Scooting Shanghai

As the sun comes out and Shanghai thaws, a strange trend has emerged on Shanghai’s streets. Intertwined with the runaway busses, Santana’s, Buicks and bicycles, are an increasing number of laowai riding electric scooters.

It’s hard to miss them, their shiny, faux-Vespa bodies shining in the sunlight, chrome handlebars glinting as they weave their way through the traffic, flaunting the city’s virtually non-existent road rules.

One of the people primarily responsible for putting these people on the electric scooter path to happiness is American McGee, the man behind Spicy Motors. “Having walked, biked, scootered, taxied, bused, and driven a car in Shanghai – I can say a scooter is always the fastest, coolest way to get around,” he says.

Scooter-rider, Suzy Fewtrell agrees: “I use it for everything. Going to friends, work, out at night, shopping, you name it.  I have only used a taxi four times since getting my scooter – because we had friends [with us] and couldn't all fit.”

Cost and convenience are two of the major factors that make people take the scooter-purchasing leap, according to American: “A lot of our customers have described the city ‘shrinking’ as a result of driving a scooter,” he says. “Time saved equals money saved, and when you combine that with actual taxi fares you save on, the scooter ‘cost’ equation starts to make a lot of sense.”

“Having the scooter has turned a 20 minute trudge into a five minute zip down Hongqiao Road.”

Mum-of-three, Johnna Alborn (pictured above with Neve, 18 months and Jade, 8), emphasizes that time saved in getting around on an electric scooter can not only be good for your wallet, it’s also pretty handy for your sanity in a city where the daily commute can be an ordeal.

“Before I had it I would walk my kids to school. It was a mission, carrying school bags, lunch boxes, my handbag and books,” she says. “Having the scooter has turned a 20 minute trudge into a five minute zip down Hongqiao Road.”

That’s not to say there aren’t some drawbacks. As with any method of transportation, safety has to be a priority and there is no shortage of stories about close calls on Shanghai’s chaotic roads.

“I didn't look carefully enough, and pulled out in front of a car that was in my blind spot,” Johnna says of one frightening experience she’s had on her scooter, complete with her 8 year old twins on route to school.

“The car had to break to avoid us; it was close enough to give me a real scare,” she says.  “It was my fault, getting over-confident and impatient. One close call was enough to scare me into taking it easier and slowing down.”

American agrees that being ultra-aware of the surrounding traffic is the key to safe riding, no matter what kind of vehicle you choose. “Commuting on the streets here means taking a holistic approach to driving,” he says. “You must operate as a part of the mass, not as an individual. As the old Chinese adage goes, ‘The scooter out in front gets the bus.’”

Suzy points out that as well as feeling more secure than a push bike, they are also a much better conversation starter than your standard pedal-powered methods of transportation.

“I feel slightly safer on my scooter just because of the extra power available if needed.  I am used to riding my bike here so the transition was easy,” she says. “I am constantly asked by Chinese at the lights where I got it from and how much it cost, they really like it and of course it looks so good!”

The ‘hip factor’ is certainly not an inconsiderable one in the decision to join the scooter-riding masses, but when every second laowai has one, will electric scooters lose their cool?

Not in the Alborn household, according to Johnna, “It will never lose its cool factor in our family.  Our kids love riding on the back – and front. Our biggest challenge is keeping our 18 month old off it!”

American stresses that more than just looking good, the trend of laowai embracing electric vehicles is good for the city as a whole. “I think a city like Shanghai, with an image of thousands of foreigners integrating with the commuter culture and riding cool scooters is something fantastic – an image to be cultivated and embraced.”