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Comment by sonnyblarney | Hacker News Reader

What blows me away is that the US had not discovered 'regular scooter' culture.

I mean the scooters like mopeds.

They are common in almost every country outside North America!

In Paris you see this beautiful girl, flowing dress, like out of a magazine - and she's on her moped! Out to dinner or whatever, it's normal.

They are cheap and they take up the same space as a bicycle. If SF made a few 'moped / bicycle' only streets, like a grid in downtown, where traffic just flew by and was fast ... maybe you'd see tons of people make the switch.

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>What blows me away is that the US had not discovered 'regular scooter' culture.

Most states force mopeds to be registered, insured, require a special license, etc, etc like motorcycles making them nearly useless as a means of cheap transportation. They're better than a car for "around town" type tasks in cities with oppressive parking costs but that's about it. If you want to make any progress in reverting this it will be over the objection of all the concerned mothers who will scream "think of the children" at the top of their lungs.

"registered, insured, require a special license" that's not so bad.

Not that cheap cheaper than a car yes but you are looking at £4 -5 k for a Vespa - 1 or 2 less for a lesser brand with worse handling.

The problem you have with 300cc scooters in particular the 300GTS is thieving scrotes nick them for moped based crime.

I suspect the parent was referring to mopeds like this $1k 50cc RTX. I see plenty of Vespas, but I don't think I've ever seen this style of moped in the US:

https://www.redfoxpowersports.com/50cc-upgrade-rtx-scooter-m...

Seen plenty of these, they're super easy to tell because they're loud as hell because people usually remove all of the muffler.

>£4 -5 k for a Vespa - 1 or 2 less for a lesser brand with worse handling.

Vespas have small wheels, any other lesser brand will have better handling (but worse design).

That's a moped and will they have ABS and Traction control ?

KTF Real scooters have small wheels.

American cities got very different layout, mopeds are good for certain type of more congested narrow street type of cities where people also don't care so much about mopeds zipping inbetween cars. I can't see this happening in American driving culture and if you have to just behave like another vehicle on the road you might as well just drive a car. Must say though, even countries where mopeds were popular are now transitioning to electric bikes and scooters because it is cheaper, doesn't require any license and usually good enough for the inner city. You can see it happening in China or Israel.

1. Is it less safe?

2. Only works in cities with good weather all year long. I don't want to ride a moped in flowing dress in chicago winter.

3. Cities in US are spread out. I don't want to ride a moped on the highway to work or a friends house.

4. Top speed is very low. Safe top speed is even less.

Yeah of course. But comparing to these little 1 foot scooters.

Also, consider cities should maybe look different.

And Cali should work with it: stick your moped on the Caltrain/Bart.

And many people don't live that far from work in Cali.

If I could pop my moped on a Caltrain I'd skip owning a car. Just hop up to Palo Alto or the city or whatever and boom.

> stick your moped on the Caltrain/Bart.

Yea maybe . Ofcourse many things can be done. But GP's comment was being surprised about non discovery of mopeds in US.

1. Than what? You'd rather be in a car than a moped if you crash, but creating an environment where crashes are less likely is most effective.

2. I understand why you say this, but it's obviously untrue. Google "Paris in winter" to see what I mean.

3. Mopeds only replace some forms of transport. Europe still has airports for instance - people to no moped across the atlantic.

Big difference between 3C and -8C not to mention the wind. My friend who lives in Chicago wears a ski mask to walk from the car. I don’t think you realise quite how cold much of the US gets.

2. Cars are still main transport in Paris afaik. Paris is a bad example of ppl riding mopeds in winter.

3. I am not talking about transport between cities. Cities themselves are spread out. I cannot go from suburb of chicago to work downtown on a moped.

A Vespa 300 Gts can do 75-80 but youd need a full bike licence in the UK for that.

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