It's a bit shaky for novices at first - remember learning to ride a bike? - but there's a new way to see the sights in Philadelphia.

Starting today, Philadelphia will join a growing parade of cities - from Bangkok, Thailand, to Corvallis, Ore. - in which sightseeing can be done from the platform of a Segway® PT.

Gliding along on one of the futuristic, fat-wheeled, battery-powered scooters, the driver actually becomes an attraction as visitors on tour buses whip around in their seats to stare and pedestrians call out: "Is that thing easy to ride?"

Replies Lew Robbins, 32, chief executive officer of I Glide Tours & Rentals L.L.C., based in Bensalem: "It's very easy and a lot of fun."

This morning at 10, he will launch the reservation-only service across from the Philadelphia Museum of Art, at the foot of a statue of George Washington riding a horse.

The three-hour, 3.5-mile excursion costs $69. The tour takes in Boathouse Row, the Water Works, and some Kelly Drive sculptures, then winds along the Schuylkill recreation path for a view of 30th Street Station and the skyline.

But first, tour-goers (who will depart twice each day in groups of up to 10) must learn to ride the self-balancing vehicles: Lean forward to go forward. Lean back to back up. Straighten up to stop. Twist the left handgrip to turn.

"It's like Elvis - it's all in the hips," said Robbins, a hospitality veteran who has done stints in the Pennsylvania Tourism Office and as director of marketing for Lights of Liberty. "I've never had anybody I couldn't train."

I Glide began offering customized tours of Fairmount Park for private groups this spring. Early this week, Robbins did a test run for the Fairmount Park Commission, which along with other city officials OKd his plans and helped fine-tune the Segway guides' script.

"They presented compelling evidence that this was popular in other cities, so we said, 'Let's try it,' " said Karen Lloyd Borski, executive director of the park, who took the tour. "It's just a neat contraption."

I Glide wanted to include the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Borski said, but she discouraged it.

"There is so much traffic," she said.

As it is, gliders, who will ride single-file with a guide at speeds of about 5 m.p.h., must navigate the pulse-quickening crosswalks around the Art Museum. Most travel is done on sidewalks and paths.

Each rider will be equipped with a helmet, a chartreuse vest, and a headset through which the rider will hear instructions and tour notes interspersed with Philadelphia-themed music. Robbins said his company has "very comprehensive" insurance coverage.

The hook for sightseers is that they can cover more ground in a shorter time than they could on foot - and with a shiver of excitement that's missing from a driving tour.

"To walk this area would be tough for some people, and time-consuming," Robbins said. "And 50 percent of the experience is riding the Segway."

The first Segways were sold as clean-air transportation alternatives, with much fanfare, in November 2002. Months later, a bike-tour company in Paris added them to its fleet.

Segway tours now are offered in more than 20 U.S. and nine foreign cities, according to http://www.segwayguidedtours.com/.

Axel Schine's Los Angeles-based tour company, Segwow Inc., was one of the first to use Segways in the United States beginning in the fall of 2003.

It has 12 itineraries, including a cemetery tour and a golf course trip on Segways equipped with racks that can carry a full set of clubs.

The celebrity homes tour is the most popular.

"You can smell the flowers," Schine said.

Tourists in vans find Segway riders fascinating, he said. "We are often photographed and videotaped as we go along."