Here is another interesting news By Melissa Ludwig from Express-News. Check it out:
Campus police switch to 'green' scooters
Charles Taylor is not RoboCop.
But that's what some students at San Antonio College like to call him when he glides across campus on his T3 Motion, an electric upright scooter that's popping up on college campuses, malls and grocery stores across the nation. Somewhat akin to the Segway PT, the T3 is designed specifically for law enforcement with a three-wheeled base, storage space, lights, sirens and the ability to turn on a dime.
“I'm used to walking, but I like this better,” said Taylor, a 56-year-old security officer with dark sunglasses and a trim frame. “Most people say it looks nice.”
Alamo Colleges recently spent around $120,000 on 10 scooters for its five campuses, allowing the police department to get rid of four cars, reduce carbon emissions and save money on fuel, said Don Adams, chief of police. Powered with rechargeable battery packs, the T3s cost around 10 cents a day to operate and do not pollute the air, Adams said.
“The district has a green initiative, and this was part of us trying to get on board,” he said.
Plus, the scooters are ideal for patrolling campuses, where cars and even bicycles can be impractical because of the crowds, Adams said.
Since 2006, Costa Mesa, Calif.-based T3 Motion Inc. has sold around 1,600 of the vehicles to law enforcement and security departments across the world, posing serious competition to inventor Dean Kamen's plug-in Segway PT.
In addition to Alamo Colleges, the company's client roster in San Antonio includes the University of Texas Health Science Center and H-E-B grocery stores, said Jeff Simpson, marketing manager for T3 Motion.
At around $9,000 per vehicle, the T3 is more expensive than a Segway PT, but Adams said he preferred the three-wheeled base and ability to remove batteries to recharge, keeping the vehicle in service 24 hours a day.
Segways “were first in the market, and we studied what they had left open and designed a vehicle to address those needs,” Simpson said.
Unlike the Segway, the T3 is not designed for personal use and is sold only to law enforcement and security agencies. Simpson said when Columbia Pictures made the movie “Paul Blart: Mall Cop,” the studio approached T3 Motion about featuring their vehicle in the movie.
T3 declined, so the studio approached Segway.
Segway “said no, so they just went out and bought one,” Simpson said. “We are very serious about our brand and the perception of our product.”
At Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, where a student shot and killed 32 people in 2007, a student told Simpson the campus felt safer with all the police officers zipping around on T3 vehicles.
In fact, there was only one officer, Simpson said.
“He was moving around with such frequency it created a sense of omnipresence,” Simpson said.
On Taylor's patrol shift, two people flagged him down within the space of 10 minutes, one to point out a suspicious truck carrying off scrap metal and another to complain about students parking in faculty lots.
Those who would snicker at RoboCop and his T3, beware. He can write a lot of parking tickets on that thing.
=============
Hope you enjoyed this post on three wheel electric scooter news. Watch out for the police officers in your campuses. He may not be Robocop but he sure can make you feel sorry for parking the wrong place. I think the cops in Three wheel electric scooter rocks! What do you think?
Posts
0 comments: Campus police are now switching Three Wheel Electric Scooters (green scooters)!
Post a Comment