Automatic motor scooter licences
New option available for transport and leisure
By Christy Chan
Olivia and her "China Scooter". The prices of motor scooters range from $10,000 to $20,000
By her smart appearance in a white jacket, people probably would not guess her job is a marketing assistant in an office.
Twenty-five-year-old Olivia Wong owns a sharp red motor scooter on which five stars are painted to represent the Chinese national flag.
Miss Wong regards the bike as her "sister" and named it Chinese Scooter. She said, "At first, I decided to paint the Union Jack on it, but this has been done by another scooter owner." She wanted her motor scooter to be different from others.
Her motor scooter is fitted with a seat cover in the pattern of tiger skin. She said, "I don't like the black front mirrors. Silver ones will be much better. I should add a back for the seat as well. . . ."
Miss Wong poured out her plan of adding more features to her "sister".
In Hong Kong, scooters are commonly known as yeung jai, "little sheep". There are basically two types of scooters, the traditional manual ones and the automatic ones.
Responding to the increasing number of automatic motorcyclists, The Hong Kong School of Motoring provided new courses for automatic motorcycles.
Dodo Kwong of the Corporate Communications Department of The Hong Kong School of Motoring said that, in the past, people who wanted to drive automatic motor scooters first had to obtain a licence for a manual motorcycle.
"Now, they can do so by applying for a new license that is for automatic motorcycles only. These are easier than the manual ones for beginners to handle.
"Those who pass the examination for the automatic motorcycle are licensed to drive only the automatic type,"she said.
Miss Kwong said there have been about 100 enrollers in the new automatic motoring course every month since it was made available last winter, accounting for 20 percent of all motoring courses.
Miss Wong was among the first group of scooter drivers to acquire the new automatic motoring licence. "There were only two males among the six learners in my class," she said.
Her reasons for driving a motor scooter are simple. Motor scooters are convenient and economical.
Though she also has a license to operate a private car, having been annoyed by frequent traffic jams, she prefers driving a motor scooter.
"I follow other motor scooters to pass cars one by one," she said. At first she found it very difficult to shuttle across a crowded road. "Although it was scary," she said, "it really prevents the headache of traffic jams for me.
"Travelling by motor scooter to work is also economical. The gasoline cost of 1 kilometer is only 50 cents."
Although parking space in Hong Kong is not enough and most parking arcades do not accept motorcycles, she is not discouraged. "I simply park my scooter at the parking space next to my home, so no parking fee is needed," said Miss Wong.
Paul (not his real name) is a member of a motor scooter club called Hong Kong Scooter Power.
He said, "The manual motor scooters are classical ones that were first produced in the 1950s. The automatic ones appeared in the 1990s."
Paul recalled that there was a group of teenagers who brought the classical motor scooters from Thailand to Hong Kong and redecorated them with new styles.
"Following the nostalgia, these motor scooters caught the attention of teenagers. Young females especially love the creatively decorated scooter bodies," said Paul. "Together with media promotion and the influence of celebrity riders, which depict motor scootering as a smart leisure activity, more and more people are liking motor scooters."
According to Paul, there are many different motor scooter models in Hong Kong such as the Italian made Vespa and Japanese models like Honda. The prices of different models vary.
The prices of motor scooters usually range from $10,000 to $20,000. However, models of special versions or colours can inflate prices as much as $8,000. Also, scooter drivers have to be able to afford licence fees of over $1,000 and insurance costs of about $2,000 a year.
To Miss Wong, motor scooters are not only an easy means of transportation but also a kind of leisure.
She never thought of joining scooter clubs before but found it natural after motor scooting. "I always surf on the Internet to get the latest scootering information and finally joined one (club) during my search on the Net," she said.
Scooter drivers in these clubs organize trips frequently. "We choose crowded places to meet and then go traveling along a designated route," said Miss Wong. She agreed that the members were attention-seeking but added that the club was a good way to broaden one's social circle.
Miss Wong felt that different scooter owners had different styles, and female scooter owners like decorating their motor scooters in a feminine way.
She said, "It is not difficult to recognize the gender of the scooter owner by observing the decorations on a motor scooter.
"Mine is not as well decorated when compared to others, yet it has already attracted people’s attention because there are still not many women motor scootering on the road."
Paul predicted that the motor scooter hit would continue and hoped that it would lead to better organization of scooter clubs.
"The organization of scooter clubs in Hong Kong can hardly be compared with those in Taiwan and Japan," said Paul.
Miss Wong and Paul agreed that motor scootering, like motoring, could be dangerous. They said private car drivers might not be sensitive enough to observe the light signals of motor scooters, which are lower than the drivers' eye level.
Miss Wong said, "We can only be much careful."
She suggested that learners should first acquire enough experience by driving private cars. "In this way, new scooter drivers will find it easier to get familiar with the traffic situation in Hong Kong."
