Beating the recession on two wheels
Iain Fortune from Churchill, shown left, opened Brislington Motorcycles back in September in a bid to tap into what he hopes is a growing market.
With families struggling to balance the books and with every penny being rigorously counted, he believes cutting down on private car use is a real way to save money.
A standard 125cc scooter costs around £1,000 but Mr Fortune reckons the average commuter could easily make his or her money back in a year.
Fuel prices, insurance, maintenance costs and road tax – which is just £15 for an average scooter – all offer massive savings.
And his views were backed up by motoring group the AA, which said figures show that while car sales have plummeted recently, sales of motorbikes and scooters have stayed constant.
Mr Fortune, who has operated Aztec Coaches in Brislington for the past 20 years, said his move to open the Emery Road store came as a result of the current economic climate.
He said: "My other business has been dramatically affected by the cost of fuel and people not being able to afford holidays.
"Costs are going through the roof so opening this store is a way of trying to stay in business by having another stream of income.
"At the same time as there's a downturn in the coach industry, I am hoping there will be an upturn in the number of people wanting to cut down on their personal transport costs.
"Bristol seems to be very open-minded to new ideas and alternative forms of transport so I hope this will be a succes."
Ian Crowder, spokesman for AA Insurance, said the financial savings were not the only benefits of two-wheeled travel.
He said: "It's much cheaper but you also save yourself a lot of time because you can use bus lanes and travel faster than the speed of the traffic.
"While car sales have dropped like a stone over the past few months, sales of motorcycles have stayed pretty constant. We have even noticed a real increase in the numbers of older people using scooters."
Comment on this story