Dan Beno, senior biology major, drives his scooter around campus to save money.

“It’s much more efficient and cheaper on gas,” he said. “Also, parking passes are a lot cheaper for scooters than they are for cars.”

Beno is one of many students driving scooters to save money due to high gas prices.

Eric Guglielmi, sales employee at Bob-Jo Cycle Co., 50W122 Route 64 in Sycamore, has seen a sales increase in scooters.

“Since last year, there has been a dramatic increase with people buying scooters,” he said. “We were sold out of our entire stock awhile back and the recent stock we got in recently has already sold out.”

Guglielmi said getting more gas per gallon is what consumers are looking for now.

“The whole market has changed,” he said. “It used to be about how much horse power a vehicle gets, but now is about gas mileage.”

Guglielmi said most scooters get up 110 miles per gallon, which is more than cars get.

Kyle Bowron, sales manager for J & J Sports, 2445 Bethany Road in Sycamore, finds people are trying to save money by buying scooters.

“The economy and gas prices are what has led to more people buying scooters,” he said.

Associate economics professor Carl Campbell sees rising gas prices as a good reason for more students driving scooters.

“With rising gas prices and scooters being cheaper than cars, it makes a lot of sense that more people are driving scooters,” Campbell said.