Scooter Popularity Increases as Gas Prices Rise

"As people start driving them, they start finding more reasons to use them," said Doug Day, owner of Scooter Centrale and Vespa Hartford in Plainville, Conn. "They're practical, easy to park and get great gas mileage. I put $5 worth of gas into mine when it's totally empty, compared to $50 in my SUV."

As gasoline prices soar, the popularity of peppy, fuel-sipping motor scooters -- most easily get 50 miles per gallon and some of the smaller ones get as many as 80 mpg -- is soaring. Sales, estimated at 86,000 last year in the U.S., have doubled from 2000, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council.

"I put about 20 miles a day on mine, and I only have to fill it up twice a month," said Jessica Meuchel, 23, who uses a scooter to deliver daily newspapers in Pierre, S.D. She bought the two-wheeler this spring because it was costing her $200 a month to fuel her truck.

Even the larger scooters are more economical to drive than cars, Day said. He said sales at his shops climbed nearly 200% last year and were doing well this year too.

Motorcycle council spokesman Mike Mount said the market gained momentum when upscale Italian scooter maker Piaggio reentered the U.S. market with the legendary Vespa scooter in 2001. Motorcycle makers such as Honda Motor Co. and Yamaha Motor Corp. also began offering new lines of scooters in recent years.

Scooters were pioneered in postwar Europe by Piaggio, which made the first Vespa in 1946.

Gary Christopher, an executive with American Honda Motor Co. in Los Angeles, said Honda heavily promoted U.S. scooter sales in the 1980s, but annual U.S. sales peaked in 1987 and slumped after advertising was pared. They have long been popular in coastal areas and warmer climates, but more also are being sold in states with colder weather, he said.

"It looks like this new resurgence of interest in scooters is something that can stand on its own without massive injections of advertising and promotion," Christopher said.

Although scooters are economical, the fun factor cannot be overlooked, Christopher said.

"There's just something about a scooter that invites you to jump on it and go," he said.