Bay Area commuters moving beyond cars BAY AREA Drivers taking to motorcycles, scooters, bicycles to save on gas

Bicyclists ride toward downtown on Market Street in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 22, 2008. Higher gas prices are luring more commuters out of their cars and onto their two-wheelers. Bicyclists ride toward downtown on Market Street in San Francisco, Calif., on Friday, Aug. 22, 2008. Higher gas prices are luring more commuters out of their cars and onto their two-wheelers. Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Photo: Paul Chinn, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Bay Area commuters moving beyond cars 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Four-dollar gas has fueled a boom in the number of Bay Area drivers shedding some wheels to cut their commuting costs.

This year's soaring gas prices have spurred a growing number of motorists to park, or even sell, their cars, and instead use two- or sometimes three-wheeled vehicles to get around. Fuel-sipping motor scooters and gas-free bicycles appear to be the most popular alternatives, though more motorcyclists are zipping down the road, and even motorized bicycles are making a comeback.

Scooters, long a fixture on the streets of Europe, are quickly gaining popularity in the United States. Nationwide, sales of major brands of scooters are up 66 percent in the first six months of the year, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council. In the Bay Area, dealers say, scooters are buzzing off showroom floors.

"We're up over 200 percent over last year," said Darragh Howard, who owns Rockridge Two Wheels in Oakland and Vespa Walnut Creek. "It's been a bit of a crazy time. July was our best month ever. We sold over 60 bikes."

Ironically, Two Wheels is the nation's leading seller of Vespa's three-wheeled MP3 scooter, Howard said.

In San Francisco, undoubtedly the scooter capital of the Bay Area, sales have also soared. Dave McAteer, a salesman at Vespa SF, said sales have doubled to 60 to 80 scooters a month.

"Sales are through the roof," he said.

Scooters are even enjoying newfound popularity in suburbia. At Vespa Walnut Creek, saleswoman Kristin Gallagher said they're selling a couple of scooters a day.

"Saturdays are crazy," she said. "The place is packed."

In the past, scooters were ridden mostly by hipsters and those who considered them cute or fun. But rising gas prices attracted a whole new crowd. Scooters can get anywhere from 60 to 100 miles per gallon. New Vespas range from $2,000 to $9,000, with the average cost being $5,000.

"A lot of moms come in and want something they can use to run down to the store and pick up a few things," said Gallagher. "As gas hit $3.50 then $4, they started getting sick of taking their SUVs out."

Kerry Brothers, 33, a retail manager who lives in Oakland, is among the converts. She and her husband bought scooters for recreation a little more than a year ago when they lived in San Antonio. But after moving to the Bay Area six months ago, they started using them to run errands and to get around.

"Today is the first day in a month and a half that I drove my car," she said. "I'll probably sell it in December."

Ky Boe, 39, an Oakland race car mechanic, and his wife, Linda, 43, bought a scooter with a top speed of 80 mph in October, and she uses it to commute across the Bay Bridge to work. It gets about 100 mpg, he said.

"She fills up completely for $6 or $7, and goes for weeks," he said.

Gallagher, who owns a Subaru Outback and a scooter, said she can fill her scooter 10 times for what it costs to gas up her car. She also works as a pet-sitter, a job that requires a lot of short trips.

"I find the scooter to be far more efficient," she said.

Scooters are also convenient, said Boe, especially for finding parking or avoiding congestion.

"It makes life so much simpler and easier," he said.

Biking to work

Gas prices have also driven more people to commute by bike. BART officials report an increase of 10 to 15 percent in bicycles aboard trains, and bike racks at stations are fuller than ever. In San Francisco, a traffic count by the Municipal Transportation Authority in July found that during a one-hour stretch of the morning commute, there were more bicycles than cars, taxis, buses and streetcars heading eastbound on Market Street. According to Judson True, an authority spokesman, 509 bike riders were tallied compared with 400 cars, 43 taxis and 30 transit vehicles. On Bike to Work Day in May, he said, officials counted twice as many bikes as motorized vehicles.

"In the Market Street corridor, there's been a significant shift to bicycles for commuting," he said. "I don't think anyone could stand on the sidewalk during the commute and not notice it."

Dan Sankey, 31, a sales manager at Mike's Bikes in San Francisco, has noticed. He pedals to work around 10 a.m. and has noticed a big surge in bike ridership in recent months, far beyond the usual summer increase.

"Now at 10 a.m., Market Street is like rush hour," he said. "And at rush hour, it's nuts. It tends to be raceway."

Bicycle sales have increased slightly, but steadily, he said, and technicians are seeing more riders dragging dusty bikes out of garages and closets, and bringing them into Bay Area bike shops for tuneups. The bike industry has also responded by introducing new lines of bikes with more racks and storage space, catering to commuters, Sankey said.

Electric power

Electric bikes, which enjoyed brief popularity in the late '70s and early '80s, are also reappearing, though they're clearly outnumbered by scooters and bicycles.

Bike riders, scooter aficionados and environmentalists are all happy to see the boom and expect it to continue, despite the cooler, wetter weather ahead.

"They've been doing this for years in Europe. There's no reason the Bay Area can't emulate that," said McAteer. "We don't really see any slowdown coming."