Civic Engagement

one more thing we need to deal with. the closing of some local rmv's have made the waiting time unbearable

So many new problems arise with this law. If "catching" bad drivers is the safety problem that is the concern (as specified in the Globe), I am amazed because every cop I have driven past has had ample opportunity to follow me and pull me over. With towns as close by as they are in MA, this vehicle makes perfect sense for the towns, the planet and for those who can't afford the costs of more eco-unfriendly vehicles; one of those costs is saving time and expense when parking - using a moped means traveling slower but that time is almost offset by the free and available parking.

enough with punishing the little guy for being little. Boston has a problem with doulble parked commercial vehicles, like cabs or delivery trucks jamming our streets with traffic, lets address that issue, or the issue of police vehicles needlesly parked in front of fire hydrants, or in handicapped spots... lets just ignore the blatent abuse of authority that we give to these state officials and pay their mortgages. when will the little guy get a break? Never, thats when, after all what power do we hold to stop an obviouse grasp for cash. why cant we ticket over sized vehicles, oh I know why, that would make sense! lets just attack the under privliged and reward the blatent offenses right in front of everybodies eyes

Awful law, counter productive to the environment and all of Boston's parking and traffic issues.

How can that be legal anyway, to define a maximum attainable speed of 30mph without also defining who has to measure it and how? Pretty much every scooter speedometer is inaccurate (usually exaggerating the speed) so scooter owners cannot be responsible for measuring the real speed. Also with some back wind and downhill every scooter in the world is able to go faster than 30mph! Concerning scooters parked on the street I am sure that some car drivers will move the scooters/moped to the side or onto the sidewalk to make space for their cars, leaving the ticket problem to the scooter owners. I'd eat my head if police would then be willing to investigate local security cameras or other to find out what happened. This is a what I would call a 'shut up and pay' law.

There should be support for low cost scooter use in Boston and throughout the Commonwealth. We should encourage green awareness and reward conservation since we all know about global warming. It is very important to allow affordable transportation for less privledged individuals, students and young workforce residents. These are fellow residents who are struggling with a poor economy, lack of job opportunities with an ever increasing postal rate, increasing public transportation fees and a new higher sales tax rate.

The motorized bicycle law should be modified to fit and apply to the actual machines that classify under it and allow room for new models and changing technologies with the newer scooters.

The motorized bicycle law has contradictions within and is poorly written. We should update it with a 2009 mindset and work together with the DMV, local and state authorities so there is a clear meaning to the law and a safe environment for where the motorizied bicycles and or ...

Why can't the state have a middle ground. Plate scooters, but still allow them to park on sidewalks and use bike lanes. Just be able to ticket them for running red lights.

The expense that goes along with this law is prohibitive to many. I purchased my 50 cc scooter because it gets 70 miles to the gallon, but depending on how this is enforced, I may have to sell it. We should be encouraging, not discouraging the use of greener transportation.

This is completely counter productive to both the enviorment and the population! We should be encouraging inexpensive, enviormentally friendly modes of transport!

This is a bad law, please remove it.

Clearly we need to encourage less car driving, reduce congestion and improve average gas mileage. Scooters are an economical and practical way to do so. We should create more intensives for scooters and not reduce them.

This law is unjust and unjustified. As scooter drivers, we reduce emissions, reduce traffic, and leave parking spaces for drivers of cars and trucks. With this new law, scooter drivers are discouraged. I should not have to pay $5.50 to park my scooter at the MBTA when my scooter takes up one quarter, at most, of the space of a fullsized vehicle. Yet another reason I am looking forward to the day that I move out of this over-taxed, over-regulated state.

The law was passed and put into effect without public hearing or input. It was never announced to current and registered owners and/or dealers, and only showed up on the RMV website this week. More paperwork and time wasted (payroll?) for RMV, police, parking clerks, owners, and negative impact on the scooter industry, environment, congestion, efficiency, economy. This law makes no sense (cents) and should be reversed. What's next - Segues? Wheelchairs? Skates?

This law is environmentally and socially irresponsible. It will negatively affect every resident of Massachusetts, and set a horrible precedent for the rest of the country.

I think most people are very responsible about how they park their scooters on the sidewalk. It's a solution that costs nothing to the state or the city. Less cars on the road is good for the environment. I used to bike around Boston but stopped because it got to be too dangerous. The city has never made serious efforts to make itself bike friendly. So I got a scooter instead to keep up with all the traffic and claim my place on the road. But you can't leave a scooter in the middle of a parking spot because it will get easily stolen. This law is going to punish people that are trying to do good for the environment while getting around a city that is not very serious about providing good, affordable, accessible, and widespread public transportation.

This law stifles alternative transportation, and appears to be solely a revenue boosting tool. It is vicous that it was hidden from the public and gave the citizens of Massachusetts only a 2 week notice.

What would you do if the operational costs for your car went up 300%?

What if in order to ride a bicycle you had to get a special license, pay a yearly registration, pay to have your bike inspected yearly, and pay for insurance?

This law is beyond ridiculous. I bought a moped to avoid having to pay outrageous parking fees, waiting in long lines at the DMV, and paying for vehicle insurance. If Massachusetts expects me to get a plate, pay for parking, and pay for insurance, they can either cover those fees FOR me, reimburse me the price of my scooter ($2,400) so I can put it toward the purchase of a car, or they can deal with it when I park my scooter with no license plate near the sidewalk. Good luck towing me with a titanium chain tethering it to the meter. Good luck ticketing me with no plate.

This is just another example of overzealous, officious, pointless laws that make people's lives more difficult.

Hearing about this new law makes my heart hurt a little. While I understand it may be for generating revenue for the state and to keep order on the streets, I believe going after us scooter riders is like picking on the little guy. I've learned more about Boston and Cambridge, participated in many of the activities and frequented more businesses just by being able to scoot around. By having a small, easily to park vehicle, getting around was enjoyable and made our beautiful city accessible as it never can be with cars or the many frustrations that the MBTA offers. If you are going to keep this law, please please please, first encourage new parking areas, less cars, and generally more riders of these awesome two wheeled vehicles.

I think this will end up costing the State more than it's worth because the registry will need to hire and train inspectors to determine if the 49cc moped can achieve speeds over 30mph. Less people will buy or keep their scooters. Parking will be worse especially in urban areas, (many take mopeds to commuter rails)

Mopeds are low emissions, high milage alternatives for commuters. This new law will effectively remove them from the roads. It's unfair, and unjust to target a small minority of folks who rely on these vehicles to save money. What's next, taxing/ regulating and insuring rascals, bicycles, and skateboards?

Why was this bill, which was enacted many months ago NOT mentioned anywhere until a week before implementation? The registry barely knows how to take care of scooters as it is. I got 3 conflicting stories on three different visits to the RMV as how to register my "motorized bicycle" in the first place. Added to this nightmare, is the fact that my local RMV office in North Attleborough has already been shut down!!!! So if I go to do the right thing I'm being inconvenienced twice. Once for my three month old scooter and once for my local registry.

No one has even mentioned that the Registry is not ready for this change and so the 'LU' plates are not even available and no staff at the registry know what to do if someone wanted to get one.

The new law is just not well thought out. I called my insurance who a couple of months ago wouldnt insure my new bike after my old one was stolen and now they want me to put full motorcycle insurance on my 50cc scooter. my antique has less insurance. the argument that it has an engine and two wheels so its a motorcycle is bogus, that is like saying your car has an engine and four wheels so its a Lamborghini. If there is a problem with safety and scooters where are the traffic stats? or accident reports?

Having the press release tell us you aren't going to enforce the law about plated vehicles not parking on sidewalks is a total misuse of the process of law. I can understand if you need the revenue stream, but to roll this out without a proper legal solution for us to park is irresponsible at best.

Why was the solution never to just move the motorized bicycle definition up to 40 mph to meet the lower end of the motorcycle law? Instead, by creating this intermediate class, there's some sort of artificial line at 30 mph that will suddenly be enforced on everyone who has been fine on their small 49cc engines going at most around 35 mph with traffic. Instead of encouraging that safe and harmless behavior, this new change aims to overburden scooter owners, especially those that daily commute in this way. Talk about a solution in search of a problem.

Dear Governor Patrick,

This most recent law has some favorable components but fails to incorporate several necessary provisions. Registering, insuring and licensing mopeds/scooters and drivers is a welcomed plan. The recognition that many scooters easily obtain speeds over 30 mph is long overdue. What is beyond my understanding is how the law apparently prevents mopeds/scooters from parking on the sidewalk. This simple fact is the largest benefit to both drivers and cities in that it provides transportation that does not compete with cars. If anything, parking should be expanded to scooters up to 150 cc (or preferably up to a certain length/width). The additional classes of mopeds/scooters makes sense as the speed increases so should the users social responsibility. It does not make sense to prevent parking on sidewalks for vehicles that are the same physical size. As a person who lives in Beacon Hill and is a responsible citizen who intends to register and insure my vehicle, I do ...

I have been riding a scooter for 4 years in Boston/Cambridge/Somerville. That's four years of fill-ups of ONE gallon of gas a week. You want to improve the quality of life in Massachusetts? Support alternative transportation. Furthermore:

-Cities in Massachusetts are not compensating for the sidewalk parking by including narrow, lined parking spaces for scooters. -This means scooters will have to compete for parking with cars, which means less parking for everyone. -Not being able to lock our scooters to posts, bike racks, etc. means for easy robbery. Scooters get stolen by thieves who pick them up and put them in the back of their flatbed trucks. -Fear of having their scooters be snatched will push scooter drivers like me to drive cars, thus congesting our roads and polluting our air quality further. -The government should be ENCOURAGING scooter usage, not discouraging it for energy reasons. My Vespa gets 80 miles to the gallon. I fill up my one-gallon tank once and it lasts ...

Scooters help reduce car traffic, emissions, and dependency on oil. There is no rational reason why this law should have been adopted. Scooter use should be encouraged, not restricted.

this is a backwards new law that plays on fear of progress

No problem with the licensing and registration, but scooters MUST be allowed to park on sidewalks if not obstructing pedestrians!!!!

This law is environmentally and social irresponsible. It penalizes those of us who choose to use one of the most efficient and ecologically sound transportation options in an already over-crowded city.

This law contains no provisions for encouraging the use of alternative transportation, nor does it mandate that cities supply alternative parking options. It only places restrictions and undue burdens on scooter owners in the form of parking restrictions, mandatory registration, and required insurance for 49cc scooters.

Dear Governor Patrick,

I would like to bring this matter to your attention as I represent one of only two strictly Moped/Scooter retail locations in Boston. The name of our Company is Scooters Go Green located at 220 Old Colony Avenue, Boston MA. We have put in a lot of money and time into developing our business and cannot understand why we were never asked for our input and thoughts on this law while it was in the development stage. This would have made logical sense seeing that we are in and around the Scooter community and have hundreds of customers which we interact with and may be able to provide some very valuable insights on Scooter riding and how Scooterists operate throughout the city.

This new law seems to be somewhat convoluted and not something which was well thought out. I would like to bring up a few issues.

The law suggests that any scooter capable of exceeding 30mph will be subject to tags, title, insurance, and the operator will be required to ...

I SAY NO TO THE NEW MA SCOOTER/MOPED LAW!!!!!!!!!!

There needs to be more oversight by our state representitives by any rules that are reduce green healthy life styles. Taxing motorcyles, scooters and other economic and environmentally resonsible modes of transportation is bad policy. There is no way around that. Increased taxes should be levied on non commercial truck owners instead. This creates a environment where people are encouraged to conserve.

Scooters are green, lessen traffic jams, and convenient. These lawmakers are fun-killers and just trying to make money.

1) It was hidden from us since January. 2) RMV doesn't know about it 3) Cities and Towns don't know about it 4) To stop scooters running red lights is not a valid concern, bicycles run red lights all the time, though that is illegal as well. Bicycle owners are not being forced to pay for insurance, registration, and yearly inspections. 5) This law is stifling alternative modes of transportation. These class of scooters get over 70 miles per gallon on average.

This law unfairly targets 50cc and smaller scooter owners, specifically. There are no public safety issues being solved by this.

Scooters are green! This law runs contrary to supporting alternative transportation.

Dear Govenor Patrick, Please stop the passage and enactment of the new Mass Scooter/Moped law. The State and Federal governments have been pushing us all to be more eco-friendly and scooters/mopeds certainly help in this regard. They are fuel efficient, cost-effective and don't require a parking space. I bought two last year for just these reasons. Now you want to change the rules and require registration, insurance and inspection. That's just not prudent. Please step in and stop this law from being implemented.

Thanks, Sue Bisnop

This law is rubbish Governor Patrick - a perfect example of not looking before you leap. Scooter riders are doing our part to help the environment and ease traffic congestion, now do YOUR part!!!Do not punish us!

I just bought a <50CC scooter today in anticipation that this law will not go into effect.

As usual, another ill-conceived non thought-out law, never asking for input from those who it affects the most.