Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Simon Baek saves some green by going green — when the weather permits it, at least.
The Seoul, South Korea, senior, rides his moped the four miles from his off-campus apartment to the University as often as possible because the scooter goes nearly 60 miles on one gallon of gasoline.
“It’s good to take to campus because it’s so much cheaper,” Baek said. “When it’s cold or bad weather, and I have to take my car, I end up going to get gas twice a week.”
Baek’s hesitance to drive to school every day isn’t unusual. Popular alternative modes of transportation for students include bicycles and mopeds, while on-campus organizations are turning to electric cars and Segways.
With gas at $3.82 per gallon, a four mile commute costs about 25 cents on a scooter like Baek’s. In a car that goes 20 miles per gallon of gas, the same commute costs about 75 cents per trip.
“With anything on two wheels it has been ridiculous as far as the level of business,” Jae Landreth, owner of Fineline Vespa, said. “It’s because of gas prices — and it might be a good thing to get away from relying on fossil fuels.”
Landreth said most of the scooters at Fineline Vespa, 1502 W. 23rd St., went anywhere from 80 to 100 miles on one gallon of gas.
Warm weather and escalating fuel prices have turned 2008 into a big year for Cycle Works, 2121 Kasold Dr. Walt Nitcher, Cycle Works employee, said the store’s business had been on the upswing for the past few months, and that one of its biggest suppliers recently ran low on bicycles, delaying a shipment to the store.
“It’s more fun than walking – it’s good exercise and it’s quicker,” Nitcher said. “You can actually ride on Jayhawk Boulevard and some other places on campus where you can’t drive.”
The KU Public Safety Office is also turning to green methods of transportation. The University Patrol Unit and the Security Unit share two Segway Personal Transporters, and the Security Unit uses an electric car.
The Segways, which were subsidized by Student Senate, travel about 10 miles per hour using an electric engine. The $5,000 devices use no gasoline.
“Sometimes I’ll put one or two officers out on those instead of in a patrol car,” Patrol Sergeant Troy Mailen said. “It helps reduce cost in fuel and gives them a little help on patrol to get around a little quicker.”
Mailen said the department would like to expand its use of Segways because the small devices were more convenient than patrol cars on the University’s compact campus.
The University Security Unit’s electric car, or “GEM car,” travels up to 25 miles per hour and is fully battery-powered.
“It has allowed us to add another vehicle to our fleet without increasing our gas consumption,” Elizabeth Phillips, assistant director of the Public Safety Office, said.
Phillips said the department had not used the one-year old electric vehicle long enough to confirm how much money it had saved.
— Edited by Mandy Earles
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