Renting a Segway

June 13th, 2010 by Tim Uden

When the Segway was launched in 2001, Segway Inc’s Dean Kamen predicted that the Segway “will be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy”. Well, the Segway never really caught on as a practical transport option, but over the past five years or so it has become increasingly common as an option for tours and tourist rentals. It is a novelty and a lot of fun and most travellers can justify the relatively expensive cost for an experience that will live on as a great memory of their trip.

I probably wouldn’t rent a Segway everywhere. Firstly it can get expensive to rent in every city that you see a Segway rental place and some places are better suited to this form of transport. For instance a bicycle is the ideal way to get around Amsterdam, the top deck of a red doubledecker bus in London and a Vespa scooter is the best way to explore Italy (and Vietnam for that matter). However a Segway is ideal for beachside areas and when I was in LA last year I rented a Segway to scoot around Santa Monica and Venice Beach. It was the ideal way to explore this part of the city.

Segways are easy to ride and their self-balancing mechanism keeps them upright, although you need to be on flat ground for this to work properly (go over a gutter with one wheel and the Segway may not be able to help you). When I rented the Segway I was told that there are some places you can’t ride them. Obviously the freeway is off-limits, as are Santa Monica Pier and the Third Street Promenade; but this isn’t a big issue as there are plenty of perfect places to ride on the wide pathways that run alongside the beach.

The rental cost me $75 for two hours. That’s a lot of money, but the way I see it is that you need experiences to remember your trip by and the Segway was my LA experience. In two hours I was able to take a leisurely ride around Santa Monica, down to Venice Beach taking time out for a bite to eat and have time to get back to the rental depot in Santa Monica to return the Segway. An hour wouldn’t have been long enough, two hours was just about right.

The above video is my first attempt at video blogging. I’ve published hostel videos for a couple of years now but until now I haven’t put my own voice on video. I think in this case you have to see the Segway in action to get an idea of how much fun they are and putting my own voice to the video lets the video stand on its own. Besides I had the tape sitting on my desk and I figured it wouldn’t be too difficult to edit it for the blog. I think I can show a lot more with video that wouldn’t be possible with just text and a few pictures, but I’m hardly a professional at this sort of thing and maybe it’s best to stick with what I am best at. What do you think? Should I do more videos like this? And should I narrate the hostel videos (rather than set them to a soundtrack)?

Places that rent Segways

Here’s a list of some places that rent Segways:

Austria
Vienna: City Segway Tours

Belize
Ambergris Caye: Segway of Belize

France
Paris:  City Segway Tours

Germany
Berlin: City Segway Tours

Hungary
Budapest:  City Segway Tours

Italy
Florence: Italy by Segway
Milan: Italy by Segway
Pisa: Italy by Segway
Rome: Italy by Segway

USA
Annapolis, MD: Segs in the City
Atlanta: City Segway Tours
Baltimore, MD:  Segs in the City
Chicago:  City Segway Tours
Gettysburg, PA:  Segs in the City
Jacksonville, OR:  Segway of Jacksonville
Los Angeles:  Segway LA
Minneapolis:  Human on a Stick/Magical History Tour
San Diego:  Segway Pacific Beach
San Francisco:  City Segway Tours
St Augustine, FL:  Segway St Augustine
Washington DC:  City Segway Tours and Segs in the City

If you want more information about Segways, then the Segway Chat Forum is a good place to start.

Tags: Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Segway, Venice Beach
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