TheScooterScoop

By Brian Morelli
Iowa City Press-Citizen

Trotting over from class in Phillips Hall, University of Iowa sophomore Rafael Eubanks climbs on his Yamaha Zuma, a low-powered, motorized two-wheeler that is parked free — and legally — 100 feet away in an Iowa Avenue bike rack.

“I use it every day, everywhere I go,” Eubanks, 20, who also plays football for the Hawkeyes, says before zooming off. “It’s perfect to get around campus or to get to practice. It’s hard to make it on time to the west side of campus.”

Eubanks’ teammate, Dan Doering, also a moped-riding UI sophomore, agrees.

From parking to quick access to great gas mileage, “if you are going to be here for four years, it just makes since,” Doering says.

On campus, motorcycle permits, which include mopeds, are way up for students as well as for faculty and staff. The most recent report from UI Parking and Transportation shows 439 student permits and a total of 747. That is more than twice as many as the 186 student and 368 total permits in October 2003, and it is more than three times as many as the 94 student and 229 total permits in October 2001, the year numbers first started climbing.

UI Parking and Transportation Director Dave Ricketts said the high point for motorcycle permits was in 1992, with more than 800, but then numbers dropped until 2001.

“In recent years, I’d say fuel prices were obviously a factor,” Ricketts said, “but also where students are living and the cost of parking and operating a car.

“Then there are also trends that have nothing to do with that. This place has become more urban. It is easier to move around with those things.”

Nine-month student motorcycle permits cost $46, while annual permits, primarily used by faculty and staff, cost $69. That number will go up next year to $50 and $75, respectively. They must be parked in designated zones.

Student-athletes are among the most frequent permit holders, Ricketts said.

“There is really something going on,” Ricketts said, “it is just hard to say exactly what.”

A popular explanation for the increase is high gas prices, but gas prices jumped in 2003, which doesn’t explain the increasing moped numbers prior to that or why sales have gone through the roof since 2005.

Two local motorcycle and moped dealers, Don’s Honda, 537 Highway 1 W, and Iowa City Motorsports, 155 Escort Lane, say moped sales have been increasing for years and have surged since 2005.

“Smaller bikes and scooters in general are up dramatically,” said Mike Zeman, the sales manager for Don’s Honda, citing a 250 percent increase since 2005.

Zeman said gas prices are the primary reason for the recent increase.

“At first, we thought it was just a reaction, things will come down,” Zeman said of surging prices after the Iraq War began in 2003. “By 2004, prices stayed high. In 2005, prices stayed high. We started to think maybe they are coming down. As prices stayed high, now we have to look at doing other things. Let’s look at more economical means of transportation.”

Rod Holst, owner of Iowa City Motorsports, said sales of his most popular scooter brand, Yamaha, quadrupled in 2005 and those numbers have remained steady ever since.

“Iowa City is a special place for parking,” Holst said. “People that are buying them in Iowa City are mainly (doing so) for parking and transportation.”

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