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One of the biggest crime problems in the Metro system has long been thefts from autos parked in the lots at the end of the different rail lines. Thieves know that Metro's large, outer parking lots are filled with cars whose owners won't return until the end of the day, so they prowl them like kids in a candy store.
Enter the T3, Metro's newest experiment in increasing their police officers' ability to patrol the expansive parking lots. Not to be confused with that other T3, these are $10,000 three-wheeled vehicles that work a lot like Segways, except with slightly more power. WMATA has just purchased two T3's, which can travel up to 25 miles per hour, and say they will purchase more if Transit Police officers decide they are helpful enough.
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And this is better than a motorcycle how?
No one is going to take the top echelons of MTPD out for a lot of expensive dinners to convince them to buy two motorcycles.
Maneuvering ability, at least potentially. But yeah, this seems like a technocrat response. Probably too futuristic and dependent on one manufacturer to be cost-effective unfortunately.
Damn budgets!
2019 is just around the corner and we still don't have Bladerunner Spinner cars? WTF? And where the hell is my Nexus 6 pleasure unit? Lemme guess: she's been hired by an offworld kick murder squad.
WMATA should've pooled their pennies with MPDC and bought an ED-209.
I think horses would be a better choice because if you jump from the horse onto the perpetrator the horse will eventually stop. At least that's what happens with Clint Eastwood.
This is a great success for WMATA. These $10k toys are going to be way more fun for Metro officers to use than mere $200 bicycles.
Excellent point!
I'm pro bikes, but they're not as quick out of the starting blocks as something with a motor which is obviously important in this situation. With these (or a bike), the goal is to apprehend someone before they take off in a faster vehicle. At 25mph hour, they'll catch up to anyone who isn't Usain Bolt. Also, not all cops (let alone WMATA police) are in the kind of shape to even reach 25mph on a bike at full momentum/effort.
The important questions: are they nimble/can they take tight turns and maneuver after someone on foot? are they safe? $10k sounds a bit hefty, but in Metro's defense, they're only aimed at the large commuter lots at the end of the lines, so it won't add up nearly as much.
What they need are custom versions that can raise up transformer-style and provide an impromptu crow's nest to see over all the massive SUVs.
By all accounts, they're tippy as hell. Personally, I'm not surprised; three-wheeled ATVs used to be pretty popular, but they stopped making them for the same reason. Between the continuum of bike (way cheaper, comparable speed and maneuverability) to segway (half the price, same visibility, and way more agile) to motorcycle (not much more expensive and way faster/more versatile), I really just don't see the need for these.
Motorcycle-steeper learning curve. Need licensed cops to operate, tough to handle at low speeds, slower on/off, not "always on".
Bikes-Did you look at the officers in the video? Same thing about operating at slow speeds.
On a bike or motorcycle, try driving at 5 MPH and look at an object on your left. Maintain eye contact while you continue to drive slowly. Stop the motorcycle/bike and get off while still keeping your eye on the target.
So, top speed of 25MPH? Good thing most car thieves are morbidly obese guys named "Tiny," otherwise they'd be able to slowly waddle away from these T3 doohickeys.
Ten grand will buy you at least a dozen jackasses on which the cops can patrol the lots. Problem is having a jackass on top of a jackass might cause a quantum singularity of jackassness and the whole Metro might implode which, come to think of it, isn't that bad of an idea. You'd take care of the car theft, tunnel fire, telescoping train, and CHUD sabotage in one fell swoop. Or one swell poop as the case may be.
These should be outfitted with a bulletproof shield like a police motorcycle or they're worthless in a dangerous pursuit situation. Also, can they be maneuvered one handed and quickly dismounted?? That would be put them above a motorcycle or a regular bike.
Three words: jetpacks and asschaps.
If they build all the parking lots near water that might actually work
It looks like R2-D2.
Seeing how these things look a bit like chariots, with the open backs, I think a golden chariot with four magnificent white steeds would be a lot more terrifying for would-be car burglars. It worked in Ben Hur.
You just know these guys are jousting on them in their spare time, with traffic cone helmets and toilet plunger lances. I am willing to pay the parking charge just to see this, so long as the loser is disemboweled and his entrails burned before my eyes. And then we shall have pudding. There will be much rejoycing.
I saw an officer on one these outside the National Gallery yesterday morning. Metro must not be the only organization using them around here.
They've been using them for a couple years now.
Add a seat to the T3 and you can use it to shop at Walmart when you're off work!
Rubber bullets and better fire arms training...
Cost aside, these make a lot of sense to me. Bikes and motorcycles are less maneuverable at low speeds and require more "situational awareness" than these things.
And as someone else mentioned they are faster on/off.
I just wonder why they didn't just go with segways, they make a zippy "industrial" version and the city already has experience with them.
Like these...
http://www.segway.com/individual/models/x2.php
I don't understand why a three-wheeled model is better than the two-wheeled original for patrolling a parking lot.
Chicago's police use the two-wheeled segway for patrolling Millenium Park (bikes aren't allowed in the park so allowing cops to ride them would be hypocritical) and the airports too I think. Long Beach CA uses them to patrol the streets. Cincinnati police use them to patrol Taste of Cincinnati.
You also po-po riding Segways all over the Hill.
see. You also see po-po riding Segways all over the Hill.
Hooray! Now they can engage in a chase worthy of the chase scene in space mutiny!
I see a film idea here: "Segways of the Gods".
"Not to be confused with that other T3". Now that would be fun! Can you imagine some kid from Ohio, (short sleeve white dress shirt with a tie - love it) in his box-shaped Scion seeing the T3 clamped on his tailgate?
Thefts from autos? Here in the city, we've learned to deal with this by simply leaving NOTHING visible in your car -- including pocket change. No extra police patrolling or gizmos for us. I'm truly surprised to hear this is one of Metro's biggest crime problems. I'm all for encouraging folks to take Metro, and some degree of parking lot security is certainly called for, but is this a problem that could be addressed in the first instance through better signage on the part of Metro and more awareness on the part of car owners?