By Holly Blair

Mimi Almeida, a graduate student at ETSU, has been riding her scooter to campus since the end of September when gas prices were skyrocketing.

“It didn’t make sense to be driving three miles to school in a four-door sedan with just me with gas prices the way they were,” she said.

“Another issue is parking. When I saw that I could save money and not have to fight for a parking space I decided to invest. I had a mo-ped in the mid-1970s and thought, why not?”

Almeida is the founder and president of the Scootin’ Bucs, a recognized organization on campus for scooter drivers. The club has about 22 members and has been official for about one month.

“We became official just before homecoming this year,” she said.

Almeida drives a 49 ½ CC scooter. According to the Tennessee Department of Transportation these are street legal, but not on the interstate. However, a 150 CC scooter is street legal on all streets including the interstate and can reach speeds of 70 mph. Scooters like Almeida’s reach top speeds of 35 to 45 mph.

Another scooter driver, Scott Contreras-Koterbay, an art history professor at ETSU, has been enjoying his scooter and plans on continuing to drive it even through the winter months.

“I have been looking since June, since gas was $4 a gallon,” he said. “I got mine four weeks ago. I have traveled 100 miles on it and only put $3 in gas in it.”

Koterbay joined the Scootin’ Bucs last week.

According to Almeida scooters get about 113 miles to the gallon and have tanks that hold about four liters, a little over a gallon. For Almeida this means that she could drive from her home to school and back almost 19 times for about $2.

O’ Sully’s Scooter Shop on West Walnut Street is owned and run by Garette O’ Sullivan, a criminal justice major who will be transferring to ETSU next semester. According to Almedia, O’Sully’s Scooter Shop can be credited with most of the sales of motor scooters at ETSU.

“Last summer my younger brother had no mode of transportation and he was 15 years old, so I bought him a scooter,” said O’Sullivan.

“I started riding it and got myself one, then my friends liked them, and their friends liked them. I sold a few from my house then decided to go ahead and buy the building to sell them out of.”

The scooter shop offers discounts to students, such as $100 off of a scooter purchase, or a free helmet with a scooter purchase.

“I am planning on renting scooters out next semester for a semester at a time and maybe a day at a time,” he said.

“I sell to a lot of professors. Students buy them too but a lot of professors have purchased them. I thought it would be a good market in this area where people live near campus and the economy the way it is right now.”

Scooters are not the only two-wheeled means of transportation saving money and reducing gas emissions on campus. Bicycles are much more prevalent these days than they have been in recent years. So prevalent that the physical plant is working on putting new bike racks near the D.P. Culp Center, in front of Brown and Burleson halls.

Bike program expands 

Lance Lewis, the coordinator of the Yellow Bike Program, is also overseeing an expansion of the program. Bikes that have been neglected then collected by campus safety are donated to the program, fixed and painted yellow for students to rent and use to their benefit.

“We want to expand across campus,” he said. “We hope to be set up in the Culp Center next semester and have about 10 bikes ready to rent in front of the post office.”

According to Lewis last semester there were about 90 rentals total and this semester they are renting about 90 a month. 

“I would like to think that because of the energy crisis and the unsteady economy people can find using our program beneficial and cost-efficient,” said Lewis. “When gas got so high more people pulled their bikes out of the garage and use them.”

Lewis has also installed a bike repair service for students, faculty and staff at the Basler Center for Physical Activity behind the equipment desk. If someone needs a tune-up their spokes tightened, or a tire inflated, they can drop it off and have it fixed for free, unless a part is required. Then, it is asked that the part be purchased and brought with the bike for repair.

Ride share unites carpoolers

People are also finding ways to save money and gas by carpooling to and from school.

According to Jennifer Rice, chair of the Parking Committee, this semester 91 carpool decals have been distributed to people riding to school with at least two people in the car. Last semester only 75 were distributed to carpoolers. If every car carried only two people, that would be 182 people sharing a ride and splitting the gas bill.

“In this past year we have seen a drastic increase of students and faculty carpooling and riding bicycles and motor scooters,” Rice said.

“This has everything to do with the economy and how people are cutting back on expenses.”

Adult Commuter Transfer Services has introduced a Ride Share program that enables students to register for riders to carpool with any faculty or student. Students and faculty can register and have the Ride Share posted online on their Desire2Learn site. This also allows students who are not local and want to go home for the weekend or for Christmas break to find partners to share the ride.

Jeff Howard, the assistant director of ACTS, said the program is growing. The more students and faculty who join will make it more effective.

“Say you are from Florida and want to go home over the break and you and two other people who are going to Florida are registered to Ride Share," he said. "Then we can partner you up and the three of you can ride together, splitting the bill.

“This program is still very new," Howard said. "It only began in the fall, but it has a lot of potential to help students financially as well as being part of the going-green movement on campus.”

Things to remember when riding a scooter

• Always wear a helmet when operating or riding a scooter or mo-ped.
• You must be at least 16 years of age to operate a scooter or mo-ped on a public road.
• Operators of a scooter or mo-ped need to obtain a license or tag. The minimum license or tag is a Class E. Some states only require a tag when operating a 50cc vehicle; no license is required.
• You must register your scooter or mo-ped annually. Be sure to check with the Tennessee state laws before driving your motor scooter.