1st UK Public Tour & Evidence of Safe Use

[alcardiff]

Hi all, after my meeting with Cardiff Harbour Authority yesterday we're right on the brink of launching the UK's first public tour (ie. in an open public area rather than on private land) . The tour will run on the Cardiff Bay Barrage (see www.cardiffharbour.co.uk) over an hour and will have a good mix of sightseeing and talks (covering diverse subjects like engineering, pirates, vikings, industry etc).

Our tour will be a milestone in the use of Segways in the UK and CHA understandably are looking for me to produce some evidence that tours are operating safely throughout the world, preferably with some stats to back it up. They're very keen to see the project go ahead but are looking for some level of re-assurance on the Health and Safety side.

Has anyone done any specific research in this area or have some reliable facts and figures that I can quote?

Regards,

Alan
Cardiff Bay Segway Ltd

[florin]

Originally Posted by alcardiff

Hi all, after my meeting with Cardiff Harbour Authority yesterday we're right on the brink of launching the UK's first public tour (ie. in an open public area rather than on private land) . The tour will run on the Cardiff Bay Barrage (see www.cardiffharbour.co.uk) over an hour and will have a good mix of sightseeing and talks (covering diverse subjects like engineering, pirates, vikings, industry etc).

Our tour will be a milestone in the use of Segways in the UK and CHA understandably are looking for me to produce some evidence that tours are operating safely throughout the world, preferably with some stats to back it up. They're very keen to see the project go ahead but are looking for some level of re-assurance on the Health and Safety side.

Has anyone done any specific research in this area or have some reliable facts and figures that I can quote?

Regards,

Alan
Cardiff Bay Segway Ltd

Hi Alan,

Congratulations with this great news. Check out this page at the Segway website:

http://www.segway.com/support/indi_safety_studies.html

Perhaps some of these safety studies can be of any use for you.

Good luck with the tour.

[gbrandwood]

Alan, Florin beat me to it with that link. It's not directly tour related, but the issues of safety and integration with pedestrianised areas are common themes.

Your unique position is affording you the opportunity to go where others have tried and failed in the UK. UK tour operators did exist, so I believe, in London, but were shut down due to the legality issues.

Your tour sounds great. Best of luck. Go out and prove just how safe these things are. Your experiences will be directly relevant to the overall opinion of people in the DfT. They've stated in a letter to me that they would be very interested in the results of any such trials carried out in the UK. Yours is not quite a scientific trial, but it's positive evidence and exposure. It's all good.

[Madsegs]

Im british but had to move to Spain to operate tours with segways. I have loads of UK clients and i would gladly help out with a refference or answer any questions they might have.

[alcardiff]

Cheers guys, this is just the info I need; I'll keep you posted how I get on.

Antony, I hope you don't mind if I take you up on your offer as a letter from an established operator giving some idea of numbers and safe operation would be fantastic. I've sent you a PM with my postal address.

Thanks again,

Alan
Cardiff Bay Segway Ltd

[nickyboy]

Good Luck Alan & Julie. I am sure there's a few UK dealers and enthusiast's watching and waiting....

[seglander]

Best of luck with the tour Alan. Between it will be great to have another reference site close by to assist with the regulatory arguement.

[alcardiff]

Originally Posted by seglander

Best of luck with the tour Alan. Between it will be great to have another reference site close by to assist with the regulatory arguement.

Cheers Martin,

One of the things that CHA wanted to know from me was, '...where else are they doing this, how are they doing it and are they having accidents?'. I have asked Segway Inc if they have stats from authorised tours to back up my case and am waiting to hear. CHA are very careful about endorsing something so new and different but being able to say that you're setting up a tour in Dublin will strengthen the argument further and vice versa.

We've got a trial run of our proposed route with the Segways tomorrow so hope all goes well.

Looking forward to seeing your tour up and running soon, I quite fancy a 'research' trip to the Emerald Isle .

Regards,

Alan

[alcardiff]

Hi all, here's an article from today's Western Mail, Wales' national newspaper.

http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100n...name_page.html

Cheers,

Alan

[alcardiff]

Hi all,

Julie and I took a pair of i2s on the Roy Noble show on BBC Radio Wales this morning. It was all live so very nerve-wracking but came out pretty well with Roy actually having a go live on air - he loved it .

You can find the interview at www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/

Click on 'Radio Wales', scroll down the page to 'Roy Noble', click on Monday then, when the new window opens, 'fast forward' to 1 hr 30 mins into the show. I think you need Real Player to listen.

DJ's comments and a pic can be found at http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowale...20070514.shtml

Cardiff Harbour Authority are currently considering our new, revised, revamped and updated proposal which now includes lots more information and evidence on the safety of the Segway PT in the pedestrian environment. We might actually get this thing off the ground and now hope to be up and running for the end of May Bank Holiday (fingers crossed ). Thanks to all the guys who helped us with info.

Cheers,

Alan