No Segway!

by Brian Howard

When news broke that a company called I Glide would begin offering Segway Human Transporter tours of the Schuylkill recreation paths, a collective groan echoed off the Falls Bridge. It came from the pedestrians and bicyclists who are already dodging and weaving around each other on those 8-foot-wide strips of asphalt. These Segway riders (despite the requisite half-hour training session) are likely to be an even more frustrating obstacle than wayward geese or those wide-striding rollerbladers.

The Segway — that innocuous-looking, two-wheeled, electric-powered, gyroscope-balanced, scooter-type thingy — has been a lightning rod for pedestrian rights issues since its birth in 2002.

While I Glide plans to run just two tours a day with a maximum of 10 Segways per tour, it's hard to view this as anything but a slippery slope.

The Fairmount Park Commission [FPC], which oversees the paths, lists a couple of steadfast rules for its trails on its web site. Here's a laughable excerpt from Section 316, Item 2: "All users of Park trails shall observe a speed limit of seven miles per hour on all Park trails." Segways can go as fast as 12 mph, and bikers and joggers have no problem topping that.

More to the point is Section 1: "The use of any motor vehicle, including but not limited to, snowmobiles, motorcycles, motor-powered dirt bikes and motor-powered ATVs is prohibited on all Park trails."

According to FPC Chief of Staff Barry Bessler, the Segway is not a motorized vehicle. "In the spirit of park commission regulations, and this is just my interpretation, [the rule] refers to some sort of gas- or combustible-engine vehicle. Meaning you can't drive your car or motorcycle on those routes."

Peter Hecht, president of grassroots volunteer pedestrian advocacy group Philly Walks, says the issue is often one of legal terminology. "There's been so much playing with language. [The Segway] was defined as an electric personal assistive mobility device [EPAMD]" in Pennsylvania. Which means, essentially, that it's allowed on sidewalks and considered a pedestrian.

Semantics aside, will Segways on the river path spell further congestion on the waterfront? It's hard to say.

"There is no baseline data on how [the path is] being used," bemoans Hecht. "There are no [usage] counts that I'm aware of."

Bessler points out that the appointed route of the Segway tour — which visits Eakins Oval, Lloyd Hall and the Waterworks — has relatively little overlap with the recreation path. On top of that, he calls this a pilot program, designed to gather data on safety, congestion, and wear and tear on the tour route. (The initial Inquirer report mentioned that the tours will visit some Kelly drive sculptures along the recreation path.)

So while states and municipalities debate just where the proper place for Segways is, Hecht, an environmental psychologist by day, worries about the long-term consequences of a Segway society.

"The real issue is what motorization does [psychologically], how that impacts a person in terms of control and how they think of their body moving," says Hecht. "Once you get something moving faster than the pedestrian, or in this case at least the speed of a good clip on a bicycle, the whole thing of how you see yourself and whether you're willing to slow down for other people" becomes a concern.

"Pedestrians don't operate like motor vehicles. They stop. They look around. That's the advantage of being a pedestrian."

And while Hecht doesn't see these I Glide tours as a big deal in and of themselves — "if it ever even gets off the ground, I wouldn't expect to see hundreds of these things" — he does wonder whether it's another step towards "destroying the pedestrian area."