Touring Paris on a Segway Scooter

The two-wheeled vehicle offers a cutting-edge way to visit the French capital. But you might prefer an electric bike

By Stefan Simons

The group of tourists looks like a gaggle of futuristic robots in a Star Wars movie. Leaning forward slightly on their peculiar two-wheeled vehicles, which require no pedaling, these visitors to Paris roll at a leisurely pace across the Champs de Mars, in front of the Eiffel Tower. When they reach the trees, the helmeted crew suddenly spreads out and sprints—at about 15 km/h (9 mph)—through the trees to the Peace Monument, ending up at the École Militaire.

They attract attention, even in the French capital, where people can be so blasé about foreigners. This group of a half-dozen visitors from England, New Zealand and the United States meanders though Paris perched on humming machines. Their choice of vehicle is a Segway—an electric scooter defined somewhat verbosely as "a self-balancing personal transport system." The device was invented in California and is available in Europe at a price of about €7,000 ($10,850). It runs for about four hours on a single battery charge, and it's "environmentally correct," although it requires no physical exertion at all.

The Segway looks like an old-fashioned manual lawn mower. It has two oversized tires on both sides of a platform for the rider's feet. A steering column with a bar at the top is shaped like bicycle handlebars. To ride the device, which weighs in at about 25 kilograms (55 lbs.), you step on the platform and lean forward slightly. It will then hum and start to move. Stopping is just as easy—you lean back slightly. Leaning back a little more puts the Segway into reverse. To steer left or right, the rider tilts the steering bar. "It's child's play," says Steven, one of a dozen guides giving our group a brief lesson in front of the office of City Segway Tours.

He's right: Handling the Segway is easy. The solidly welded two-wheeler has five gyroscope sensors, linked to a multitude of computer chips, to sense changes in the driver's center of gravity. It uses this information to regulate the motor.

Everything okay? No? No big deal, says Steven, an American from Texas who is happy to provide a 10- to 15-minute driving lesson—all that's needed for an alternative tour of the city. Steven shows us how to mount and dismount and how the scooter, which is about 50 centimeters (20 inches) wide, can master uneven terrain and small curbs. Accidents are rare, but every customer is required to sign a liability exclusion form. This is, after all, an American company.

We put on our helmets, pack our on-board First Aid Kits, and our little convoy hums off in the direction of downtown Paris. "Cool," says Gwen, a computer specialist from Florida, "it's a lot better than walking."

Thanks to the elevated platform, we can occasionally hop across small garden walls. Surfing comfortably along on this electric scooter makes our tour a double delight. "Our French customers," says Steven, "don't take the tours because they want to see the sights, but it's a fun way to get around."

For the More Discerning Tourist...

Of course, and why would the French be interested in English-language tour of their own city, devised by Americans, no less? In front of the École Militaire we learn from Steven that Napoleon was "quite a short guy." At the Hotel des Invalides, we learn about two US pilots who hid in the dome just as Hitler paid a visit to the building in 1941. And at Place de la Concorde, Steven manages to send shivers down the backs of the group with his summary of the French Revolution. "Twenty-thousand executions with the guillotine, but at least it got the French people more freedom," he says.

Another tour, offered by "Paris Charms & Secrets" for €45 ($70), is less thrilling technologically but culturally far more discerning. The young Paris company has guides who speak German, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese, and operates a fleet of two dozen bicycles with electric motors. The vehicles are multi-speed, Dutch-style bikes with elongated batteries inserted near the rear wheel. The battery powers a motor that activates when the rider starts to pedal. The combination disk-and-drum brakes operate reliably.