Wildman, who owns Malibu Yogurt at 825 E. University Blvd, uses his Main Street Pedicabs manufactured Billboard Bike to get to and from his store.

“Because it is my bike and because I ride it, I can park it just like any other car,” Wildman said.

Tucson regulates business signage, but the Billboard Bike doesn’t fall under those regulations.

Wildman says it is no different than people who stick advertising on their cars and drive around the city or the billboard trucks that drive around the city.

But, according to Dan Werner, director of sales and marketing at Mainstreet Pedicabs, it has one big advantage; no pollution.

“When you compare it to big trucks spewing out fumes, there is no comparison,” Werner said.

Many people don’t want their businesses associated with a loud and smelly truck and the Billboard Bike offers a carbon free way to advertise that, “really turns heads,” Werner said.

The bike, which sells for about $3,400, includes everything you need to get started except for the batteries to light up the sign at night.
According to Werner, the company hasn’t sold more than a few dozen of the Billboard bikes, but like the pedicab, when someone sees one, they want to know more about it.

Pedicabs have been advertising on the back and sides of their bikes from the beginning, but because Billboard Bikes don’t require liability insurance like pedicabs, more people are looking into the them, Werner said.

“Pedal power is a very cool thing,” Werner said. “Not only is it something you can use to build a business and earn money, but it is doing it the right way.”

Wildman said he has gotten a lot of positive feedback from people who have seen him out riding his Billboard Bike.

Ricky Grunden, a 22-year-old student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, mounts his Trek Road Bike every morning to pedal the 10 minutes through shaded neighborhoods to campus.  He rides his bike to work, to the gym, to friend’s apartments and even into Downtown.  He rides his bike everywhere.  But Grunden also has a Toyota 4Runner sitting in the garage of his duplex.

“Our country is at a constant rate of increase concerning urbanization,” said Grunden.  “As that happens, cities are becoming friendlier toward bike transportation and it’s good because you can get around faster and you don’t need money for gas.”

Grunden is not the only one researching inexpensive alternatives into his daily routine because of the economy.  According to data from Bike Europe published in May 2009, bike imports to the United States exceeded car sales in the same country by $.4 million.  This means that over the course of several years, the demand for bicycles rose, which in turn stepped up production, making bikes appear as a more logical alternative to cars as a primary source of transportation.

“What we’re seeing is people are gravitating towards comfort and easy ride road bikes for more recreational use [as opposed to performance],” said Senior Marketing Manager of Mongoose/Schwinn Bikes, Lori Heimerl.  “More people are becoming educated about the effects of biking and are picking it up.”

Heimerl said Mongoose sales increased from $113 million in 2008 to $116 million in 2009, but these numbers can be misleading.  Both these profit margins are severely lower than peak years in the past; down about 30 percent according to Bike Europe.  And just because the dollar amount in sales goes up, warned Heimerl, doesn’t mean more people are buying bicycles. “Between 2007 and 2008, we passed along material price increases to our customers, the Wal-marts and Targets of the world,” said Heimerl.  “What they paid for our bikes, they had to charge their customers for retail. So we made more money, but we sold fewer bikes.”

Benjamin Joannou, Vice President of J&B Imports, which owns Sun Bikes, believes the rise in sales, with respect to dollars, is up due to market and merchandise sales. “Our market sales are up, which means more consumers are repairing their older bikes instead of buying new ones,” he said.  “If bike sales passed car sales, they’ve done so on a low level.”

One branch of the cycling industry that is booming in business is the pedicab.  Popular in large cities such as San Diego, New York City and Boston, the pedicab is a carbon-free taxicab that uses manpower to drive passengers around car crowded streets.  In laymen’s terms, a bike drawn carriage.

Austin pedicab driver, Dane Edwards, joined the business during his first years pursuing an undergraduate degree at the University of Texas.  He said he needed something to satisfy his passion for cycling after he returned from a 4,620 mile journey to Alaska. “I don’t have a passion for taking people places,” Edwards said.  “In a car, you’re simply moving from one place to another.  You can’t feel the wind in your hair or experience the city.”

Edwards doesn’t mind the economic benefits either.  For one day, he rents a pedicab for around $70 from his employer Capital Pedicab and collects anything past the rental fee as a straight paycheck.  A ride in a pedicab costs anywhere from $5 to $10 a person, depending on the distance to travel, whether it’s uphill or downhill and what a passenger is wearing.
“It’s intuitive,” said Edwards.  “If they’re decked in fur, I know I can squeeze in an extra buck or so.”

Pedicabs, even on the corporate level, are witnessing an increase in units sold.  Dan Werner, Sales and Marketing Director for Main Street Pedicabs in Broomfield, Colorado, said he is selling more pedicabs than ever before, but the demographic he’s selling to has changed since the recession.  More small town folk from Ohio, Idaho and South Dakota are snagging this trend to solve their financial problems. “There’s a silver lining for us.  I’ve had people call me earlier this year just at the end of their wits.  Their job was being consolidated and mergers were happening,” said Werner.  “I can just sell them a good and reliable product that they can turn around and make money with.”

Werner refers to a pedicab as an investment, costing on average $4,000 per vehicle.  But that’s pocket change, he said, compared to the money a driver will rake in between fares and advertising, or as he calls it, “The Rolling Billboard.” Maintenance on a bike also costs drastically less than on a car, which depreciates over time. “Having a bike in a big city is extremely cost effective,” said Grunden, who can’t remember life before his bicycle.  “It’s amazing I was still able to afford food while I was paying for gas this time last year.”

Sean and Cooper began their adventure in New York City in October and are currently somewhere between South Carolina and Georgia.

After struggling with his old, heavy, three-speed rickshaw, Sean contacted Main Street Pedicabs to see if the pedicab manufacturer could provide him with a better, lighter vehicle.

“It was a no-brainer,” says Dan Werner, Director of Sales and Marketing at Main Street. “Our 21-speed pedal pickup not only provides Sean with a lighter, safer ride, but it also gives Cooper a safe spot in the truck bed.”

Sean’s journey will take him down the Atlantic Coast before heading west through New Orleans, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. From there the duo will head up the California Coast and then through Oregon and Washington before heading back east to New York, while traveling through Montana, Iowa and the Dakotas, among other states.

Keep track of Sean’s journey at http://www.pedicab.com/wordpress/. Interested readers also can check in on Sean’s blog for more in-depth information, pictures and videos at http://rickshawusa.blogspot.com/.

Here is Sean’s most-recent blog post:

“So, the day has finally come. After 1,100 miles I was in need of an upgrade. Let us start at the beginning. I, with the help of some others, built the Rick that you have all come to know and love! It was a tank with Coop, myself, and all the gear weighing in at some 700 lbs. It only had three gears which meant at every uphill battle I would have to hop off to either push it up while walking along side it, or harness myself to the front so that I could pull it behind me. True to the definition of a Rickshaw; something pulled or pedaled! Before I peaced out of the NYC I was trying to line up some sponsorships that would aid in our completion of this monolithic journey. Surprisingly none were interested, so we’ve been doing it by ourselves. Just like every one of those uphill battles that are now behind us. Upon our arrival in Annapolis a friend of mine, Katzander, gave the heads up to a company in Colorado known as Main Street Pedicabs. http://www.pedicab.com/ Getting to the phone I was able to reach them through a representative named Dan. He gave ear as I got him up to snuff about all that Cooper and I are setting out to do. I asked if he could help me out in any way. Now, don’t get me wrong here. I’m happy with what I built. I’m proud of what I built. It’s just that it weighs in at an amazing 700 lbs.! I’m not training for the worlds strongest man competition. I’m just trying to make it around the United States. So after giving ear, Dan told me that he would look into it and run it by the owner of the company. It didn’t take long to hear from Main Street Pedicabs. They offered up a used floor demo peditruck for a deposit and all I would have to cover is the shipping. They told me that once I was done with peditruck, upon returning, they would give me back my deposit. While talking to them over the phone I noticed that my head was nodding that it was good deal. The only thing was that the deposit was over a grand and the shipping cost to the east would be five hundred dollars… At that time my head was doing the numbers. I only had three hundred dollars to this name of mine. That’s where the photo contest came into play. With that first place prize money and some big loving help from my parents- I was able to bring all of it together. I had the replacement in route being shipped to Wilington, NC. As I was heading to Wilington I posted an add on Craigslist to see if anyone was interested in my original Rickshaw. As it turns out one person was interested. His is name was Seth. He was looking forward to starting a new business in the downtown area, a delivery slash courier service. How surprised was he to see that his ideas were going to come to fruition. Now my Rickshaw, or rather his Rickshaw will be his main star vehicle. For over eight months I labored on that three wheeled notion sinking over a grand into its creation. Seth as a young business man was only able to afford a couple hundred, some dinner, crunchy dog food, and a comfortable spot to pitch my tent in his back yard. It was all good enough for me. The following morning I loaded all of my gear and my good buddy Coop into his truck so that we could head on over to the Two Wheeler Dealer where my enormous package would be awaiting us. Like most things there was a bit of a wait. I sat outside for a couple of hours with all my belongings and the memory of my original Rickshaw who helped me get this far. At ten, the doors opened up and an army of employees came outside one at a time to put out all the bikes for sale today. Coop went to each one of the employees to say his hellos. I was looking for Camron the receiving guy, but he wasn’t in yet. Waiting for his arrival, I started fielding every ones questions about what it is that Cooper and I are doing. For the rest of the morning and early afternoon I chatted with employees and customers about our adventures and where it was that we were intending to head towards. Get this, a woman named Kim was so smitten over Cooper that she kept asking me if she could have him! At around two o’clock it arrived. One of those familiar looking delivery trucks pulled up to reveal an enormous wooden crate. I jumped up runningly to get to the busting of it open. The time had arrived! Busting it open I was amazed to see that it was fully assembled and ready to roll. After we got it down I gave it a good once over with the staff in tow. I loaded up my gear and got Coop situated as I said my goodbyes, hitting the pedals, and getting to what I have set out to accomplish- 10,000 miles, excuse me, now only a mere eight thousand nine hundred!

So, a little about the new one. It is bigger, but it is so much lighter. It isn’t waterproof, but it can hold so much more. It’s even aerodynamic. Coop is now fully contained which relieves a lot of unnecessary stress for me. The frame is less than 200lbs which makes it about 200 or more pounds lighter than the original. This new one has 21 gears! The old only had three. I’m over the pedals more versus the being behind them like the old one. It truly does give more leverage by being over them. All in all, it’s an important upgrade. I only have two more days to go until Myrtle Beach, South Carolina! I’ll be staying with an Army buddy for the whole Turkeyday Weekend. While there I plan on putting my own personal touch and style to the new ride. Till next time,
Love and Licks,
Sean and Coop!”

The bride stood out against the backdrop of Central Park: The temperature was in the 50s, yet she had nothing more on her torso than a lace bustier. Below, her dress was as voluminous as an inflated parachute, dragging as she hobbled along the path. I was gliding along comfortably in the back of a pedicab, with plenty of room next to me on the seat. So I offered her a lift.

The look she gave me was not gratitude. After a few more friendly entreaties, the groom caught up to us. “She doesn’t want to,” he said. With that, they turned off the path and she hobbled onward, juggling various hems.

I was stunned. Did she just reject my chivalrous offer? Could I possibly look that weird? Then I thought: Oh wait, she’s seen the video.

If you have not caught it on YouTube or the evening news, the video shows a pedicab driver getting into a brawl with a taxi driver on Broadway, and it has given pedicabs — already viewed as suspect — an unwelcome moment in the spotlight. In June, one got into an accident after crossing the Williamsburg Bridge into Brooklyn, where pedicabs are not allowed in the first place. By the time a Fox 5 cameraman caught the pedicab driver hurling a garbage can at the taxi driver, the whole fleet was in for a whupping.

Now the City Council has passed a law requiring all pedicabs — there’s no reliable figure for how many are on the road — to be inspected and registered by Nov. 20. “Pedicabs have been for too long acting like they rule the streets ahead of any other mode of transportation,” City Councilman Leroy G. Comrie Jr. told The New York Post.

Having never thought to ride one — any more than one of those ridiculous party bikes (which probably are fun if you’re drunk enough to get on) — I had to wonder, could pedicabs really be that bad? Worse even than buses, the oblivious, lumbering bullies of the city streets? So I spent a few days being driven around on three wheels, and even on occasion taking the handlebars myself. Let’s just say I do better in the back than in the front.

The drivers who congregate at 58th Street and Seventh Avenue said they were delighted someone was finally going to regulate their business. They take their jobs seriously, and say people who don’t should be kept off the road.

Bernard Treanor, a driver for six years, has an impeccable pedigree: He trained with George Bliss, an industrial designer, who started one of the city’s first pedicab companies in 1995. “We were all actors and musicians,” said Mr. Treanor, who recently appeared in an independent film and is writing a novel about Central Park. “We needed to do this so we could hit our auditions.”

Today, many drivers are recent immigrants who rent pedicabs by the week (around $200 in summer, as low as $80 in January). Before, “the only thing in these guys’ way was maybe, like, a random goat,” he said. “And now they’re guiding a family through Times Square?” It’s turning police officers, who used to cheer him on, into enemies, he said.

I felt a little silly the first time I climbed into the back seat, but despite the autumn chill I warmed to it quickly. As with riding a bicycle, you see things at that pace that you can’t see from a car, and you get to put your feet up in a way you obviously can’t while walking. If your driver is full of interesting historical information, great, sit back and learn. If not, tell him to shut up (but apologize with a tip).

After a few rides, I persuaded a driver to let me try. It’s hard to keep the wheel straight, and during turns I kept thinking it was going to tip over, as a bicycle might. (A girly shriek ensued.) Of course there’s almost no way to tip over: the vehicles are solidly balanced on three wheels, with a lot of ballast keeping them that way. Especially if your driver hops in the back, as mine eventually did, then invites his friend in, too. By that point I was laughing too hard to go very far. I got no tip.

More seriously, it’s about as green a conveyance as anyone is ever going to find. But what do the tourists who typically ride them care about keeping our streets and our air clear? Perhaps, I started to think, pedicabs are being wasted on their passengers — and perhaps that is part of the reason they’re largely reviled. What if New Yorkers exercised eminent domain and reclaimed these overgrown tricycles for our own daily use?

To lead the way, I tried hiring a pedicab to run a few errands: dry cleaning, deli, the basics. Fine. But when I thought about visiting Aunt Frances at Mount Sinai Hospital, I found that at about $1 per minute or per block, what would be $15 in a taxi would be a trip to the A.T.M. in a pedicab. Fail.

I turned to Mr. Bliss for guidance. “The goal when I started this was that the pedicabs would actually be less money than a yellow cab,” he said.

He began that experiment downtown, where he thought people would be open to the idea, but he found they were too self-conscious to ride in a pedicab. It worked for a while in Midtown, but today, he said, sounding melancholy to the point of despair, the dream is dead.

“The pedicab industry itself became self-marginalizing,” he said. “It became more and more tourist oriented, less transportation oriented. We need drivers who are educated, fluent in languages. They need to be ambassadors to the city.”

We also need stricter regulation of the fleet, he said, and electric-assisted pedicabs — which he developed with a state grant, but the city does not allow. In short, we need the city to decide that a fleet of law-abiding, low-cost vehicles that consume no gas, is in everyone’s interest.

Take that to its logical conclusion and you get people commuting by rickshaw, exchanging newspaper sections with the guy in the next lane at a red light. Kids picked up after school by a parent on three wheels who has already stopped for groceries. A bride in Central Park accepting a lift from a pushy but well-meaning stranger. Wouldn’t you like to live in that city?

It seems a lot of people would say no.

In 2007, a city councilman was quoted in the Village Voice saying that pedicabs caused pollution by increasing congestion. Perhaps he’s right; perhaps pedicabs and cars cannot coexist in Manhattan. Maybe it’s not safe to have three wheels darting in and out of four-wheel traffic. Maybe the time has come to make a change. How about we get rid of the cars?

Coastal Bike Cabs, a new pedicab service, begins operations here in
early June. Pedicabs are bicycle-driven pedestrian taxis that offer an
environmentally friendly alternative to short-distance travel.

“It’s a great way to see our island and visit restaurants and shops
while enjoying the fresh air,” says Betsy Palmer, owner of Coastal
Bike Cabs.

The decision to start a pedicab business stemmed from a love of the
outdoors and fitness, which is a definite requirement for drivers to
haul between 400 and 600 pounds of weight around the island at a pace
of 12 mph.

“It is great exercise for me and our other drivers and a fun
experience for our passengers,” says Palmer.  “Our colorful bikes and
friendly service add tremendously to the Ocean Isle Beach vacation
experience.  We aim to enhance the amenities and businesses on our
island with this cab service.”

Tourists in San Diego, Charleston, and Key West ride from restaurants,
bars, and hot spots in pedicabs and appreciate being able to avoid
crowded parking lots, drinking and driving, and noise.

“Although pedicabs are a new concept on Ocean Isle Beach, they have
actually been around in larger U.S. cities for many years,” said Dan
Werner, director of sales and marketing for Main Street Pedicabs, the
largest manufacturer of pedicabs in the United States.  Main Street is
the maker of the equipment used by Coastal Bike Cabs.

“Pedicabs started out in larger cities like New York, San Diego, and
Austin,” Werner said. “It’s only over the past several years that they
have really taken off in smaller areas.”

But pedicabs can be more than just a novel way for visitors to tour
communities.  Property Owners enjoy the convenience of a bicycle taxi
and the friendliness of the drivers.

“We are finding more and more that they provide a nice way for people
who are physically challenged or have trouble walking to enjoy the
outdoors in a way that a traditional taxi does not,” Werner said. “You
can really enjoy the scenery — see the birds — and feel the fresh
beach air and sunshine.”

“More than that,” Palmer says, “pedicabs operators will serve as
ambassadors to Ocean Isle Beach and will help promote restaurants,
stores, and services in the area.  We want to promote the community
and let visitors know about our history.”

Palmer envisions taking a lot of people to the Museum of Coastal
Carolina for the exhibits and for the free concerts on Fridays and
back and forth from bars and restaurants and to public beach access
areas.

“Our bike cabs will stay on the island,” she said. “I want people to
enjoy their stay here at Ocean Isle Beach and not worry about getting
picked up for driving under the influence.  They can just eat, drink,
and be merry.”

Coastal Bike Cabs will be available at island events, parades, and
festivals, as well as maintain a regular presence around Ocean Isle
Beach.  Passengers can hail a Bike Cab or call or email for a
reservation.

Palmer intends to operate both day and night throughout the summer
season and on weekends, holidays, and special events after Labor Day.
Coastal Bike Cabs starts offering services this week, generally from
9:00am to 3:00am daily.  The business’ grand opening is scheduled for
late June.

“I am really happy to hear that there is more bicycle-based
transportation at OIB,” resident and property owner Effie Vandoros
comments.  “It’s really a unique way to experience the community, and
I think it adds to the ambiance of our island.”

Groundskeeper Mike Griffith is among the one-quarter of Davis campus employees who bicycle to work. But Griffith takes it a step farther. Actually, he keeps on pedaling — after switching from his commute bike to his work bike.

Not just any old bike, but a professional-grade three-wheeler with heavy suspension, 21 gears and hydraulically operated rear disk brakes — and a custom-made cargo bed to haul his work gear, or loads of dirt and mulch.

“This is UC Davis-friendly,” said Griffith, whose 20-year career with Buildings and Grounds puts him smack-dab in the middle of a sea of bicycles every day as he rakes and prunes and sprays.

In switching to the work bike, Griffith voluntarily gave up his gas-powered cart — the ultimate in environmentally friendly gestures.“This is in line with the campus philosophy,” Griffith said. In fact, the campus sustainability committee awarded a $2,145 grant to help buy what Griffith calls a “human powered utility vehicle.”

Buildings and Grounds, Transportation and Parking Services, and Fleet Services also contributed to the purchase price. The total cost (not counting lock, brake lights and a bell, courtesy of the Bike Barn): $3,432, compared with $5,000 to $7,000 for a new power cart.

It was all Griffith’s idea. The UC Davis graduate — he earned a bachelor’s degree in managerial economics while going to school part-time and holding down his grounds keeping job — co-wrote the grant application, researched and test-drove the various work bikes on the market, and made the purchase.

“Mike is incredibly motivated about this,” said Cary Avery, grounds superintendent with Buildings and Grounds. “We are very proud of him.”

The bike arrived on March 4, and, so far, so good, Griffith said. “This bike will do all of the work that the other carts will do,” he said. The bike fits around all the bollards and gates that keep cars and trucks off various paths around campus, and the cargo bed can carry 600 pounds.

The bed is built on the same chassis that the Broomfield, Colo., manufacturer uses for its pedicabs. For the UC Davis bike, Main Street Pedicabs painted the bike and bed in Aggie blue, and affixed the Buildings and Grounds logo on both sides of the bed.

At Griffith’s request, the manufacturer cut down the sides of the bed to 16 inches, providing easier access. The bed also features a drop-down gate.

Griffith spoke with Dateline one afternoon last week while transferring a load of mulch from the cargo bed to a planter outside the west entry garage.

His duties also include trash pickup in the six-story garage — and that means pedaling up the ramps. “It’s a little more effort, but it’s not that bad,” he said. “This keeps me in shape for basketball.”

The work bike is also easy on his ears. “That’s the first thing I noticed — no noise,” he said.

“Also notable is the reduction in air pollution and natural resource consumption,” he wrote in a follow-up letter to the sustainability committee. “Additionally, the purchase cost was less than our gas-run work vehicles, the maintenance cost will be reduced considerably, and fuel cost will be zero.”

Griffith recalled that when he started with the grounds division in 1988, he used a handcart to haul his work gear, and some of his colleagues used wheelbarrows. The gas-powered and electric carts came later.

“Some people might think this is a step back,” he said. “But once you get on this, it’s not that hard.”

Griffith said he is getting a lot of positive comments from his co-workers — “a lot of thumbs-up” — and he hopes other departments take notice and consider acquiring work bikes if appropriate.

“It’s absolutely a step forward,” he said. “It’s not just about what it’s doing for the environment, but what it’s doing for my department’s budget.”

And maybe for the campus budget as a whole. Indeed, Griffith said, as he made progress on turning his work bike idea into reality, what began as an individual effort turned into a campus community project, “because of the number of people who freely offered their expertise and support to make this happen.”

“They deserve credit as well. I truly appreciate their help.”

Like many students on St. Patrick’s Day, senior Brendan Blume was up all night splitting time between Brown Street and the student neighborhoods. But unlike anyone else, instead of walking it, he was flagging pedestrians down asking if they wanted to ride on the back of his bike.

As a co-owner of Blume Brothers Pedicab, based in Chicago and less than a year old, Blume brought the pedicab to campus in March. He works Thursdays to Saturdays from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m., when he’s not on duty as an RA in Stuart. It’s just him and a 21-gear bicycle with a carriage-like seat attached.

“When (passengers) get on it they think they’re kings of the world,” Blume said. Entire parties turn and cheer when they see his bike and passengers go by. “It’s like chariots of fire.”Blume, 21, started the business with his 24-year-old brother last summer because neither had a job. Instead of continuing their job search, they looked into buying a pedicab bicycle, of which there are only about 50 in Chicago.

“It was a turning point in my life,” Blume said. “We said, ‘Let’s do something new, something clean’.”

They were attracted to the idea because it could fill transportation needs in an environmentally friendly way. They also liked the idea of being their own boss.

“We started a snow shoveling business when we were young, we’ve always been entrepreneurs,” Blume said. “We were both home schooled so we have the drive inside of us. We don’t need to have a teacher telling us what to do.”

On the suggestion of their father, also an entrepreneur, the brothers signed a notarized agreement about the business. They bought insurance and a bike with operating break lights and turn signals in the dark.

Their goal was to make the 81 home games for the Chicago Cubs and hit as many Chicago White Sox games as they could. Both being water polo players and feeling fit, the Blumes weren’t ready for what pulling around the weight of two or three people does to a person’s body.

“The first week it was so hard because it is a strain on your body, no matter how in shape you are,” Blume said. They decided not to stick to their original plan of riding every day.

The brothers did work enough to increase their business by three bikes and hired more riders in Chicago. Their goal for this summer is to double their business. Though they do not have set ride prices, it’s usually never more than $10 for all riders combined.

They work when most students would be out with friends, like New Year’s Eve, but Blume said as he pedals he forgets he’s working.

“You won’t look at it as a job. You’re riding and you’re having a conversation with the passengers.”

While the partners do face some problems with the economy, like having difficulty obtaining loans, Blume said he brought the business to Dayton hoping to help students’ economic troubles improve.

“With the state the economy is in, we want to create jobs,” Blume said. “We can give students rides while creating jobs for them.”

Blume will be riding around campus until next December, when he plans to graduate with an accounting degree. He’s looking for employees for the business so it can continue when he moves back to Chicago.

“I’m going to ride full-time until I stop having fun, which won’t happen.”

Jennie Szink

News Editor

On a bad day, cycling in London feels like dinosaurs versus mammals. You, the warm-blooded cyclist, may ultimately inherit the earth, but until then you run the grave risk of being squished by a lumbering, petrol-fuelled sauropod. You have the acceleration, the visibility, the manoeuvrability; they have the weight, the momentum, the airbags.

There are good days, of course, when pedalists and petrolheads give way to each other in a haze of goodwill. But they are rare. So it is with some trepidation that I approach BugBugs’ Holborn Viaduct lock-up. My task is to give one of its pedicabs a test-ride; and pedicabs – as their operators prefer to style these latter-day rickshaws – are the SUVs of London’s bike scene: big – maybe too big – and apt to provoke extremes of opinion.The Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA), for example, hates them. “Whilst the third world is doing all it can to lose the last of these degrading pedal-powered contraptions, some unscrupulous operators are clogging up the streets of the Metropolis with the same slow, traffic-halting bikes,” it says on its website. It claims that pedicabs charge rip-off fares and are fundamentally unsafe. To prove this last point, a video clip shows a yellow cab ploughing into a hapless crash-test dummy astride a pedicab; it’s unclear who the menace is here but the animosity towards pedicabs is clear.

In the event, my test-ride proves to be confrontation-free. This is largely because Friedel Schroder, BugBugs’ owner and my instructor in the art of pedicab-riding, refuses to let me on to the main road. Instead I am confined to a short stretch of Shoe Lane by the lock-up. Schroder, a trim, crop-haired 40-year-old in fleece and jeans with just the faintest trace of a German accent, is big on safety. Before they can go out on the road, BugBugs’ riders must be trained up to National Cycling Standard Level 3 and need to have a grasp of pedicab mechanics. Passengers are asked to use the inertial seatbelts that are standard on the newer pedicabs, which may seem a bit excessive but it does send out reassuring signals.

Decidedly not sending out reassuring signals is my right foot, which, Schroder informs me as I swing my leg over the saddle on first mounting, has connected with the shins of my imaginary passengers. Suitably chastened, I start pedalling and I’m off.

“Watch the front wheel,” Schroder tells me, “where it goes there the rest of the pedicab will go.” This seems obvious but is good to know, given the metre-plus-wide passenger platform clunking along behind me. Schroder’s advice turns out not to be strictly true: as I try to do a U-turn, I skim the front wheel past the kerb but the rear wheel hits it. I have to put the bike into “reverse”, pushing the front wheel backwards with my foot.

After a few more turns up and down the road I feel like I’m really getting the hang of it. Schroder, ever safety-conscious, urges me to keep my fingers poised over the brakes – hydraulic at rear, simple cantilever at the front. It’s a bit tricky to glance at what’s coming behind, because of the passenger canopy: I either need to stand on the pedals or crouch down to see through the transparent rear panel. I’m also self-conscious about not repeating the error that every two-wheel veteran apparently makes on a trike: leaning into corners. On a bike, turning a corner feels like a kind of controlled fall; on a trike you need only to steer.

The pedicab is a less responsive ride than a bike, of course, but it doesn’t feel sluggish, even when Dan, who’s come to photograph proceedings, gamely agrees to be my passenger. And this machine, the US-manufactured Main Street, in New York taxi yellow, is only the Ford of pedicabs. The BugBugs fleet also boasts the Audi – the German-made Velocab – and the Rolls-Royce, the Bath-made Cycle Maximus, yours for £4,000.

Their common virtue is that, aside from manufacture and shipping, they all emit zero carbon, as Schroder cheerfully points out. They are, he says, the way forward for cities striving to cut carbon, or cope with resource constraints (Schroder is involved in a scheme to get cargo versions of the pedicab on to the streets of Gaza).

He also diligently rebuts the LTDA’s arguments against his beloved trikes, and observes, with sly diplomacy, that cabbies are skilled enough to be able to negotiate his machines without difficulty. Talks with Westminster council about official pedicab ranks appear to be bearing fruit; and no, he insists, fares aren’t a rip-off. They are more than a cab, certainly, at about £5 per person per mile, but that’s because of the muscle power involved. As for safety, Schroder points out that it’s a crucial part of the training you receive when you hand over your £140 for a month’s pedicab hire. BugBugs is also pressing for industry regulation, including a licensing system.

This is, Schroder says, a career option suited to those who have to work around other commitments, such as studying, or who need money to travel. There’s more than a hint of the backpacker hostel in the agreeably shabby common room by the entrance to the BugBugs lock-up, with its collection of grimy sofas, iMac terminals and well-thumbed paperbacks.

The rest of the lock-up is a truly impressive chain of barrel-ceilinged vaults stretching west towards Holborn Circus, one of those unsuspected spaces that London surprises you with from time to time. It houses not only Schroder’s fleet, some 47 of the capital’s (by his estimate) 700 or so pedicabs, but also other operators’ machines. All are tipped up on their back ends to save space, rank upon rank rearing up: a taxi driver’s subterranean nightmare. To Schroder, it’s a zero-carbon dream come true. “I love this to bits,” he says.

As I leave, in the early afternoon, BugBugs’ workers are starting to arrive and to pedal their machines into the teeming streets. It seems a convivial enough operation, although I’m glad to be hastening back to my snug office. Later in the day, oil is a snip at $37 a barrel, and the following day a climate scientist warns that the environmental costs of global warming will be more severe than we have so far supposed. I wonder if evolution is on the pedicabs’ side.