April 1, 2008
Richmond to Offer Segway Tour of the City
As I may have mentioned before, the Richmond Metro Convention & Visitor’s Bureau is my employer. Which is why I’m pleased to announce that cutting edge Richmond will offer Segway tours of the city in as groups as large as 30 at a time. The new “Give Me Liberty Historic Segway Tours” will start this month. Yes, you know, those mini-stand up motorcycle thingys. I can just see a herd of 30 now, bumping along the cobblestone in Shockoe Slip.
Several months ago, Richmond Tours, run by James River Bus Lines, stopped operating the local tour because it just wasn’t profitable for them. Now, every weekend when I work, I have to tell many disappointed visitors that we just don’t have a comprehensive tour of the city. Many stare at me in disbelief.
Anyway, despite that fact that this sounds like an awesome April Fool’s joke — It is not. And, personally, I couldn’t be happier. I think it is a great idea in concept and I hope it flies. Now if we can just get the visitors, who had envisioned sitting on a bus for 3 hours to imagine standing on a Segway for that long, we’ll be in business.
Segway Tours Start at Visitor Center in April
Beginning in April, guests to the Richmond Region can see the city in a whole new way. Guided Segway tours will depart daily from the Visitor Center in groups as large as 30. Segways are safe, fun, easy to use and provide a totally unique way to tour downtown Richmond. For more information contact Segway of Richmond.
This is cool. When I was in D.C. last Friday, I was surrounded by a Segway Tour.
But we need a comprehensive, affordable tour run by people dedicated to Richmond. Know anybody who is interested?
I’m not sure how much the Segway tour will cost. Likely in the $30 range (which is in line with other cities).
The tours will be run by the Valentine Richmond History Center. Based on my experience with those guides and Anne Thorne (a friend and co-worker at RMCVB), who teaches them the ropes about giving tours in Richmond — the tour will be run by people who love and are dedicated to Richmond.
Did you have something else in mind? Perhaps you can clarify, Paul.
Jonah,
In response to your email.
Segways are cool and so is the Valentine.
We need reliable and convenient transit for tourists and visitors. If there’s anything I can do to help improve this situation, let me know. I have been known to cart a tourist or two around myself.
Now that, I agree with. If we can just get an underground transit system to go up and down Broad Street from Church Hill to Glenside Drive then I could get rid of both my cars, and so could everyone else.
I have to say I worry that spending any $$ at all on a “high-speed” bus is a waste of money. Many folks don’t realize that we have tourists all the time who come from all over the world, Africa, Europe, Asia, South America — really everywhere. Unfortunately, many come here thinking they don’t need a car. Now if they could rent a bike or the bus system was tourist friendly they would be OK, but our current bus system is really not that easy to figure out for a tourist, nor does it run where and when the want it to.
If we build it will they come? I think the answer is yes.
[...] mentioned here before that Segway was going to start giving tours of Historic Richmond. Well, I just found out that [...]