I’ve always wanted an EPAMD ever since they first debuted in December of 2001. EPAMD stands for “electric personal assistive mobility device.” It is popularly known as a Segway. The Segway is a two-wheeled self-balancing transportation device that is the brainchild of Dean Kaman. He is also the inventor of the iBOT- a nifty wheelchair that can climb stairs and prop itself up on two wheels, raising the user to an almost upright position. Aside from the medical implications of the wheelchair for increased mobility for the disabled, Kamen thinks that walking is obsolete. The device is also designed to replace larger forms of personal transportation like the automobile for short trips. Of the millions of trips taken per day in an automobile that are five miles or less, if just half of those trips were made on the personal transportation device, the savings in fuel and harmful effects to the environment could be considerable.
The device started out as the Segway HT, which is short for “human transporter.” Later, the name was changed to the Segway PT, or “personal transporter.” Computers, gyroscopes, and motors in the base keep the Segway upright at all times. You can lean forward to go forward, lean back to go backwards, and turn by leaning left and right. The Segway is powered by electric motors that can propel the machine up to 12.5 miles per hour. An “InFo” key allows you to remote start the vehicle and set the speed according to a “user’s level.”
The Segway has found a wide variety of commercial and public uses from helping the handicapped to easing the walking distance for cops on the beat. Now there is a new start-up company in St. Louis that offers tours of the downtown area on a Segway. A company called Glide St. Louis Tours offers the tours. The tours include stops at Union Station, Busch Stadium, Kiener Plaza, the Gateway Arch, Eads Bridge, Laclede’s Landing, and the Edward Jones Dome. Tours of Forest Park and create-your-own-tours are also available.
Before they can begin the tour, riders watch a fifteen-minute video on safety in which they are told not to ride the Segway down stairs or over speed bumps. After that, you are given a helmet and you are ready to take off. The tour lasts for three hours. That’s right, a three-hour tour. Because of the many remarks they received about the old TV sitcom Gilligan’s Island, the owners decided to name the Segways after the characters on the show. So you might end up riding on the SS Minnow or Mary Jane.
Tours are $65 per person. You can get more information by logging on to www.glidest.louistours.com or by calling (314) 868-7386.
