The scooter revolution

Sure, there are negatives -- you can fall and hurt yourself, you whiz by so quickly that you can't say hi to friends -- but scooter riders prefer to focus on the positives of their chosen mode of transportation. Like the fact that they're portable. Like the fact that they're much faster than your average pair of walking shoes. Like the fact that a 10-minute walk becomes a five-minute ride. Since the beginning of the year, Penn students have been bitten by the scooter bug. On any given sunny day, undergraduates race the length of Locust Walk on a set of wheels that have become a nationwide trend. Of course, they're not quite the fad that skateboards were back in the 1980s, but scooters have become a convenient alternative to bikes, as well as a manageable way to get from Beige Block to Bennett Hall. "A lot of people seem to have them on the Walk," says Engineering sophomore Michael Jue, a scooter rider himself. "I think it's a bit of a fad so people like to hop onto it." But what students seem to like most about the scooter craze can be summed up in two simple words: extra sleep. "I can wake up like five minutes before class and still make it," says Nursing freshman Siam Sukumvanich, who explains that using a scooter can shave six to seven minutes off of a 10-minute walk. Not surprisingly, area stores have noticed the trend. In the fall, when the fad boomed, they were quick to supply the demand among students. How can the phenomenon be explained? Stores aren't sure, but some venture a guess like this: "Feeling like you're experiencing something you always wanted to experience as a kid, but your mom didn't buy for you," says Alia Cole, assistant manager at Urban Outfitters. "Or you just want to get back to what it felt like in childhood to have something like that." Ma Jolie, another store on campus, began selling the apparatus about six weeks ago. "They're the latest thing," says Peggy Rittenhouse, the store's regional manager. "They're definitely a fad, and they sell." "They're fun," Rittenhouse adds. "They're just fun, harmless fun." While scooters may indeed be fun, expert scooter riders have some advice for the novice: Riding a scooter isn't as easy as it seems. And riding a scooter on Penn's campus, for that matter, isn't easy at all. "You have to watch out for cracks -- the wheels will get stuck there," Sukumvanich warns. "Penn has a slope, so it's easy to go to class," Engineering sophomore Alex Rhee explains. "But you can't ride it back; it's like impossible because it's all uphill." Rhee, who no longer uses his scooter as often as he once did, says there are dangers associated with scooter use. Like with any product, being a savvy consumer helps. Ma Jolie sells scooters for $99. Urban Outfitters' scooters are currently marked down to $48 from an original price of $120. If you're looking to purchase a scooter of your own, you better act fast -- Penn's bookstore no longer carries the popular device and Urban Outfitters won't carry it for much longer. "Our store is about being on the edge," Cole explains. "We were one of the first to have them, but when everyone followed, scooters became passe. We will sell our scooters until our stock runs out." Hence the sale. While zooming by all those students still trekking to class the old fashioned way, it is sometimes difficult for scooter riders to say hello. "They're never [close enough to me], so I can't say hi to them," Sukumvanich says. Nonetheless, a bond does develop amongst the scooter population. So, do scooter riders ever get teased? But of course. "People just say, 'Hey scooter boy,'" Rhee says. "My friends crack comments, but later they're like, 'Hey, where'd you get that?' I'm sure everyone wants a scooter." Rhee remains unfazed by the occasional scooter heckler. After all, "What's so embarrassing about it?" he asks.

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