Several years back, I bought a Honda Elite Scooter. I purchased it for fun. I was tired of driving my Blazer everywhere. Also, I lived several blocks from work and a scooter was the perfect mode of transportation for that trip.

A few people had fun joking about me scooting around. The fact that it was purple (naturally) certainly added to the comedic fodder. I didn’t care, because I loved riding it. It came in very handy on several trips to downtown Chicago, where I squeezed it into a previously occupied parking spot and shared the (already fed) meter with that vehicle.

Some people suggested I purchased it strictly to save money on gas. At that time, gas was probably about $2.25 per gallon. Even at about 100 miles per gallon, I would need to drive approximately 15,000 miles on the scooter before it paid for itself. Of course, this was ridiculous, but the joke continued.

Now, I suppose it is a joke no more. At 100 miles per gallon, it beats the heck out of the usual 20 miles per gallon of my Blazer. In other words, for every 100 miles I drive, I save about $18.

In Europe, scooters are much more common than here. If gas prices continue to rise (and I don’t see them falling), scooters will become much more common here, too. A few of my friends have already talked about getting one.

The advantages of a scooter over a motorcycle basically comes down to cost and ease. A scooter can be purchased for under $2000. They are easier to ride than motorcycles, which require shifting. Lastly, although it limits the max speed to about 45 mph, selecting a 49 cc scooter allows you to ride it under your regular driver’s license (at least in Illinois).

Unfortunately, the scooter is only useful for some of my job responsibilities. I can check on the work of my distribution crews, while scooting around. However, it would be quite a challenge for me to actually distribute anything while on the scooter, although it would be fun to watch someone attempt it.

Okay, that’s all for now. It’s a beautiful day and I need to scoot!

-John Wroblewski, distribution specialist