|
Indianapolis Star Scooters provide mobility, freedom By Will Higgins Gary Stock, his legs left weakened by polio, was a bit of a pioneer 20 years ago when he first started putt-putting around on a scooter. Not the stand-up type popular with kids. But the electric-powered scooters that were an innovation back then and, to Stock, a godsend."It was my freedom," he said. Among other things, his sit-down scooter allowed him to take in the 240-acre Indiana State Fair. A man in a scooter -- not a wheelchair but a chair on a platform with three or four wheels and handlebars -- was a novelty in those days. But as baby boomers age, scooters have increasingly become part of the scene, providing renewed mobility to not just the aged and infirm but to anyone for whom walking has become difficult and, to the occasional consternation of health experts, the obese. People are zipping around on scooters to go just about everywhere nowadays, whether they are heading out for a shopping trip, the doctor's office or everyday chores. Their scooters, they cheer, mean newfound independence. Those in the business say it's a good time to be selling scooters. Five years ago, about 130,000 scooters were sold in North America, according to a report by Frost & Sullivan, a San Antonio-based market consulting firm that tracks the industry. This year, the firm projects sales of 207,000, with the numbers climbing to 309,000 by decade's end. Some people buy their scooters; others rent. At the State Fair, for example, scooters this summer were available for $40 a day. Last month, at the Solheim Cup golf tournament at Crooked Stick Golf Club in Carmel, 30 scooters were made available for free to fans. Each day they were snapped up within a half-hour of the grounds opening, said Keith Conaway, whose store Adaptive Mobility provided them, as both a public service and as a marketing strategy. "We could have had 230 units," Conaway said. Scooters at Kroger are in use "almost all the time," said Jeff Golc, a spokesman for the grocery chain. The Wal-Mart on West 86th Street last month acquired five more scooters, bringing its fleet to 15 (and to about 16,000 scooters throughout Wal-Mart's U.S. stores). Heather Saunders, 27, hopped onto a scooter the other night at the Wal-Mart as she shopped for groceries and other items. She pronounced the scooter comfortable and relaxing. She was tired, stressed and nearly eight months pregnant, she explained. Andrew Buckser, who teaches anthropology at Purdue University and has noticed scooters' rising numbers, has a theory on their popularity. "Our society prizes independence enormously," he said, noting that people view scooters differently than wheelchairs, which makes it more acceptable to get aboard one. Unlike a wheelchair, he said, a scooter "looks like a vehicle." "With a scooter, you're driving. The image of a wheelchair is of someone who needs assistance," Buckser said. The government is about to give scooters a big boost. Last year, after discovering massive fraud in billing for power wheelchairs, the national Medicare program revised its reimbursement plan for chairs and scooters. John Warren, Medicare's director of medical review, said he expects the new rules, which go into effect Oct. 24, to lead to increased sales of scooters and decreased sales of the twice-as-expensive power wheelchairs. Sales already were growing fast because of price cuts. In 2000, the average scooter cost $1,900. Today, the average is $1,700, and by 2010 it's expected to be $1,400. Already, some scooters cost less than $1,000, including Pride Mobility Products Corp.'s "Go-Go," available at The Scooter Store on the Northwestside for $799. Scooters are marketed aggressively on TV and have fetching names that make them sound like speedboats: "Sonic," "Sundancer," "Sunrunner," "Victory" and "Zoom."
|