A few months ago I bought a One Wheel as a fun way of commuting around Hamilton.
The One Wheel is an electric skateboard that self-balances like a Segway. It has a 30km range on a single charge, with a top speed around 30km/h and is meant to feel like snowboarding (ironically, I can’t skateboard at all and I can barely snowboard).
Since I started using the One Wheel as my day to day preferred method of transportation I’ve learned a few things:
- Car travel makes things seem far away. Most of my daily trips as a Councillor are less than a kilometer or two (home to City Hall, City Hall to McMaster, home to Mohawk College, City Hall to Roulston etc.)
- Most of the time I’m in my car by myself. As much as I enjoy talking to myself (which I do more often than I should admit), it’s surprising how many random conversations with people in the neighbourhood and on the street I now have.
- We’ve realized that our family doesn’t really need two cars. My car has been sitting in the driveway for weeks. It takes a little bit of coordination and pre-planning to figure out who needs the car for what (we have two kids and Dawn and I both have very irregular & full schedules).
As a Hamilton City Councillor, it’s hard to ignore the impact of disruptive technologies like the One Wheel and other electric scooters and electric assist bicycles are about to have on our perceptions of transportation!