Barcelona bans Segways on seafront
by Marta Bausells from Technology | The Guardian on (#1MD3Q)
The Spanish city - grappling with the effects on residents of 27 million tourists a year - has banned Segways from the waterfront over the summer
Segways have lots of advantages: they're environmentally friendly, silent and sort of fun ... maybe. What's more, despite being a common joke in film and TV shows, they have found a solid economic niche: city tours. But they can also be tremendously annoying for pedestrians.
Barcelona, for now at least, has had enough. After summer upon summer of what the mayor's office calls "complaints and problems" from residents of Ciutat Vella - the central neighbourhood and the one most affected by mass tourism - the city council has provisionally banned Segways from the waterfront for the summer months.