Whatever happened to the Segway?

[CTyankee]

Maybe after G.W. Bush found himself dumped out of one people realized the thing was not a good idea.

If you think about it, it was a little bit of a crazy idea. How on earth would be accommodate such a vehicle? Would there be special lanes? Would it be limited to just city streets that had Segway lanes?

It kinda, sorta was a good idea but without a way to implement it, it couldn't succeed.

[dawg day]

1. I was in an airport last week, and the police rode Segways.

They looked kind of funny, both hands on the handlebars, a helmet on their heads, in the middle of the concourse.

In some airports, they use bicycles, but those are more likely to hit a walker, I suppose.

Seems to have been overtaken in cities by those scooters.

[Beartracks]

4. LOL Yep. I just posted the same thing.

We have at least 2 competing scooter outfits where I am.

Does somebody come around arrange these scooters in little clusters at intersections periodically, or do users really park them with such care when they're done with them?




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[underpants]

2. There are Segway tours of downtown Richmond.

I also see a guy zipping up the sidewalk downtown in the afternoons. He wears a long coat this time of year and he has a one wheel device to I'm not sure if there is some sort of a control that extends up or not.

[fleur-de-lisa]

12. There are segway tours in the French Quarter in New Orleans too.

It's a really bad idea. So many tourists come to New Orleans to get plastered. I can't believe no one has killed himself (or someone else) with a segway in New Orleans yet.

[Beartracks]

3. Some group used to rent them out to folks to get around downtown here. But now...

... we have a whole bunch of those scooters instead (the ones you locate and rent thru a mobile app). Haven't seen a family on Segways in a while.

I think cops and security guys still use them, though.

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[Blue Owl]

5. Kinda surprised trump doesn't use one

seems like the kind of dumb, lazy thing he'd use to propel himself from room to room in the WH, Mar-a-lago, etc.

[rurallib]

6. Always had him pegged as a motorized toilet sort of man.

ETA grunting on the go.

[LakeSuperiorView]

8. That would require him to stand while in motion, and to have to think.

He likes his fat ass firmly planted in a seat while someone else drives - that makes him feel important.

The White House isn't that big, or well set up for life on wheels. He doesn't often move from a room to a room further than one doorway away. Think Bed, bathroom, TV couch, bathroom, TV couch, office to sign something, bathroom, TV couch, bed.

He;d be a candidate for the hover loungers in Wall-E if they were real.

[Recursion]

7. Sold tons of them to police departments and guided tours

They're all over DC still

[jmowreader]

9. You can still get them

Police departments, security companies and tour companies buy them. They are really expensive, and most regular people don't see the need to spend $5000 on something like that.

[Wounded Bear]

10. I think sales fell off when the Co. owner died on one...

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/39377851/ns/world_news-europe/t/segway-company-owner-rides-scooter-cliff-dies/

A British businessman who bought the Segway company less than a year ago died after riding one of the scooters off a cliff and into a river near his Yorkshire estate.

Jim Heselden, known locally as Jimi,acquired the Segway company from its U.S. inventor Dean Kamen in December 2009.

According to the British media, Heselden, 62, plunged into the River Wharfe while riding a rugged country version of the two-wheeled transporter on Sunday.

Police said a witness had reported seeing a man fall over a 30-foot drop into the river near Boston Spa, 140 miles north of London.

[skypilot]

11. The guy who invented thw Segway...

...Dean Kamen, kinda struck me as one of those "smart/dumb" people. He was on 60 Minutes years ago talking about the Segway. He had also just invented what looked like a really awesome water purification device but he seemed to be trying to plug the Segway every chance he got. The water purification device struck me as more impressive. And useful.