others do the same.

I'm sorry but I am not sympathetic. At all.

While all these hipsters decry the oppression they are facing under what is common law among other states I want to draw attention to a group whose opinion on this matter has been utterly ignored: the disabled.

I am wheelchair bound (I'm old-school don't give me any of that PC bullshit). I cannot tell you how many times I have had to double-back for an entire block because of a scooter legally parked on the sidewalk has made it impossible for me to continue. The number of times I've been late for work, had to endure the honking and aggressive drivers on the streets to get around these damned things. This has been a huge problem in older neighborhoods like the South End, JP, and North End. All places I have lived and worked while living in Boston. What recourse has there been for me up until now?

Not a damned thing.

And I'm supposed to feel sorry for these people who park freely without a single thought about how it impacts other people's lives, property, and ability to freely move about the city? Please. They can suffer like everyone else and learn to park like adults.

I doubt these people would even be satisfied with a program like NYC implemented by adding large numbers of scooter-only parking areas. Six scooters can fit into an area the size of a normal parking place. In a city like Boston, this would do wonders to encourage their use as people seeing those empty spaces as they endlessly circle would be undoubtedly tempted.

Scooters are undoubtedly a fashionable, convenient, and efficient means of transit. But as they've grown in popularity they have caused great impact upon the disabled population of Boston. I am glad this is changing, because it has totally sucked for us.

Kids, this is the real world now.

scooters over 50cc must be plated and insured. Anything *under* 50cc is illegal, and police have often gone on confiscation campaigns (although they don't seem to do that much anymore).

It will certainly be interesting to see how the parking legislation works out in Boston.

They see the joy of small vehicles, scooters, the efficiency and the fun, and they feel an evil need to screw it all up - that's the definition of a pol.

When the bike trails were opened in Northampton, they sought to exclude electrics - scooters, bikes, the head of the mass DEP was an evol women we had to take to court and get a sympathetic Fed involved.

The Feds, even under Bush, had decent laws passed for light electrics, which many states either ignored or just blew off.

There are now full sized electric scooter that are highway capable, but you better hope that your local DMV, insurer, and local constabulary are hip. Otherwise.....good, luck, so sad the stories.

I had a 49cc scooter 15 years ago. I registered it with the RMV as a motorcycle. Since I had plates, I could get (motorcycle) insurance. I did all this so that if the scooter was stolen or vandalized, I was covered. Unfortunately, by putting plates on it, I was required by law to ride in traffic (not squeezing in-between stopped traffic like un-plated scooters do).

For the last few years I've had a "maxi-scooter". It's a 400cc motorcycle that is called a scooter because it's an automatic (CVT) transmission and has a step-through design. It's required by law to be plated, registered, insured, etc. While I wish I could legally 'lane split' like California allows, MA laws make that illegal.

What the little scooters need is their own vehicle classification. Make them a different plate type (scooter plate?), allow for insurance (I'm sure some owners would like that), and give them some rules for parking and driving. There isn't any city endorsed motorcycle parking I've seen, but scooter parking could be just that, for scooters.

If nothing else, the city/state cold make a few bucks and those who don't like them would be able to push for stricter rules.