Segway Tour Operator Plans to Bring Riders to Salem

Boston Gliders, a Segway tour company, plans to bring tourists to the City on the for tours starting after Memorial Day.

Allan Danley, director of operations for Boston Gliders, said the company will be operating as Salem Seg Gliders and will be based out of the former West Coast Video on the corner of Derby and Lafayette Streets .

Danley said he will begin offering tours, bringing cruise ship passengers and other tourists from Boston, as soon as the ferry opens for the season.

But the company's plans to use the ferry landing have not been approved by the City or City Council, which passed new regulations of Segways last fall.

Heavily involved in the crafting of the City ordinance to regulate Segways, Danley said he has since been told his company won't be able to use the ferry terminal as a staging area for tours.

The City prohibits the conducting of commerce on City property without a proper license.

"For them to operate out of Blaney Street, that's another matter," said City Councilor Joseph O'Keefe. "They can't be rolling around there."

Mayor Kimberley Driscoll said the City has reached "no agreement or accord" with Boston Gliders to use the ferry landing, which is as part of City plans to draw more passengers to Salem from Boston and other ports.

"To do so we would have to go through a procedure," Driscoll said. "That will come together, but we have to work that out."

Danley said the City allows trolleys and pedi-cabs to pick up customers at the ferry.

"They sell tickets on the property, they're conducting commerce on the property," Danley said.

Danley also suggested the City has favored another Segway business, , which opened in the fall on Derby Street and has begun offering tours.

"We don't pick favorites," Driscoll said. "Everyone plays by the same rules."

Segway Scuffles

Boston Gliders has had a history of running up against opposition to its tours. 

According to news reports, Boston Gliders was warned last March that Boston Police would charge the company's tour guides with tresspassing if they continued to operate tours on the Rose Kennedy Greenway.

A City Councilor from Boston's North End sought to have the Segways banned from that neighborhood last year.

Danley said his company, which also operates in Orlando, Boston and Cambridge, is only guilty of being "passionate about what we do."

The company partners with companies including Universal Studios in Florida and Smart Destination, which puts together tourist packages.

"They wouldn't be doing business with us if we weren't doing business the right way," Danley said.

In Salem, Danley's plans include bringing Segway tours to the as well as out to the light house on Derby Wharf. He said he is in the process of getting a permit from the for tours at the historic site.

Boston Gliders will also have to abide by the City's regulations, including the use of approved tour routes, among other requirements in the ordinance regarding operating on City sidewalks.

But for the company to begin offering tours, all that is required by the City ordinance is a tour guide license.

"The City has implemented some standards, but that's basically just a guideline," Danley said.