But you give a major difference: the functionality it offered was so useful.
While I'd love a Segway, it's usefulness is much less than my cellphone to me. Maybe if cities had been redesigned around it, things would be different
For me, the appeal is that I live a 20 minute walk from the train station I use for my commutes. A lot of the time I don't mind that walk, or I take the bus. I don't have a car. A Segway would make the bus uninteresting except in really bad weather - it'd be about as fast and not tie me to the bus schedule. It'd also make dragging shopping around easier.
But those are slight conveniences, and conveniences that are even less of a deal for someone with a car (who'd just drive their shopping home), and that has become less important as time has passed: These days I have a shortcut to a countdown display for my local bus stops on my phone, so while I sometimes have to wait, when leaving home I can wait in my living room and walk out just in time for the bus, and when returning I always know if it's worth waiting for the bus or starting to walk or flag down a taxi. And we get the shopping delivered to our door step, in a one hour time slot every week, and if we forget to order, they automatically put together an order that is ok based on our usual order pattern, so grocery shopping is totally off my radar.
I still think it'd be great if Segway's get to the point where they become accepted, and maybe they still can (around London, there's tons of people on silly looking kick scooters, some of which are motorized, so clearly some people are prepared for alternatives...).
But they'd first become revolutionary if they reach a sufficient level of use displacing cars that it'd change city cores, and that, I'm afraid would take a miracle or a lot of time.
Not everyone can ride a bike. SV 20-somethings seem to not understand that we can't design the whole world around bikes. As you get older the appeal of a bike for transportation to all but the most devoted geriatric athlete diminishes.
"As you get older the appeal of a bike for transportation to all but the most devoted geriatric athlete diminishes."
This just isn't true. The reason that Americans give up cycling as they get older is because it's inconvenient. Plenty of cities in other countries make cycling convenient, so a lot more people do it. Sure, there's a substantial portion of the population (15-20%?) who aren't physically capable of cycling, but that doesn't mean that getting closer to 40% of people commuting on bikes like Amsterdam does is impossible.
If you are going to stick a motor on something, better a bike frame than a podium. Not everyone can stand for as long as they need to get somewhere... The form factor of a bike is far more accommodating than that of a segway.
While I'd love a Segway, it's usefulness is much less than my cellphone to me. Maybe if cities had been redesigned around it, things would be different
For me, the appeal is that I live a 20 minute walk from the train station I use for my commutes. A lot of the time I don't mind that walk, or I take the bus. I don't have a car. A Segway would make the bus uninteresting except in really bad weather - it'd be about as fast and not tie me to the bus schedule. It'd also make dragging shopping around easier.
But those are slight conveniences, and conveniences that are even less of a deal for someone with a car (who'd just drive their shopping home), and that has become less important as time has passed: These days I have a shortcut to a countdown display for my local bus stops on my phone, so while I sometimes have to wait, when leaving home I can wait in my living room and walk out just in time for the bus, and when returning I always know if it's worth waiting for the bus or starting to walk or flag down a taxi. And we get the shopping delivered to our door step, in a one hour time slot every week, and if we forget to order, they automatically put together an order that is ok based on our usual order pattern, so grocery shopping is totally off my radar.
I still think it'd be great if Segway's get to the point where they become accepted, and maybe they still can (around London, there's tons of people on silly looking kick scooters, some of which are motorized, so clearly some people are prepared for alternatives...).
But they'd first become revolutionary if they reach a sufficient level of use displacing cars that it'd change city cores, and that, I'm afraid would take a miracle or a lot of time.