May 30, 2008, What about the motos?, By Lila Shaw Lash, My little Billy Bob, By Maya Trujillo

When I moved to San Miguel after several years of traveling, I was disoriented and car-less. Transportation seemed necessary but elusive, as cars were nearly impossible to navigate through the narrow, traffic-clogged centro streets. Who wanted to deal with all that? Enter the lovely, easy-to-drive, zippy moto-scooter. I took the plunge and fully committed to living in San Miguel when I went to the Honda dealership and plunked down a hefty deposit on an adorable little Wave 100 scooter, whom I christened Isabella.

Considering our current energy crisis, not only in Mexico but around the world, the idea of spending 25 pesos a week on gas, and participating in minimizing my carbon footprint, was important in my decision. If we left our SUVs at the dealerships where they belong, and enjoyed Vespas, Hondas or Italikas—you can imagine the reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. It would be astounding.

As if the environmental impact alone is not important, the parking situation in San Miguel is enough to discourage you from ever leaving the house. There are parking lots on Cardo, Insurgentes, Mesones and a few others, but parking a moto is a dream. Being able to maximize half and quarter spaces not being used by poorly parked cars is both smart and efficient in managing traffic and parking problems in San Miguel. The moto spaces that are infrequently designated can be easy and convenient.

I am quite content with my peppy little moto, and most regularly park it in the spaces designated for them. But occasionally I need to park it outside of these designated spaces, most regularly in front of the Biblioteca. Sometimes the designated spaces are too full, sometimes cars are parked in the spots designated for motos, sometimes I just get a bit lazy. Last week, I had one of my lazy days and parked it in front of the Biblioteca's main entrance. When I walked out to leave, Isabella had disappeared. Of course, my first thought was that it had been stolen. This is a common occurrence as motos disappear every day in San Miguel. I estimate it takes a group of strong men about two minutes to lift one into the back of a waiting truck and flee the scene.

Against what would have been the norm, I hoped Transito had taken her away. Fifteen minutes later, my hopes were confirmed—she was resting soundly in the impound lot behind the Tuesday Market on the Salida a Querétaro, having been ticketed for being parked outside of the designated spaces.

To liberate her, I would need to obtain the original factura and note of sale from Honda, drive to the Presidencia with my proper FM3 identification, visit the Transito office to find a copy of the original infraction, take the infraction to the window downstairs, walk to the other ticketing office to find out how much I needed to pay, return to the original window to pay this amount (99 pesos!), take a stamped copy back to Transito, who then gave me a receipt and directions to retrieve Isabella from the impound lot.

As I was jumping through all the hoops, I couldn't help but wonder what this process was saying about the city's attitude and policy towards moto-transportation. Atención reporter Jesus Ibarra, attended the transportation colloquium in February and reported that the traffic experts in attendance were encouraging mass transit options in San Miguel to assist in alleviating traffic problems. These same experts also concluded that moto-transportation was another alternative to individual cars clogging the city streets. When asked about the city's policy or campaign for moto-transportation, there was no comment about future plans or projects to support the use of motos. If currently registered motos far exceed the amount of alloted spaces in designated parking, is this encouraging their use?

Being a moto driver, I also understand the other side of the discussion. Car drivers frequently report motos parked in car spaces, or parked too close to already parked cars. Unfortunately, this is often due to the limited amount of moto spaces alloted by the city. If small corner parking spaces are hard to utilize and make maneuvering difficult for city buses, I would recommend reclaiming more of these for moto use. Also, if the city wants to be truly encouraging of transportation alternatives for San Miguel, especially as our bid for UNESCO is being reviewed in Quebéc this summer, I encourage officials to look more kindly on transportation of the two-wheeled variety. In addition to all the environmental and common sense it makes, they're a blast to drive!

Lila Shaw Lash thoroughly enjoys her moto-scooter, Isabella, and hopes other sanmiguelenses join her in converting to two-wheeled transportation.

Friday, May 9, 2008 my dad bought me a scooter. He bought it because I haven't seen him in years and I'm almost 16. It was his gift to me as if he was saying "I'm making it up to you."

I decided to call my scooter Billy Bob Thorton Mackenzie. I don't know why I gave it that name, but I did.

The next day my mom, Guillermo (my mom's boyfriend) and I went up to the Luciernaga (the San Miguel mall) so I could practice for the very first time on Billy Bob Thorton Mackenzie. It is a wine red color and it is an Elite 125. I am afraid of it. It is bigger than me and much much heavier.

After being able to drive it in a parking lot which is new, smooth and paved, with almost no cars, I came to the conclusion that I am afraid of cars, people walking in the street, bumps, holes, rocks, turning, stopping, falling and balancing on Billy Bob Thorton Mackenzie.

My mom bought me a small black helmet the next day to go with the aviator glasses I "have to wear" to protect my eyes from dirt. I tried ridding in front of my house and around the neighborhood by myself. This time, it was a lot harder because we have no streets and there are more holes and rocks. I tried to tell myself I could do it on my own and prove that I am not afraid and I'm not a total coward.

Riding around I come to a turn. I hate turns. I'm afraid of them. And just to make my life worse...a car comes in front of me (which I am also afraid of) and I stop really fast to let it go by. Unfortunately for me, I was stuck in a hole. That's not the worst part though. The worst part was that I was on a hill stuck in a hole. Plus, Billy Billy Bob Thorton Mackenzie was tilting way more then I can handle. I was so scared, I dropped the scooter. I waited for someone to walk by and help me lift it off the ground, get it out of the hole and turn it around. So a guy finally did. I thanked him.

"It's OK. You were just afraid." he said not knowing what had happened, but I believed it was pretty obvious.

As I was on my way back home, there was a wind storm and I was in the middle of it. Since my streets aren't paved, there is dust flying in the air and I had to wait 15 minutes before I could see anything. When I finally got home, my hands were shaking. I was really scared. It made me not want to have a scooter anymore.

I know I need to keep trying and I know I should conquer my fears. Even though my mom is always happy to have her own scooter, I will not give Billy Bob up. But she is always welcome to drive it or drive me.