Pros and Cons of Driving a Scooter
I've ranted on about the problems with my last scooter quite a few times, so I thought it only appropriate to make a post to celebrate that I've gotten a new scooter! It might seem silly that I care so much about my mode of transportation but I get very anxious if I get delayed and I don't like travelling with public transportation during rush hour, so my scooter is very important to me.
Generally, I also just love the freedom of being able to decide when I have to leave without having to wait for a bus or train and make two changes underway where the connections always result in wait time. Please indulge me while I go over the history with scooters to culminate in a list of pros and cons of driving a scooter.
When I was in school from age five to fifteen, I went to a school just over a kilometre away from my home and my parents used to drop me off before I learnt to bike there myself. When I joined gymnasium, I chose one over eleven km away from my family house and I had a horse in a stable, which was eighteen kilometre away. So I got enrolled to get a scooter driver's license by my sixteenth birthday.
I've driven on scooters ever since and after six years I still love it.
I've had four scooters over the years, all "30" scooters (which means that they are supposed to drive 30 km/h but realistically it's more like 40 km/h). My first one was a white PGO, which I had for about a year and a half when an old lady swerved her car in front of me and the scooter got badly scratched and dented, which resulted in a loss of proper mobility. My second one was a red PGO, which I had for two and a half years before it got stolen from out of the shed in front of my house, which caused me to actually ball my eyes out. My third one was a black VGA, which was the cheapest one by far and it had so many issues and it was very unreliable during the two years I had it. After I left it unused for four months while I was on exchange, it just stopped working properly. It was by the mechanic several times but they never managed to fully fix it. When I bought my fourth one, we ripped the plate from the old black one and someone "took" it from where it was parked on our road. Good fucking riddance.
Now on to my new one: It's a white CLEO and more expensive and heavy as the scooter is technically matching the exterior of a small motorcycle. It's been working great so far and I'm very happy to have it. I've nicknamed it Baxtian (pronounced Bastian), because I addressed him as a "stor bastian" to my mother while commenting on his size and "his" plate starts with BX. My former ones have all had nicknames as well: Min Baby, Røde Lyn and Axe.
Isn't he glorious to behold? I honestly can't express how excited it makes me that I can finally just jump on my scooter and drive wherever I want again. To get to university, my work places or my horse I all have to drive between 30 to 45 minutes from my home but it's still much faster than I can do it with public transportation. Furthermore, I evade most of Copenhagen's rush hour by driving in the biking lane. And that leads me onto the list part of the blog post that I mentioned at the beginnings: the pros and cons of driving a scooter.
Pros:
- Faster than public transport (my travel time is roughly halved)
- Cheaper to buy petrol than ticket for public transportation prices
- Freedom to leave whenever you want without having to wait
- No need for social interaction if I'm feeling very worn down
- Doesn't get stuck in traffic and can just drive around bicyclists
- Can be parked pretty much anywhere without problem
- Looks goddamn cute and is actually very fun to drive
- Better for the environment compared to cars
Cons:
- Worse for the environment compared to public transport
- Costs a fair chunk of money to buy initially and has to be insured
- You have to stop and fill up the tank and keep up with maintenance
- You can get wet and cold depending on the weather
As you can see, from my perspective the pros far outweigh the cons. Public transportation in Denmark is fairly good compared to other countries but the system still leaves a lot to be desired. I think especially because I hate the idea of being "trapped" or stuck some place, I really like that I can get away from places immediately rather than having to pace up and down a train platform for fifteen minutes.
Copenhagen is a city with a lot of bicycles but when every distance I have to cover is over ten kilometre it is just not a viable option for me. Whenever I borrow one of my parents' car to go somewhere I have to know where I will be able to park ahead of time if I don't want to be a nervous wreck the whole time. I get so easily triggered if I can't find somewhere to park or I have to sit in the car and wait in an area where you're not allowed to stop. I have a fairly good reason what initially gave me this trigger but I can't go back in time. I try to push my boundaries gently and I'm getting better at it but it's such a joy to just jump on my scooter because I can park it like a bicycle.
So that was my little ode to scooters, mine in particular. I am so happy with Baxtian so far and I can only hope that I can keep him for years to come.
Generally, I also just love the freedom of being able to decide when I have to leave without having to wait for a bus or train and make two changes underway where the connections always result in wait time. Please indulge me while I go over the history with scooters to culminate in a list of pros and cons of driving a scooter.
When I was in school from age five to fifteen, I went to a school just over a kilometre away from my home and my parents used to drop me off before I learnt to bike there myself. When I joined gymnasium, I chose one over eleven km away from my family house and I had a horse in a stable, which was eighteen kilometre away. So I got enrolled to get a scooter driver's license by my sixteenth birthday.
I've driven on scooters ever since and after six years I still love it.
I've had four scooters over the years, all "30" scooters (which means that they are supposed to drive 30 km/h but realistically it's more like 40 km/h). My first one was a white PGO, which I had for about a year and a half when an old lady swerved her car in front of me and the scooter got badly scratched and dented, which resulted in a loss of proper mobility. My second one was a red PGO, which I had for two and a half years before it got stolen from out of the shed in front of my house, which caused me to actually ball my eyes out. My third one was a black VGA, which was the cheapest one by far and it had so many issues and it was very unreliable during the two years I had it. After I left it unused for four months while I was on exchange, it just stopped working properly. It was by the mechanic several times but they never managed to fully fix it. When I bought my fourth one, we ripped the plate from the old black one and someone "took" it from where it was parked on our road. Good fucking riddance.
Now on to my new one: It's a white CLEO and more expensive and heavy as the scooter is technically matching the exterior of a small motorcycle. It's been working great so far and I'm very happy to have it. I've nicknamed it Baxtian (pronounced Bastian), because I addressed him as a "stor bastian" to my mother while commenting on his size and "his" plate starts with BX. My former ones have all had nicknames as well: Min Baby, Røde Lyn and Axe.
Look at Baxtian! He's so damn pretty and reliable and I'm so damn happy that he's mine
Isn't he glorious to behold? I honestly can't express how excited it makes me that I can finally just jump on my scooter and drive wherever I want again. To get to university, my work places or my horse I all have to drive between 30 to 45 minutes from my home but it's still much faster than I can do it with public transportation. Furthermore, I evade most of Copenhagen's rush hour by driving in the biking lane. And that leads me onto the list part of the blog post that I mentioned at the beginnings: the pros and cons of driving a scooter.
Pros:
- Faster than public transport (my travel time is roughly halved)
- Cheaper to buy petrol than ticket for public transportation prices
- Freedom to leave whenever you want without having to wait
- No need for social interaction if I'm feeling very worn down
- Doesn't get stuck in traffic and can just drive around bicyclists
- Can be parked pretty much anywhere without problem
- Looks goddamn cute and is actually very fun to drive
- Better for the environment compared to cars
Cons:
- Worse for the environment compared to public transport
- Costs a fair chunk of money to buy initially and has to be insured
- You have to stop and fill up the tank and keep up with maintenance
- You can get wet and cold depending on the weather
As you can see, from my perspective the pros far outweigh the cons. Public transportation in Denmark is fairly good compared to other countries but the system still leaves a lot to be desired. I think especially because I hate the idea of being "trapped" or stuck some place, I really like that I can get away from places immediately rather than having to pace up and down a train platform for fifteen minutes.
Copenhagen is a city with a lot of bicycles but when every distance I have to cover is over ten kilometre it is just not a viable option for me. Whenever I borrow one of my parents' car to go somewhere I have to know where I will be able to park ahead of time if I don't want to be a nervous wreck the whole time. I get so easily triggered if I can't find somewhere to park or I have to sit in the car and wait in an area where you're not allowed to stop. I have a fairly good reason what initially gave me this trigger but I can't go back in time. I try to push my boundaries gently and I'm getting better at it but it's such a joy to just jump on my scooter because I can park it like a bicycle.
So that was my little ode to scooters, mine in particular. I am so happy with Baxtian so far and I can only hope that I can keep him for years to come.
Comments
Post a Comment