A New Way To See The City

There's a lot of fun going on in DC right now, with tourist season is kicking into high gear. And a relatively new technology is changing the way some tourists and locals explore our city.

Perhaps it's the NCAA Sweet 16 along with this weekend's opening of the National Cherry Blossom festival that has DC streets feeling a lot more crowded than they have in the past few weeks. As the Nation's Capital, we get many visitors. People explore our city by car, by tour bus, by bicycle, and many use their own two feet.

And now there's segway. A four-hour tour will cost you 70 bucks, but it's a blast.

Leslie May is visiting Washington for the very first time. "You can move in and out of the areas a lot more quickly, and you get some great facts from the tour guides, things you wouldn't know if you were going by yourself."

"It's a much more intimate tour I think, you get than by riding in a tour mobiles," said Tim Ryan of City Segway Tours

But it's not just out of towners who are trying this.

"I'd say our tours are 50% local people just because the segways are such a draw," said Dylan French, also of City Segway Tours. And how hard was it to learn?

"It's almost instantaneous, you get on it and you feel completely comfortable in a couple of minutes," said Leslie May.

You can use segways on city streets, but the national park service is still evaluating segways, so there use is quite restricted on park service property.

"We do have to walk to the memorials because of that," French said.

Unfortunately, you?ll still have to walk around the Tidal Basin as well. With peak bloom expected in the next week, the crowds will undoubtedly be larger and seeing the cherry blossoms by foot is still the best way. But for seeing the rest of Washington, there's a new choice.

DC law requires Segway riders to be at least sixteen.