Tuesday 21 May 2013

Parking Redux

It seems each spring the same issues about two-wheeled vehicles come around. Last May, I wrote about battles, particularly in Vancouver, over where riders could park their scooters and motorcycles. (A Place to Park)

This year it's Toronto's turn to reassess where scooters can be parked. For the past few years, the city has been a parking delight full of easy choices. If I wanted to I could park my scooter on any street without paying a fee. If I wanted to I could park my scooter on the sidewalk and not be ticketed. I often chose the sidewalk option for two reasons: I wasn't taking up valuable street parking and I didn't have to worry that an automobilist might not see the scooter in his rear-view window before backing up.

I never parked my scooter on the sidewalk in a way that could block pedestrians or access routes. Nor did I ever see any other scooter obstructing pathways. Yet last week, during Canada Road Safety Week, Toronto police launched a blitz of ticketing called the "Sidewalk/Boulevard Parking Campaign." Apparently, there has been a bylaw on the books saying two-wheeled vehicles can't park on sidewalks. Apparently, Toronto police decided it was time to enforce that bylaw.

So early in the week, riders came out of offices and stores in downtown Toronto to find a yellow $60 parking ticket in their handlebars.

For those of you in countries like Italy and Vietnam the campaign may be hard to understand.
I took this picture in Bologna, Italy, a few years back.

Copywright: Debi Goodwin

The scooters filled a square and the surrounding sidewalks and no one seemed concerned.

This one is from Ho Chi Minh city where scooters often do impede pedestrians.


Copywright: Debi Goodwin

The picture's from outside a market where riders parked where ever they felt like. But, then, so did carts and trucks and, again, no one seemed to mind. In the city centre there is often nowhere else to park except on the sidewalks and the business savvy of the city has responded to that fact.

Clever entrepreneurs charge riders a small amount to leave their scooters and motorcycles in front of their shops and restaurants. They line up the bikes so they're almost touching and pedestrians can just make it past them.

At the end of last week I rode my scooter in downtown Toronto for the first time since the crackdown and, from what I saw, the police had won the day. I still saw scooters on sidewalks but they were on the sidewalks of small streets or streets away from the business centre. But downtown, riders had taken over street parking spots, parking five or six to a spot. I found it hard to find a place to park and, as I finally backed into one next to four bikes and way too close to a parked car for my comfort, several bikes cruised up and down the street looking for spots.

The campaign, at least, will have the effect, I hope of making motorists aware of scooters on the street. But the results - at least on the street I parked on - seemed ludicrous. The sidewalks were wide, smooth and empty. And now they are unsoiled by two-wheeled vehicles.  When I grew up people used to refer to the city as "Toronto The Good." It's definitely aiming for "Toronto The Orderly."


 

Copywright: Debi Goodwin (squished i-pod pictures)

There are, no doubt, confusing and real problems being created by the changing mix of vehicles on Toronto roads. There are more scooters downtown and there are slower electric scooters and motorised bikes, whose riders stick to the curb and travel in bike lanes. I just never noticed that parking on the sidewalk was one of those problems.

Sunday 12 May 2013

India looks to get more men on scooters

Yesterday, riding through the streets of Toronto, I saw more scooters than motorcycles and that makes sense to me. In city traffic, the automatic controls of scooters make all the stops and starts so much easier. In Asian cities there's a true mix of scooters and motorcycles, but that's because motorcycles are made small with smaller engines. Big bikes, like the kind that are popular in North America, are made for the open roads.

What did surprise me was that every scooter I saw yesterday was driven by a man. That got me thinking about India and the heavy promotion of scooters to girls. I've written about this before, but it still fascinates me. (see post, "Marketing to Scooter Girl," and "The Expanding Indian Market in May, 2012.)

Take TVS, the third largest maker of motorcycles, scooters and mopeds. Their numbers show the two-wheeler market may be stalling. All the numbers for their different products were down slightly in April, 2013 from April, 2012.

TVS has three models of scooters: the Wego, Scooty Streak, and Scooty Pep+. The Scooty Pep+ is clearly marketed to young women with its colours and its message that girls just want to have fun...and they can, along with careers and independence.

TVS  ad

In the Scooty Pep+ ad below that includes taking a fun ride to your job as a doctor...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAv4A-g4gsI

and challenging tradition...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JBc-TirhsA

TVS's other scooters, Wego scooter and Scooty Streak are described as "unisex scooters" by salesmen, but their ads still show attractive young women riding them. So TVS may have shot itself in the foot, playing into the belief that scooter are for "sissies," certainly not for men. On "Yahoo answers," I read a discussion on what scooters work for men in India. Only two were sited: a Vespa and the Honda Aviator.

But here's why I love this story again. There have been "spys" who report that TVS is testing a scooter for males on the streets of Chennai. I've included a link to one of the stories I found because I laughed out loud at the sight of the "male-specific" scooter in camouflage. What are they hiding under there? Is this all just another publicity stint to bring Indian men into the scooter fold? (The pictures are from the story below.)


Not to be undone, Yamaha, which has launched the 'Ray" for woman  (with an odd 113 cc engine size) in India is now coming out with a 125cc scooter for Indian males sometime this year. The speculation is it will be bigger with a stronger suspension. I suspect it won't come in pink.

Sunday 5 May 2013

Roman Holiday

Just saw the old film Roman Holiday today at a local theatre that was screening Hollywood classics. Ever since I bought a postcard in Rome for vacances romane  a few years back I've been wanting to see the movie just to watch Audrey Hepburn swooping around the Coliseum on a Vespa driven by Gregroy Peck. The movie did not disappoint in the charm department, but in my opinion, director William Wyler didn't devote enough time to the scooter ride. Still, since the movie dates from 1953 it was fun to watch the first Vespas on the streets of Rome. They were few and far between compared to the numbers that pack the streets today.



In publicity photos like the one below, the Vespa appears to get equal billing with the stars, which was great news for the brand. Since Piaggio's Vespa, with its handle-bar controls, was relatively new when the movie came out  - it was only about seven years old -  the publicity gave the company and scooters a Hollywood boost. Roman Holiday is credited with increasing the sale of Vespas by 100,000.



For those of you who don't know Roman Holiday, it's the story of a bored princess from some unnamed European country who escapes the confines of her role to experience the simple joys of life. Gregory Peck plays a journalist determined to show her the pleasures of Rome while gaining an exclusive story along the way. What better symbol for the joy of new-found freedom, of increased mobility than a scooter. It was a brilliant choice on Wyler's part.

I hadn't seen the photo below before seeing the movie. The glee on Audrey Hepburn's face when she inadvertently took control of the scooter and rode madly for a few crazy moments was priceless, even if the scene became a slapstick one of inept riding. But to the director's credit, he didn't have Hepburn panic and hand back the controls to Gregory Peck who hops on the back. Maybe I'm overstating it here but to me, at that moment, the character looking for escape learned a valuable lesson in taking charge of her own destiny.

 All photos are publicity shots available widely on the web