The Rebirth Of The Scooter  

Scooters aren't bicycles but they are still a lot more fuel efficient than cars, so its not surprising to see they are growing in popularity as fuel prices rise. The NYT reports on the scooter renaissance:

Bicyclists in New York are known to possess an evangelical fervor. (What other mode of transportation has its own self-declared celebratory month? Imagine “city bus month.”) Now another fervor-driven environmentally friendly transportation group is growing up behind them: the scooter obsessives.

The surge in gas prices has turned people toward gas-sipping scooters across the country — even in New York City. The riders were out in force this past weekend for a New York Scooter Club block party at Brass Monkey, with scooters daintily lined up side by side on the street.

In the first three months of 2008, scooter sales were up nationwide by 24 percent compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council. And that was before gas starting hitting $4 a gallon. A continued rise in fuel prices could accelerate sales further. The increase in gas prices in summer 2005 correlated with a jump in scooters sales of 64.5 percent during the summer months compared with summer 2004. (Sales in the entire motorcycle category went up also, but by only 16 percent.)