Why Mopeds?

When I first came to the island, it was summertime.  Sounds like the beginning to most people's island stories, really.  I had no idea of the island's culture or history, but I was told that it was a gorgeous place to be in the warmer months, so I had really no idea what to expect, other than a lot of tourists.  And tourists there were, in abundance!  The areas closest to the ferry ports in Vineyard Haven and Oak Bluffs are cleverly disguised, and if you spend only a day walking around town in those areas, you probably won't get far enough away from  Stop & Shop and Circuit Avenues to truly experience the long, winding lanes framed by stone walls and open pastures or narrow wooded paths down to the beach that characterize this place.  

And I, too, might have been fooled at that time by the suggestion of riding a moped around the island.  After all, how big could this place be?  It seems to offer a sensible solution: more economical than renting a whole car, and hey, it'd be great to feel the wind blowing in my hair . . . And there's a place or two, right here in the thick of it, that'll rent mopeds by the day. Perfect solution, right?  Wrong!

Fast-forward to a few years later, in the thick of the summer season, crowds are filling up our tiny shops full to bursting and there's not a parking space to be found at the Chilmark Store, or really anywhere else in the middle of the day.  My friends and I made our way there to sit on the veranda and enjoy a slice of pizza (it really is the best!) on their rockers, before we headed off to a day at the beach.  As we're stumping up the front steps, we're joined by a crowd fresh off their mopeds and one of them, in quite a tizzy, is talking loudly enough to fill the rest of us in on the topic of conversation.  Apparently, after his clustered group of friends (from New York or Jersey, by the sounds of them) had puttered slowly along on an up-hill stretch testing the motors of their little scooters, traffic backed up behind them.  Also apparent, at least one of the motorists had had enough of waiting and decided to pass them.  And while the train of cars passed by them, a passenger extended their arm from an open window and dumped an entire bottle of water onto the kids on scooters—and yelled a profanity at them to boot!

The group on mopeds were obviously upset, and while I hope it didn't ruin their time here, I wondered then if it wasn't a symptom of a bigger problem.  Surely we've all experienced it, the roads here are just too narrow to allow two-wheeled vehicles enough clearance to ride simultaneously without impeding the traffic flow of normal cars.  With the faster auto traffic, and the slower, sometimes chugging 15 mph up a good slope mopeds trying to share the road, people's tempers flare and bad manners tend to rear their ugly heads.  I'm sure it doesn't help that while in "vacation mode," the mentality of many people becomes extremely selfish.  "How dare you take MY parking space in this extremely crowded lot on the last day of MY vacation?  This is supposed to be MY freakin' perfect experience!" You know the type.

In addition to being extraordinarily challenged when it comes to making it over some of the steeper inclines, and keeping pace with traffic, mopeds are next challenged by the realization that, simply said: the island isn't that small.  I've been to some islands in the Great Lakes, one of which (Put-In-Bay) doesn't allow cars at all, and  rents out golf carts to interested individuals who need wheels instead of hoofing it all day.  But a Put-In-Bay, this is not . . . Martha's Vineyard encompasses over 90 square miles of land, and while much of that is residential or wooded property, we have six different towns and it can be a long ride to get from just one to the next.  Should you choose a moped as an alternative to a rented car, you might want to think twice about how far you intend to go.  While out driving, I sometimes see dust-covered couples whose leisurely moped ride has turned into a more taxing experience.  If the looks on their faces said anything to me, it was: 'I didn't sign up for this!'

Aside from just being an annoyance on the road or perhaps not the best choice of transportation for this particular island, they can be downright dangerous.  Excluding their narrow and hilly nature, the roads on the island, especially the already soft shoulders, where mopeds are often forced to ride, are covered in dirt and sand.  The sand makes it easy for an inexperienced rider to lose control of the bike and crash.  Four people have been killed on mopeds since the mid-90s, and while the last fatality on a motorized bike was 2001, we all remember the tragedy that occurred in Vineyard Haven last year, in which a day-tripping family lost their mother to a bicycle accident.  While the roads here only boast speed limits of up to 45 mph which is, comparatively speaking, slow moving, accidents still happen . . . and they can be fatal.  This island is no exception to that sad but true rule.

While the moped rental businesses make all potential riders sign a waiver saying that they've been briefed, that they know of these sand-covered circumstances and that they still want to ride, I'm just not sure that the whole of the situation is truly conveyed to these people.  They walk off the ferry, see a sign for moped rentals and think, "Wow, you can ride the island on a moped?  What a great idea!" Seeing the island via moped can be not only a dangerous affair, but one that puts you in a position of pace car for island traffic, and puts you at risk for being dumped on . . . literally, by other, less patient people.