We spend a lot of time at the Seattlest newsroom talking about the problems bicycle riders in this city have and how the city should make it easier for us since we reduce congestion and emissions at the same time. Now we realize we’ve been ignoring the good our our two-wheeled motorized brethren (and sistern) on scooters.

According to the PI, Vince Rowley and Eric Pravitz are regular scooter riders who want the City Council to Seattle more scooter friendly:

Tuesday evening, they're likely to ask officials at a City Council committee session to crack down and make it easier to get around on smaller vehicles such as the ones they drive.

Apparently, Rowley and Pravitz think the law that says each two-wheeled vehicle in a metered stall has to have a parking sticker is unfairly punitive. Back in the day when coin-op meters ruled the streets, they say, as long as the stall was paid for, every scooter was covered. They also plan to ask the city to crack down on car drivers who move their light-weight rides and then take the parking spot (not to mention the parking sticker). The two men say that scooters’ lower emissions make the changes worthwhile.

Now, we’ve never had an issue with scooters (except for the short time we lived in Florence, Italy where everyone has a Vespa tuned to be as loud as possible) but honestly, we never thought of scooters as environmentally friendly. In fact, we always thought they used two-stroke engines which are really dirty. Turns out we’re wrong: Vespas reduce emissions by approximately 40 lbs/mile vs. the average car and get better mileage than even a new Prius.

Update: A kind reader pointed out that Vespas reduce emissions by .4/lbs per mile, not 40. sorry

So to all the scooter riders out there, we say, “Ride On!”

Scooter Forum(pdf)//5:30 p.m. Tuesday//City Hall 600 4th Ave.//Bertha Landes Meeting Room

Picture from awungfoo who placed it in the Seattlest Flickr Pool.