Segways

City hauls Segway-tour operator into court

adamg — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 13:19:45 +0000

UPDATE: Danley actually faces 21 violations of the city Segway restrictions - and a hearing that could mean 70 to 90 more, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports. Boston Municipal Court Judge Raymond Dougan continued his arraignment until Feb. 24 - the day after a hearing on a motion by Danley's attorney to dismiss all the charges.

Allen Danley, owner of the Boston Gliders Segway tour company, is scheduled for arraignment today on six charges of violating the city ordinance against Segway operations in city parks and on city sidewalks, the Suffolk County District Attorney's office reports.

A Boston Municipal Court clerk magistrate found six violations of the limitations on "electric personal assistive mobility devices," such as Segways, the DA's office says. Danley faces fines of up to $500 per offense.

The city council voted in June to restrict Segways to in-road routes designated by police and the city Transportation Department. Enforcement, in the form of tickets handed out to tour leaders, began in August and continued through the fall.

Innocent, etc.

Also busted yesterday: Segway riders in the North End

adamg — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:56:25 +0000

Busted!

An alert citizen uses Citizens Connect to praise an unidentified city worker:

The gentleman in blue seems to be offering tourists on Segways citations as souvenirs of their tour. Boston Gliders should be ticketed every time they use the sidewalk and this is a good spot for it. They use the sidewalk for a large part of every tour but try to hide on the harborwalk, puopolo park, behind the aquarium, fan pier, where they think there is no enforcement.

The city banned Segways from parks and sidewalks in June; the owner of Boston Gliders, of course, promptly sued.

Party's over: City begins rolling crackdown on Segways

adamg — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 00:13:30 +0000

NorthEndWaterfront.com posts photos of a Boston Transportation Department worker handing out a ticket to the leader of a Segway tour caught in what the city now considers a No-Segway zone.

Citizen complaint of the day: Apparently, the city's yet to start enforcing its ban on Segways in parks

adamg — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:06:30 +0000

An annoyed citizen reports:

Segway traffic jam at Christopher Columbus Park! Large Segway tour group blacking steps & monopolizing pedestrian plaza riding practice laps. Aren't Segways illegal in pedestrian areas and parks?

The City Council adopted Segway restrictions in June, but said enforcement would have to wait until after transportation and police officials came up with specific regulations that include on-street lanes Segway tour operators can use.

Citizen complaint of the day: Damn Segways

adamg — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 14:00:22 +0000

A vigilantly annoyed citizen complains about Segways on the sidewalk on Court Street. The Mayor's Hotline responds:

BPD and BTD currently working on newly passed ordinance.

That ordinance bans Segway tours on sidewalks, requires BTD to come up with designated Segway routes in the street. Naturally, the city's one Segway operator has sued.

Yes, somebody did fall off a Segway in Christopher Columbus Park

adamg — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 12:23:19 +0000

Boston Fire and Boston EMS both confirm this account that a woman sustained serious enough injuries falling off a Segway Sunday evening that she needed transportation to a local hospital:

The formerly healthy rider was just taken away on a stretcher, on a backboard, in a neckbrace, bleeding.

Spokespeople for both departments, however, did not have additional information on what might have caused the fall, around 6:20 p.m. by Joe's American Bar.

Last week, the City Council voted to severely restrict Segway use by people without disabilities in Boston, citing the potential menace to senior citizens and other pedestrians. Two days later, however, a Segway tour company operating out of the North End sued over the regulations, saying in part the council could offer no proof the two-wheeled vehicles were unsafe.

Segway tour operator sues city over new regulations; says they could lead to deaths

adamg — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 02:22:09 +0000

Boston Gliders, which leads tourists on Segway visits around downtown and the North End, yesterday filed a federal lawsuit to try to block the city's new regulations on Segways and similar wheeled devices.

City Council votes to restrict Segways in Boston

adamg — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 17:39:15 +0000

The City Council today unanimously adopted a new set of regulations that will limit "electric personal assistive mobility devices" to routes approved by the city transportation department.

People with disabilities will not have to register their Segways with the city or obey the new ban on Segway use on sidewalks and plazas and in parks - but will have to carry proof of their disabilities and will not be allowed to ride more than two abreast.

The measure is aimed mainly at operators of Segway tours - whom some councilors have said pose a growing threat to pedestrians, particularly seniors and parents with strollers - but the restrictions will also apply to non-disabled people who like Segways enough to buy one on their own.

Contentious hearing could lead to Segway regulations in Boston

adamg — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 19:38:17 +0000

Segway menace: Liz Flynn of City Square, Charlestown, gave Council several photos of pedestrians forced into the street by Urban Gliders. Company says it's moving training area to Cambridge.

If it were up to City Councilor Bill Linehan, only Paul Blart would be allowed to ride a Segway in the Boston area.

At a hearing on Segway use in Boston today, the South Boston councilor said Boston is too old and its streets and sidewalks simply too narrow to allow widespread Segway use. He said he would only favor their use in "large malls." He was joined in his concern by the Rose Kennedy Greenway and Faneuil Hall Marketplace, whose representatives call them a menace to pedestrians - and, in the case of the marketplace, even its elevators. Last year, a marketplace official said, a five-year-old was hit by a Segway and had to be taken to the hospital.

After an owner of Boston Gliders, which runs Segway tours, refused to commit to keep his vehicles off the Greenway at a hearing today, Police Superintendent-in-Chief Daniel Linskey said the matter was pretty simple: He will direct police to escort any Segway riders off the Greenway - and possibly issue them trespassing citations. This came after a Greenway official said Boston Gliders tour operators have refused to stop for uniformed Greenway personnel trying to get them out.

Segway distances itself from tour operator who might get its vehicles banned from Boston sidewalks

adamg — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:12:00 +0000

Matt Conti posts a copy of a letter from Segway, Inc., to the North End/Waterfront Neighborhood Council, in which the company disavows any ties to the "irresponsible" Boston Gliders, which leads Segway tours of Boston from Commercial Street.

On March 23, the city council holds a hearing on a proposal by Councilor Sal LaMattina - the only city official to admit having somebody hit him with a Segway on purpose just to see what would happen - to ban Segways from certain busy sidewalks, such as those on Hanover and Newbury streets.

Exclusive footage of Sal LaMattina getting hit by a Segway-riding traffic commissioner

adamg — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 02:35:27 +0000

And other news from Chuck Burlap:

Earlier:
LaMattina recounts the impact.

City council to consider banning Segways from busy sidewalks

adamg — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 18:48:58 +0000

City Councilor Sal LaMattina (East Boston, North End, Charlestown) says he knows firsthand what it's like to get run into by a Segway - and wants to keep it from happening to people on busy commercial streets in Boston.

LaMattina told the council today that when he worked for the city transportation department, when Segways were new, he and transportation Commissioner Tom Tinlin went to Segway headquarters in New Hampshire to check them out. Company officials told them a pedestrian couldn't get hurt if hit by one - but he wanted hard proof, so he told Tinlin to get on a Segway and ram him.

"Let me tell you, it hurt," he said.

Some North Enders fed up with tour groups on Segways

adamg — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:14:32 +0000

Matt Conti reports the North End Waterfront Neighborhood Council will oppose an attempt by the owner of a Segway tour service to sell non-alcoholic beverages to parched customers after exhausting rides on the moving mini-platforms because of "abusive parking," dangerous Segway maneuvering and training right on the sidewalks of Commercial Street. The tour-service owner retorts some of the residents are themselves pieces of work.

Segways becoming a menace to North End pedestrians?

adamg — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 14:36:24 +0000

City Councilor Sal LaMattina says it's time to consider regulating Segway use on city sidewalks. Matt Conti posts a copy of a request from LaMattina for a City Council hearing on regulating the dorkmobiles, which are an increasingly common site downtown and in the North End. At least one company even leads Segway tours, which Conti writes have become so prevalent that they are beginning to cause pedestrian issues.