Originally posted by kestra
As a side note, it's always struck me as odd that scooters are so prevalent in european countries, both inner city and suburban. Why hasn't it caught on here as much?
A decent scooter here would run me $3000. I'm seriously considering getting one for the mild months up here.
A large reason for this is city design; most major cities in Europe are hundreds, if not thousands of years old, and were designed to be only large enough for people to walk and ride horses from point a>b, certainly not wide enough for 6 cars to stack in side by side. Necessity facilitates getting something that will fit into such tiny roadways while still having a means to walk around.

Another reason for it is the fact that oil and gas costs about 3-4x + as much per gallon there as it does here, and thus there is a bigger need for people who use gasoline to have a more efficient means of transportation.

These two reasons are also a part of why there are much larger and more efficient means of public transportation in so many places there, vs. the typically small and usually inefficient (read: NOT New York) public transportation systems you'll find around the US.