Segway Scooter, Is Walking that Difficult?

The Segway scooter initiative is an interesting example of a completely fabricated societal “need”. It will be used in textbooks in the future to explain the principle of Occam’s Razor (also known as the “principle of parsimony”) and its inevitability. In general this principle states that if you have two or more potentially viable solutions to a problem, the simplest one is usually the most correct.

To all the people who have worked on bringing the Segway scooter to the world… um… hello…. WALKING?

Let’s see, we have two competing solutions to the problem of traveling short distances. Shall we compare?

Walking:

Cost: free

Speed: slow

Availability: everyone automatically

Effort: virtually none

Maintenance: none

Pollution (direct): none

Pollution (indirect): some, but exists for other reasons

Infrastructure Support: 100%

Segway:

Cost: $4000

Speed: slightly faster than slow

Availability: virtually nobody

Effort: some (worries, charging, operating)

Maintenance: charging, repair

Pollution (direct): none

Pollution (indirect): electrical generation, manufacturing

Infrastructure Support: limited (no stairs/steep slopes)

I find it amusing that the are attempting to sell “Freedom” as their main product, when in fact, they are selling exactly the opposite. Everyone is free to walk from the moment they are able to as a child. They are free to move and climb and travel over almost any obstacle.

How free do you feel after spending $4000 to worry about your new investment sitting out on the sidewalk in the blazing sun or pouring rain? Stairs? Sorry, you’re not free to use them.

It’s just so ridiculous. They are attempting to manufacture a completely intangible and unnecessary need. A need that has already been solved by a much simpler solution that is free to every normal person on the planet!

If you want to actually purchase the “freedom” that they are attempting to sell, just go buy yourself a Yamaha Vino, infinitely cooler, more fun, more practical, and half the price. Or… if you really want to shatter the American-norm, you might want to actually… GASP… try on of these contraptions for 1/10 the price of the Seglameway.

[UPDATE] Received a very nice comment.

You exemplify the misunderstanding that surrounds the Segway. I live four miles from where I work. That would take the average person about 80 minutes in each direction to walk and about 10 minutes to drive. On the Segway, it takes me about 17 or 18 minutes, rain, snow or sun. Now, you are not going to tell me that if you lived that far from your work you’d walk each way, would you? For almost a 3 hour round trip commute? Of course you wouldn’t. You’d drive. So, you see, the Segway is not a walking replacement. It’s a driving replacement.

I bought one a year ago, sold my car and have never looked back. Considering my car cost $20k, $1200 per year to insure, was heavily polluting and a general pain in the ass in rush hour traffic and to park, I’d say the Segway’s serving an honorable purpose. I segway 8 miles a day, along a bike path beside a river. No traffic. No parking issues. And no hard feelings to you. I think when most people look at the Segway they have no idea what the hell to do with it. It’s poorly marketed and, admittedly very expensive. But compared to a car, it’s a bargain, extremely practical, and a whole lot more fun.

You certainly make some good points. Perhaps my comparison of the Segway to Walking was incorrect. Based on your usage it seems more appropriate to compare the Segway to Bicycling. Compared this way, I’m certain that cycling would win the contest by an even greater margin.

Even so, I certainly can’t argue with the apparent “fun-ness” factor of the Segway. Even though I think it was created to fulfill a need that has already been adequately fulfilled, I wouldn’t pass up a chance to try one out! They do look like a lot of fun!