September 27, 2004
Segway Spottings
DCist had nearly forgotten about the start of Segway tours of the capital's major attractions, until this weekend when we came across this scene at the intersection of New Jersey Avenue and C Street NW.
City Segway Tours, which operates similar operations in Nice, Paris, New Orleans and Chicago, started operations in the nation's capital this summer. The company hosts both day and night tours of the White House area, memorials, Smithsonian campus and U.S. Capitol, all for the price of $65.
DCist saw at least one person have trouble with gizmo in our short encounter with the herd of Segways making their way up to Union Station. But for the most part, everyone glided across streets and along sidewalks with relative ease.
The operation is owned by Fat Tire Bike Tours of Paris, which has been doing bike tours for English-speaking visitors the past six years.
DCist has seen Segways around Dupont Circle. Have you spotted any recently?
Chicagoist on Segway opening retail stores in Chicago.
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A hummer parked in front of Teaism at 8th and D (near the Navy Memorial) unloads a bunch of them from a trailer every day. The ludicrous-looking tour groups meet up there and roll off.
Not as bad as this though:
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/nation/9757061.htm
I rode up the Tenleytown Metro elevator with a Segway-riding boomer a few weeks ago. He loved it.
Segs in the City (which I first saw in Annapolis) is also running tours from by the Pavillion at the Old Post Office.
Segway sightings in the city seem to be on an uptick, though. A week ago my partner and I were driving to the Other Side of the River down 21st, and we saw a man in a suit on a segway. His smug, self-satisfied expression was just absurd. But he didn't need nearly as much of a smack as the two folks I saw riding segways down 13th Street during the morning rush late last week. They were puttering along at their speedy 12.5 mph, side by side down the hill between K and I, taking up a whole traffic lane. I was walking to work, so it didn't effect me the way it did all the poor drivers stuck behind 'em, but it annoyed me all the same.
It's not unusual for me to see Segways rolling north on 17th Street NW as I approach Rhode Island Ave. Didn't realize it was a tourist thing, though. I just thought they were locals showing off what they could afford.