You know your city has “made it” if it has a Segway tour.
When Segways were introduced in 2001, they were THE thing. The self-balancing human transporter used an assembly of gyroscopes to keep people upright while only on 2 wheels. They’ve been used by thousands of members of police, mall and security teams, people who have disabilities, and, of course, anyone who had several thousand dollars lying around and wanted one as a novelty.
In the travel industry, Segway tours sprung up in cities all around the world. If a town had tourists, it had Segway tours.
PC: Henrik Dalgaard/Wikimedia
However, Segway has recently announced they’re going to end production of the original Segway PT (Personal Transporter) in mid-July.
Although initially a very popular product (to date they’ve sold over 140,000 Segway PTs), sales have since slowed to less than 1.5% of the company’s revenue in 2019. The president of Segway, Judy Cai, suggested that although the COVID pandemic did affect sales and production, it wasn’t a deciding factor in their decision to end production.
Segway, as a company, has expanded since 2001 and makes lots of other personal vehicles nowadays. Retiring the Segway will allow the company to focus on its newer productions.
Although their items for consumers will no longer include the classic Segway PT, their array of vehicles for professionals continue to include several 2-wheeled Segways that are appropriate for police, mall, security and, yes, city tours.
*** Feature Photo: Ben Grey/flickr
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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