Whatever Happened To The Segway?

It could be a scene from Hot Fuzz, the sequel. This time we are in New York and the baddies are burning their tyres on the byways of Central Park. But lurking in the brambles our hero cop is poised to pounce. Astride his snazzy new Segway i2 - top speed 12mph - he will be a blur of crime-fighting bravado.

Maybe not, but the bit about armed officers on Segways in Central Park is true. Last week, they officially became part of the New York Police Department's motorised fleet. We are taken aback because a cop on a Segway indeed seems slightly comical. But then there is the shock of seeing a Segway at all.

Ballyhooed like no other invention at its unveiling in 2001 as the transport option of tomorrow, the Segway is still waiting for tomorrow to arrive. So far, at least, the vision of its inventor, Dean Kamen, of cities being remade to accommodate a new Segway-toting citizenry has not exactly come true.

An array of factors has got in the way, ranging from the relatively high cost of a single unit - a little under £3,000 - to the reluctance of some countries and municipalities to allow them on public roads. Indeed, taking them on to the streets of New York City remains a no-no (police officers aside). In Britain, the Government spiked any real future for it last year by relegating riders to private property only.

Yet, the Segway seemed to have so much going for it, not least the early media frenzy. Referred to for months only by its teaser codenames, IT and Ginger, it was finally unveiled in December 2001. Mr Kamen, already wealthy from several successful medical inventions, did not hold back. "It will be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy," he said. "Walking is a remnant of the Dark Ages."

No question, it intrigued us not only because of its funny looks - "a pogo-stick on wheels," some said - but also its sci-fi wizardry. Climb on the platform, grab the handlebars and just lean in the direction you want to travel and, presto, you're off, assuming that the batteries are charged. Lean left and roll left. Lean back a tad and stop dead. The Segway looked set to be the iPod of the pavement.

Celebrity Segway sightings began to pop up - and still do now - offering a stream of free publicity. The Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak revealed shortly after the launch that he was forming a Segway polo league in Silicon Valley. An episode of The Simpsons shows Homer mounting one to flee prison and yelling: "Fly, Segway, Fly." President George Bush gave one a spin in 2003. (Never mind that he promptly fell off.) Last autumn, Queen - sorry, Dame - Helen Mirren rode a Segway from an awards ceremony in Manhattan to a nearby after-party. Her bravura was captured by every paparazzo in town. Mr Kamen must have seen all this coming and thus reckoned there was little risk in breaking ground on a 77,000 square foot manufacturing plant in New Hampshire. His fledgling company, Segway Inc, was gearing up to turn out 40,000 models a month to meet what he assumed would be insatiable demand.

But hype, as it turned out, had an inverse relationship with reality. We long suspected that his plans were not quite panning out because of what we could see with our own eyes. Or not see. Segways remain about as rare on our high streets as unicorns and yetis.

Wisely, perhaps, Segway Inc kept a lid on actual numbers. However, last September its secret was out when the company voluntarily issued a recall on all the models it had ever sold because of a software glitch that in very limited circumstances could cause the wheels to lock in reverse, sending the rider overboard. It turned out it had sold 23,500 units - not a complete bust, but certainly disappointing.

Now on its fourth chief executive - Mr Kamen remains chairman of the company - Segway Inc is showing some signs of improvement. It has new models, is outsourcing some of the production to China to reduce costs and, above all, has found some niche markets, including a growing band of tour operators in cities like Phoenix, Paris and even Anchorage, offering urban escapades for tourists aboard the machines.

More important are sales to security companies with contracts to patrol places such as airport terminals and ports, as well as to city police forces. The company says that worldwide it has sold units to 400 police and security agencies, from the railway police in Italy to, as of Thursday, the NYPD.

The investment by the NYPD remains modest, to be sure. The force has bought a fleet of only 10 Segways and they will be restricted to certain parks, including Central Park, and beachside boardwalks like the one at Coney Island in Brooklyn. Officers will not take them on to the avenues and streets.

But it's a start, says Itsi Atkins, a retired Hollywood line producer, who has no fewer than six Segways crammed into his Manhattan apartment near the United Nations headquarters. "It kind of validates them in the city. The cops are actually helping us by giving the Segways more exposure," he noted. As in London or any city or country where Segways remain in the shadows of restrictive laws, New York has its own sub-culture of enthusiasts. Mr Atkins, by his own admission, is their self-appointed cheerleader. He reckons there are about 60 Segways currently being used in New York, although he knows of only a handful of people who actually dare use them for commuting, even though over the years only three riders have actually been ticketed. He says he was the second person in the city ever to buy one.

Mr Atkins, moreover, has met Mr Kamen several times and incidentally blames him and the company in part for the slow take-off of the Segway. He cites poor marketing and distribution in particular. Nowadays, he runs a website, nysegwaytours.com, and even takes plucky groups on small trips around and about his home. Just last week, he took a group of five British tourists as far as the Queensboro Bridge. He has devoted his time to lobbying state and municipal leaders to take the shackles off Segways. But as of now, they remain illegal on public streets and pavements - even in parks - except for the disabled. The position is much better in 40 other US states which have passed legislation to authorise and regulate Segway use.

None of this has stopped Mr Atkins, 60, and his band from enjoying their machines whenever they can. Stan Poulos, a buddy, insists that this reporter tries one out. A few wobbly moments later, he decides it's time to brave the street cops and take a little spin. Actually a long spin, about 10 blocks north along the East River in the thick of evening rush hour. A young woman winds down a taxi window and snaps our picture. A doorman in the exclusive Sutton Place enclave, who steps back from our advance just in time to save his toes, barks that we are surely breaking the law. "But mostly we just get a lot of smiles," says Mr Poulos. And indeed, that is true, even if the grin on this rider's face was of the strictly nervous variety. But it says something that even in blasé New York, Stan and I attract so much attention.

Because, thanks to their continuing rarity, Segways remain as much a novelty as they did when they first appeared six years ago. Mr Atkins wants to believe that its day is still coming, not least in the age of rising petrol costs and concern about carbon emissions.

For anyone looking to reduce their carbon footprint, what better way than to adopt a Segway lifestyle? Mr Atkins applauds Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who in recent weeks has laid out a plan to reduce New York's emissions radically, for supporting the lifting of the ban on Segways in the city. But so far the state legislature has refused to budge.

But with the buzz of green living upon us and the fuzz now sporting them in Central Park, could the hour of the Segway finally be upon us? Could the original vision of Mr Kamen, with roadways from London to Kabul emptying of cars and filling instead with commuters standing upright making their way to work and the shops aboard Segways, finally be on the horizon? Mr Atkins wants to say yes. But he sighs and admits the truth. "It's probably not going to happen."

'It gets a few smiles and laughs'

Isidore Margaronis, 57, maritime consultant from west London

"The Segway works very well for short-distance journeys. It is as fast as a bike but it goes door to door. I used to ride a motorbike, but found the journey time expanded with finding a parking space then walking the rest of the way. With the Segway I just keep it in the basement of my office.

"I use it to drive from my home in west London to my office in Piccadilly. Sometimes I use it to get to the City for business, even when I'm wearing a suit.

"It gets a few smiles and laughs, and people thinking 'what a wally'.

"But people are mainly friendly. If they don't seem like the type to thump me and run off with the Segway, I might let them try it.

"Technically it is illegal to ride one in the UK. It is a shame the authorities have this head-in-the-sand attitude to the Segway. It is such a positive and useful device.

"But I have only been stopped by the police twice. Once when I was on a pathway in Hyde Park, and once when the police officer was curious about what it was.

"I'm not motivated entirely by green issues. But the Segway saves me time, which is my most valuable natural resource."