Why I love my scooter

Taking the plunge and buying a scooter in today’s trying economic market was probably one of the best things I’ve done.

I used to own a motorbike, but I sold it last year because the repayments and insurance were getting a bit much and I really wasn’t riding it as much as I should have.

But, the steadily-increasing fuel price in South Africa (which is now at record high levels) and the traffic jams that result from more frequent power-outages as a result of load shedding, compelled me to find a cheaper and more convenient mode of transport.

My daily commute takes me from Roodepoort to Rivonia and back – a trip that can take up to an hour and 40 minutes one-way if I leave in peak traffic.

This, as you can imagine, has the potential to mess my day up entirely because I find myself having to get up much earlier in the morning to fit in my gym routine and getting to bed later in the evenings because it’s 6:30 PM before I get home and there’s still cooking and chores to do when I arrive.

And the fact that the corporate world demands your full 8.5 hours per day means that there’s no time for a personal life if you spend nearly 3 hours of your day in traffic.

But I have reached the proverbial “light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel” and it’s taken the form of my new Kymco People S 200 scooter.

It’s economical (25km/litre) – taking a little less than R50 to fill – and it’s small enough to zip in and out of sluggish traffic – reducing my 90 minute commute to just over 30 minutes in both directions.

You’ll also be surprised at how nippy scooters actually are. My particular scooter has a 200cc engine and is more than capable of holding its own on the hightway.

As a result I can wake up later, still make it to gym, get to work by 8AM, get home at a reasonable time in the afternoon and actually kick back and enjoy some TV or reading before I start cooking and winding down for the evening.

It’s definitely the way to go. With the horrendous petrol price and ever-worsening traffic chaos on Johannesburg’s roads, you’d be stupid not to consider a scooter.

Obviously there are safety concerns when riding two wheels on South African roads, particularly when minibus taxis are concerned. But considering the improvement in the overall quality of life I’ve experienced, it’s a risk worth taking.

For anywhere between as little as R5,000 and about R20,000, scooters are by far the country’s most economical mode of transport. Besides, which, the savings in petrol and running costs alone mean that the scooter will end up paying for itself fairly quickly.

And I’m not alone. Already I’ve noticed a marked increase in the number of scooters and motorcycles on Johannesburg’s roads.

The sales guy, who I bought my scooter from, said that since the first hefty petrol price increase of 2008, his sales have increased quite substantially and he’s never been this busy.

It’s a good time to consider a scooter or motorcycle. Petrol’s not going to come down and traffic jams are not going to go away either – so before scooter retailers catch on and begin to hike their prices to capitalise on higher demand.

A new breed of Afro-pessimists…

There is a very strong possibilty that the events of this week in South Africa could produce a whole new generation of Afro-pessimists and possibly lead to an increase in the emmigration rate over the next ten years if things don’t get better.

Afro-pessimists are people who, as the name suggests, are pessimistic about Africa in every way. Afro-pessimists are generally the first to pack up their bags and leave the country for supposed “greener pastures” in the UK, New Zealand or Australia, or are the people who begrudgingly stay in the country because they are making too much money to leave.

South Africa is falling apart

From the alleged racist shooting in Skielik, to the eight straight days of power cuts by state-owned power utility, Eskom, and mounting septisism about the country’s leaders’ ability to make decisions and lead the country effectively, it’s easy to see how the population can become disillusioned very quickly.

We have our defence minister arrested for exceeding the speed limit of 120km/h on the highway – doing 189km/h, the national police commisioner arrested for alleged corruption, and the almost-certain future president of the country up on charges of corruption.

Add rising fuel prices, sharp growth in interest rates, ever-increasing inflation rates, shortages of everyday items like petrol, milk, headache tablets, beer, carbinated drinks and an economy that’s not showing the same levels of growth as a few years ago – it’s recipe for growing negative sentiment.

It’s sad because there are many people doing a lot of good things in this country and, despite their best efforts, there are a handful of people and institutions that managed to mess things up on a grand scale for the rest of us.

And I, for one, am one of those people who chooses to be positive about SA. But this cocktail of challenges makes it difficult to maintain a positive opinion and it wears your tolerance down after a while.

There’s no quick solution to this problem that we have in SA. Like any “new” democracy, we’re going to have teething problems but how much are people willing to put up with? How much is it going to take before people begin leaving the country or, even worse, taking things into their own hands.

Many people will choose to remain positive, but there will be an increase in the global Afro-pessimist population and there will be further justification to those people who left over the last thirteen years as to why they left in the first place.

Load-shedding explained….

I’ve spent days trying to figure out the meaning of the various “Brown stages” on Eskom’s website. I think I have figured it out and it may help you to determine if and when your area will be left in the dark.

When you log onto Eskom’s website there will be a Load Shedding warning on the front page telling you what “Stage” we are in. Today, for example, there was a 1500Mw shortage so we’re in Stage 1. When the shortfall goes higher, we move up stages from Stage 1 to Stage 2 and then Stage 3, where 3 is the worst shortage and will affect the highest number of areas.

When you do a search for your area on Eskom’s site, you’ll see various “Stages” listed for your area (for e.g.: Brown Stage 1A or 1B, Stage 2A or 2B or Stage 3A or 3B.)

(Ed’s note: Make sure you use Internet Explorer because the Eskom site is not support other browsers like Firefox or Netscape)

Depending on how they classify the consumption of your area, you may fall into one, two or all three of these stages. So, depending on the alert status of the day “Stage 1, Stage 2 or Stage 3”), you can tell if your area will be hit with load-shedding by matching up the alert stage of the day and your area’s stage number.

Complicated, I know, but here’s an example to illustrate it:

Today’s Alert is Stage 1 (i.e. 1500Mw of shortfall). So, any area that is listed with Brown Stage 1A or 1B will be hit with load-shedding today. 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B need not worry because the shortage does not affect these areas yet.

If the shortage goes higher and the stage is increased to 2, then areas that are listed as 2A and 2B will be hit. And the same goes if we’re on alert stage 3 and all those 3A and 3B areas are going to be down.

Roodepoort, for example, is only on stage 2A and 2B so it will only be hit as and when the shortfall goes higher than 2000Mw.

But Rivonia, for example, is listed under 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B, which means that the area is almost guaranteed of having a power failure at least once a day, no matter how low the shortage may be.

From what I can see, Eskom classifies the areas as follows:

• 1A & 1B – High electricity consumption, first to be disconnected
• 2A & 2B – Medium consumption
• 3A & 3B – Low consumption – last to be disconnected

The higher the shortfall, the more people suffer and the more likely small “dorpies” (or stage 3 areas) will be hit in addition to major (stage 1) centres.