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?

Thanks again,
Sarah Johnson
Greenstreet Cycles, Omaha, NE

We received the bikes. They are awesome, and on our test drive around the block a wedding photographer pulled us over and booked us for July. You weren’t kidding. These are going to be a big hit.

Thanks for all your help and hope to purchase more soon.

Andrew, Montgomery, Alabama

We love our Pedicab!  Our primary vehicle year-round in Ithaca, NY!

Thanks for all you do.

Elisabeth Harrod (mom of 2 boys), Ithaca, NY

I received the pedicab that you made for me.  All I can say,… it is beautiful!   It was a little bit of work riding it 7 miles home… but have to say, I have never been happier to have my legs feel like rubber… I knew that it would be harder than a regular bike… riding against the wind and up hill… still, I don’t think that I could be any more pleased.

I just want to thank all of you, for the work that you have done, to build this Pedicab for me.  I promise that I will take as much care it riding it as all of you have taken in building it.

Again, thank you all, very much.

as I am
R Henry Blum, Madison, Wisconsin

The cooperation I received from the people at MainStreet Pedicabs in Denver, Colorado was exceptional and they worked very hard to make our Pedal Pickup unique.

The bike has been used for a week now and is working out very well in assisting me in the performance of my normal work duties.  Most noticeable to me is the reduction in noise pollution.  What a quiet ride.  Also notable is the reduction in air pollution and natural resource consumption.  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. It is my hope that a few more of these work bikes can be put to use on this campus in the future.

Thank you,

Michael Griffith, Groundskeeper, UC Davis

Got here today, looks great, rides great.  We’ve been around pedicabs for years, working with them almost evey day.  We’ve also had experience with several makes:  Main Street Pedicabs are the best.
Jim Wallace, Charleston, SC

Our family and friends marvel at this unique transportation. My parents are in their mid 80′s, and they absolutely love to ride around the neighborhood in it with us. My Grandchildren think that it is an awesome toy. People stop and comment about it all the time. We are having a blast with it! I am 58 years old and love bike riding. This system is so easy to handle! My 10 year old Grandson handles it just as easily as the adults that have ridden it.
Thanks again, Connie Davis, Lexington, SC

Let me first tell you that the white cab ROCKS!  It looks awesome at night, and it really stands out. I know I have gotten rides (customers) only because people can’t believe how nice it is (really)! You guys definitely set the standard. Natasha and I feel lucky to have gotten as much help, and a sweet pedicab, from you at Main Street.
Matt Elliott, Modesto, California.

Wonderful!! Our guests love them.
Mandie Brenczewski, The Department Restaurant, Joliet, Illinois

I am thrilled to say I received the pedicab yesterday and it’s everything I’d hoped for and more. It’s beautiful to ride and the family love it. I can’t thank you enough for your help and totally love my new pedicab.
Kindest Regards Andrea Kumar Whyalla, Australia

This year i got a Main Street Broadway pedicab. This is the king of pedicabs in the U.S. and it shows. I was never as happy as when I rode this yellow monster. If youre going to buy yourself a pedicab dont mess around and buy some cheap sh-t from ebay, spend the cash and get one of these. They’re worth every penny.
Cole Bates, Muskeegon, Michigan

I have never had anyone be so accurate with describing a new product to me as you did with the motor for my Trike. You are the greatest. Thanks for encouraging me with my selection and with your problem solving after the sale. I really appreciate you.
Glenn Ballantyne, Pueblo, Colorado

The traffic was so bad (at the Obama Inauguration), and so chaotically handled, that everyone had a story. Mine: Stuck for more than an hour near the Mall one night and late for an appointment, I jumped out of a car and hailed an open-air bicycle with a backseat. The driver threw a blanket on me and began to pump the pedals. “What is this called?” I shouted as we raced around limos and town cars. I expected some politically correct name like Energy Saving Mobile Apparatus. He looked back at me quizzically. “A rickshaw!” We got there on time, 15 blocks in four minutes, and like a happy capitalist, the driver, gauging the moment, the need and the competition, opened bidding at $25. I was grateful to pay.
Peggy Noonan, author and former speech writer for President Ronald Regan.

It has seating for three, so you can haul the whole family around. it’s got good brakes and is, over all, a smooth ride. the guys and girls at main street are super cool to boot. one of them even dropped off my pedicab on the way to his family reunion, i mean, come on – that’s awesome! i keep meaning to send them some shirts to thank them, but you know how getting sidetracked goes. if you’re going to buy yourself a pedicab don’t mess around and buy some cheap sh-t from ebay (ahem, not to say that i’d ever lower myself to such a depraved state), spend the cash and get one of these. they’re worth every penny.