The owner of the Segway Personal Transporter dealership in Richmond is championing an effort to have Richmond designated as a pilot city for urban mobility projects sponsored by General Motors Corp., Segway Inc. and Ford Motor Co.
Buck Ward, who last year opened Segway of Richmond on East Cary Street, envisions a time when traffic jams and parking problems in urban areas give way to scenes of people scooting around on electric-powered vehicles such as the Segway or other, alternative types of transportation.
"The idea is to get as many Richmond stakeholders as possible to work together to figure out how to take advantage of this whole green movement, which is coming, regardless of your politics," Ward said.
Ward and several other civic and business leaders in the area have formed a group called STIR, or Sustainable Transportation Initiative of Richmond, which is advocating the Richmond area as a test region for Ford Motor Co.'s Urban Mobility Network Project and, separately, GM/Segway's PUMA project.
Both projects aim to test alternative transportation concepts and products in urban areas plagued by traffic congestion, parking problems and the associated energy waste, pollution and frustration.
GM/Segway's PUMA project, for example, is testing the use of a small, electric-powered vehicle for densely populated areas. It expands on the concept of Segway's well-known personal transporter, a single-rider vehicle, by increasing its capacity to two passengers who can zoom along at up to 35 miles per hour.
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