Mayor Bloomberg stands up on Segway issue, said he'd allow
two-wheel devices on NYC streets
BY Frank Lombardi
DAILY NEWS CITY HALL BUREAU
Friday, August 14th 2009, 4:00 AM
Mayor Michael Bloomberg at a City Hall bill signing ceremony on bicycles spoke out about Segways.
Mayor Bloomberg segued into support for allowing Segways on city streets on Thursday, standing up for the standup motorized devices now banned here.
"If it were up to me, we would also have Segways on the streets," he mused during a bill-signing ceremony at City Hall regulating pedicabs.
Bloomberg commented when a pedicab operator praised him for enacting a bill to regulate pedicabs but said it didn't go far enough because motor assistance is still banned.
"It's just idiotic, I would let all of these things go on," he added.
"Unfortunately, we have a democratic process and this [pedicab] bill is what we could negotiate.
"And I'll sign the bill, quite honestly, but I hear you. I just can't explain why people are afraid to change."
The motorized two-wheeled Segway Personal Transporter, which a single passenger rides and steers while standing up, has long been banned in New York.
Lobbyists and fans have tried in vain to get the state and city to permit them.
The new pedicab bill signed by the mayor ends a legal battle with operators that dates back to a similar bill-signing hearing on March 14, 2007.
A prior version of the measure had triggered a last-minute mayoral veto, a City Council override and a court fight won by operators.
Back then, Bloomberg balked at signing the pedicab bill after operators told him its cap at 350 on how many pedicabs could be licensed would put them out of business.
It marked the first and, so far, only time Bloomberg nixed a bill brought before him at a signing ceremony, which is generally very scripted.
"And here we are once again on pedicabs," the mayor said yesterday before signing the bill, which no longer includes an overall cap.
It does, however, limit each licensed business to 30 registration plates.
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