Bikers overtake lot

Popularity of scooter course on the rise

Humber’s motorcycle training centre is expecting to see an increase in the number of students enrolled in its scooter courses this season, said program manager Andy Hertel.

“It’s become really popular,” he said. “In two years we went from zero students to about 250 and I’m expecting that’s going to grow again this year.”

Program co-ordinator John Reed said people sign up for scooter training because they want to learn and do it safely.

According to its website, the motorcycle training centre is the largest of its kind in the world. It has 120 full and part-time instructors and trains about 3,000 students a year in courses ranging from basic to a pro-rider course.

The centre’s bread and butter is the basic rider course, which Hertel said gets about 2,000 students a year.

Students who complete the course learn the basics of riding, get a break on insurance and receive documents for their M2 license.

“Most people want to become safe out there,” said Marshall Richmond, an instructor at the centre. “I think that’s probably their prime goal – become a good rider and then secondary and tertiary goals are to get a licence out of it and a big insurance discount out of it.”

Hertel said rider training is key for all levels of riding.

“No matter what you end up doing with your riding knowledge and abilities, at some point you have to learn to ride properly, he said. “And if you go on to become a world-class GP racer or if you go on to become a moto-cross rider, or if you go on to just casually ride on the weekends with your friends, it all starts in the same place with rider training.”

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