Beam me up - scooting around in Whanganui

Lucy Brickley (left) and Elyana Gifford try out the Beam e-scooter. Photo / Paul Brooks

Opinion
Beam me up
Beam is here. Soon, if not already, they will be worthy of the word ubiquitous.

There they stand, in all their purple glory, a symbol of changing times and atrophying muscles. So many street corners have become parking places for the e-scooter, and, with the promise of more to come, they will be everywhere.

Already, Whanganui people have been quick on the uptake and the purple machines are zipping along — silently — all over town.

Of course, they, like anything else, have good and bad points. Their GPS-guided systems won't let them into Victoria Ave where foot traffic is heavier, and they can be tracked wherever they go. Their speed is limited by an onboard governor, but you can still get a fair rate of knots from one. I like the colour.

Elyana and Lucy from the Whanganui Chronicle office rented a Beam each to travel a couple of blocks to buy some lunch, then found there was nowhere to carry their food and drink while retaining control of the machine. They had to walk back. Perhaps a basket for such a purpose could be a permanent attachment? Just a thought.

You do need a phone or similar device to rent and operate a Beam e-scooter. There's no way around that, so wanna-be Beam riders have to invest in the technology. You have to pay for a phone and its accompanying contract as well as the rental price of the e-scooter. If you're okay with that, then go ahead.

The business has been quick to point out the benefits of their Beam machines and tell us to remember that Whanganui is running late.

Other cities have embraced the new way to travel — "Beam's e-scooter riders have already ridden more than 3.5 million kilometres in New Zealand to date" — says general manager Tom Cooper in a media release. He also recognises concerns that people may have and he says the emphasis is on safety.

That's good, right?

Here's another thing to emphasise — etiquette.

Riding an e-scooter comes with responsibilities, especially when you take speed and silence into account. People on the footpath are not necessarily going to hear you coming.

There is a warning bell and riders are advised to use it often. There is also a speed control — the accelerator also decelerates — and when approaching pedestrians legitimately using the footpath, deceleration is a good idea. Try not to be like too many mobility scooter drivers: hogging the footpath and endangering the safety of others is not recommended.

Each e-scooter comes with a colour-matched helmet, and does so for a reason. Sooner or later someone is going to fall off and a helmet could prevent serious injury. Already I see a lot of people scootering sans helmet: obviously for them, their safety is not part of the equation.

And parking. A Midweek reader sent in a photo showing Beam e-scooters completely blocking an inner-city street corner, denying access to wheelchairs, strollers and other traffic designed for the less mobile. Park them properly and leave space.
By all means, have fun and take a load off with the e-scooters. Use them wisely and well and everyone will get on famously.

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What's the difference between the US Supreme Court and the oppressive regime in Afghanistan?

One imposes its religious will to subjugate women. The other is the Taliban, and so does it.