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Scoot

Scoot

Author: Dominic Yoko
Date: 2012-08-15
As a student, mobility really is an important tool to have. The students who say walking to lectures is "fun" or "eco-friendly" are probably lying to you. Since around 3500BC we have had transportation technology, and a lot has evolved since the Mesopotamians invented wheel carts.

Students who actually have any interest in being able to get around have a variety of options to satisfy this need. Having been put in this position I opted to buy a scooter. And the reason for this is quite simple. In over 5500 years, the human race has not invented anything that is more practical for a student than a scooter.

Now you're probably reading this and calling me names like "biased" or "miss-guided" and there might be a few readers with a better vocabulary calling me "asinine", if that is the case, allow me to retort. I am not biased; I own both a car and a scooter, and this does not hinder me in my judgement. Obviously scooters aren't perfect, they do present a factor of nature into the experience; so if you are scared of getting a bit damp when it rains, stay indoors. The scooter is, by far, the most practical personal transportation vehicle because of three factors.

Firstly, low cost; with the market as it is someone can buy a cheap brand new scooter for under R8000, over ten times cheaper than the price of a Hyundai. Not to mention cost of parts, "oh, you crashed and broke your body panels? That will be R2000 to fix" - not a car mechanic, I can tell you that right now.

Secondly, and this is a big one, fuel. I'm not going to be a cliché South African and complain about the price of fuel, because the odds are I'd be preaching to the choir. Thanks to their small capacities, scooters allow us to consume up to three times less fuel than a car. With a 50cc scooter you can get up to 37km out of one litre of fuel, where as your "cool" Hummer H3 gets you under 8km/litre.

Thirdly, and this for me is key, mobility. A person cannot truly understand the mobility of a scooter without trying it. Imagine never having to wait in traffic, imagine always being able to find parking, even if you go to a university in a town that has fewer parking spaces than cars.

All these dreams and more can come true for you. Just evolve and buy a scooter.