Segway scooters taken for a spin in Las Vegas

Dan Kulin

Monday, May 3, 2004 | 11:16 a.m.

For now Larry Lambeth's Segways are corralled in front of the Fashion Show mall, but he hopes that, over time, local leaders will see that the two-wheel motorized scooter is safe and easy enough to use on Strip sidewalks.

Paying $1 a minute, a steady stream of locals and tourists alike took a Segway for a spin around a fenced-in course in front of the mall Sunday.

"It was really, really fun," Amanda Rich, 11, of Las Vegas said after a 20-minute ride. "It took me about three minutes to get used to it."

Her sister Ashley Rich, 9, was also excited by the smooth ride.

"You don't have to use your muscles at all," she said. "It would be good to ride in the mall, but you shouldn't go in a big crowd."

Others interviewed Sunday agreed the Segway, also called the Segway Human Transporter, would be better away from crowded sidewalks, especially with novice drivers. But many said they expect the quiet scooters will someday be commonplace on the Strip.

"These are definitely the wave of the future," Randy Miller, 47, a charter pilot from Cedar City, Utah, said. Miller said he now plans to buy a Segway to get around the airport in Utah. "These are all over a bicycle."

Larry Rich, father of Amanda and Ashley, and principal of Las Vegas Junior Academy, said: "Las Vegas is always trying to be on the cutting edge.

"If he pushes it," Rich said of Lambeth, "in a year his group will be going down the Strip."

Lambeth's company, Fun Transport, began renting the Segways in front of the mall on Saturday and hopes to eventually get permission to rent them for use along the entire Strip. He said renters would always be accompanied by one of his staff.

He also hopes to rent the Segways at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.

The 2003 Legislature gave the Segway, a motorized two-wheel scooter, a pedestrian classification, making it legal to operate it on sidewalks, much like a motorized wheelchair.

However, because Lambeth's business is essentially a rental company, it falls under county jurisdiction and the county could restrict where the scooters can be used.

"As an owner you can take them on the Strip, but as a rental company I can't give them out to go on the Strip," he said.

Lambeth said he thinks county leaders' worries stem from their problems with pedicabs, which were banned from the Strip in March.

"Also, this is a new concept, so I'm sure they want to see how it works," Lambeth said.

Even without full reign of the Strip, Lambeth, who has a six-month lease for the space at the mall, said he plans to keep his rental business in Las Vegas for a while.

"They're too expensive for the average person to buy, but everyone wants to try one," Lambeth said about the Segways, which he said cost about $4,500 new.

Lambeth's Fun Transport will be renting the Segways at the mall from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday.

The machines, which weigh 84 pounds, can go as fast as 12.5 mph ordinarily, though the Segways at the mall are set to go no faster than 6 mph. They run on batteries that can last 12 to 15 miles before needing to be charged for six hours.

A person operates a Segway by standing on a platform between two large wheels. The machine goes forward or backward depending on how the driver is leaning. Moving left or right is done by turning the left handle on the handle bars.

Cathy McBride, 50, of Las Vegas, said she finally got to try a Segway Sunday and was impressed.

"It was wonderful," she said. "Eventually you'll see these at grocery stores and job sites," she said.