If you’ve ever seen a driver navigating a scooter, maybe a Vespa, around town, perhaps you thought, that person looks ridiculous. Or maybe you thought, ah, they know the score.

Whatever the case, you may be soon seeing a lot more folks on scooters, especially in Queen Village or Society Hill.

Members of the South Street Headhouse District (SSHD) recently approved an application from Penn Scooters for an all-electric scooter rental/retail location at 115 South Street.

It's the white building in the foreground. Penn's Landing in the distance.

“It’s exactly the type of business we’re looking for,” said Krystal Souvanlasy of SSHD. She said they’re looking for unique businesses that will attract new folks to the area.

Perhaps this scooter business will bring more tourists looking for a quick way around the city. But will pedestrians take kindly to scooter traffic?

Headhouse Square is around the corner to the west. Look out, pedestrians!

Before it’s officially approved, Penn Scooters needs to be approved by the Queen Village Neighborhood Association (QVNA). QVNA zoning chair Mike Hauptman explained SSHD and his group tend to work together [though independently] and it’s rare to find them taking contesting opinions about projects. He said he received a bubbly letter from SSHD expressing excitement and sharing the fact they approved the project. QVNA heard from the scooter folks May 1. In most cases, because South Street is zoned commercial, commercial tenants can open by right. But Souvanlasy explained anything having to do with automobiles, from selling parts to repairs, must get approval from SSHD due to a zoning overlay.

According to Souvanlasy, the site will deal eco-friendly scooters built by Evolve Motorcycles, capable (depending on the size of the battery) of traveling 60 miles on a 2.5 hour charge. The prices range from around $3900 to $5400 and up.

It’s important to mention Scoot2You, the rental/arts place formerly located at 747 S. 4th St. that opened last summer a few blocks on Fabric Row, has relocated to 231 N. 2nd St. (next to Philadelphia Moped Rentals in Old City). So there’s no immediate local competition at the moment.

Will this new business take off? We’ll have to wait and see. In this area, where street parking is at a huge premium, they might just find some very interested customers.

–Lou Mancinelli