U.S.

N.Y.C. Hotel Offers A Wheel Deal

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

September 29, 2000 / 5:51 PM EDT / CBS

Colum McCartan knows what every visitor to New York City learns quickly: getting around can be a real nightmare.

"Impossible, impossible," McCartan says. "Standing on corners waiting for a cab just takes too much time when you got to get from one meeting to another."

But thanks to McCartan's favorite New York hotel, the wait is over. Le Parker Meridian has bought in to the latest craze - micro scooters. The hotel is loaning the trendy, two-wheeled conveyances to guests at no cost, reports CBS News Correspondent Jennifer Jones.

"We're always looking for innovative ways to improve the enjoyment of our guests," said Victoria Barr of Le Parker Meridian. "It's certainly an opportunity to get our guests out of the congested traffic that's both on the streets and sidewalks of New York."

For McCartan, that means no more hailing cabs, no more sitting in traffic. He simply maneuvers through the city by way of a scooter.

"I think it's fabulous. Here's a way I get a little exercise," said McCartan. "They're just a little faster than walking, they're very nice."

But McCartan should be careful. If he takes a spill and returns to the Le Parker Meridian limping, or worse, the hotel isn't responsible. It requires scootering guests to sign a waiver.

"The hotel cannot take responsibility once they leave our premises with the scooter for anything that may happen to them," Barr said. "So we do ask them to sign a waiver saying they take it their own risk."

Safety is a real concern. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said there were more than 5,900 scooter-related injuries requiring emergency room visits in August alone.

And there have been fatalities. A six-year-old New Jersey boy was killed last week, and a Virginia man teaching his daughter how to ride one of the scooters died earlier this month when he fell and struck his head. And in Liverpool, England, a 9-year-old boy was killed Thursday when his scooter collided with an obstacle Le Parker Meridian guests are likely to encounter on the mean streets of New York: a taxi.