Philadelphia Daily News, November 3, 2009

Energetic entrepreneurs will be peddling a new form of transportation in the city soon – at least, they will be if City Council votes as expected to legalize and regulate the pedicab industry.

Pedicabs, or bicycles that tow a trailer with seating for two to four passengers, are common in Boston, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and other cities.

City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown decided to introduce the pedicab legislation after seeing the vehicles in New York City.

“I came back to Philadelphia . . . [and] saw there were a couple of pedicab companies, but they were not regulated,” she said.

“I thought it would be a chance to get Philadelphia on the map like other cities and municipalities around the country,” she said. “It creates eco-friendly jobs and is a tourist attraction. It would add charm to the city.”

The bill is scheduled for a Council vote on Nov. 12.

The lack of pedicab regulation in the city had been a problem for local companies and for operators in other cities that wanted to set up shop here.

Ben and Tom Dambman co-own Chariots of Philly, a pedicab company that operated in Manayunk from 2003 until 2005.

When the brothers tried to expand into other parts of Philadelphia, the Department of Licenses and Inspections ordered them to cease operations until pedicab regulation was in place.

For the last three summers, they operated their business in Avalon, N.J.

“We want to work exclusively in Philadelphia – this is our home, and this is where we want to live and work,” said Tom Dambman.

Assuming the legislation passes, Dambman said, “Hopefully, within a couple of weeks we’ll be up and running.”

They hope to have 20 employees by next spring, he said.

Ben Morris, president of Boston Pedicab, also runs pedicab services in Newport, R.I., and San Francisco. He looked into expanding to Philadelphia in spring 2008.

“I thought it would have been a really good fit,” he said. The lack of regulation prevented him, he said.

Now that the legislation looks likely to pass, he said he would “absolutely” look into starting an operation here.

“We’re always looking to expand,” he said.

Philly cycling enthusiasts cheered the news.

“It’s good for the environment, it helps the health and quality of life for Philadelphians,” said John Boyle, advocacy director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. “It helps residents and tourists quickly get to where they need to go, and provides green jobs for the city.”

If Philadelphia cabbies were worried by the possibility of competition, they were playing it cool.

“We have two different markets,” said Ronald Blount, president of the Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania.

“Their market is more of novelty travel.”

And in winter, he said, “no one I know is going to want to get on the back of a cold bicycle to get to where they need to go.”

FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Visiting San Francisco once, Michael Rosemond took a ride in a pedicab along that city’s famed waterfront. The pedicab — a small carriage attached to a bicycle operated by a driver — made him an instant fan.

“I talked to one of the owners. He said, ‘Man, you’ve got to start these up in Detroit. People love them,’ ” Rosemond said last week.

That bit of advice led to Rickshaw Detroit, part of a small but growing pedicab trade in and around downtown Detroit. Rosemond operates Rickshaw Detroit with his business partner, Terry Walker, and they say that the growing number of clubs, restaurants, and special events downtown and up through the Midtown district prove ideal for the pedicab trade.

The business requires a lot of pedaling each partner rides perhaps 20 miles a day on summer weekends at the height of their season. But business has been brisk enough that Rickshaw Detroit no longer charges fares but gets by on tips.

“You can actually get more when you just ask for tips,” Walker said. “People love them so much.”

Rosemond added, “Once they get in, they don’t want to get out.”

The partners operate a lot along Detroit’s RiverWalk, carrying passengers along the waterfront promenade or to downtown restaurants. They also hire out to special events like weddings or the annual open house sponsored by Crain’s Detroit Business.

Both men live in Detroit and have other jobs. Walker, 50, is a safety officer with the Detroit Public Schools and a master sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve. He has served two combat tours in Iraq. Rosemond, 59, is a receptionist at the Detroit Institute of Art.

The partners met at a Detroit City Council meeting where both were lobbying for approval of a pedicab business. “We said, ‘Why don’t we get together? Two heads are better than one,’ ” Rosemond said.

The up-front investment remains modest. Each of the pedicabs, purchased from a Denver manufacturer, costs from $3,200 to $4,200, depending if you buy frills like a canopy. Then there’s insurance and a variety of other out-of-pocket expenses. Operators must obtain a rickshaw license from the City of Detroit.

The partners own three of the pedicabs, operating two themselves while they look for a third driver.

“It’s one of those businesses that you can start right out of the box,” Walker said. “You have the potential to recoup your investment really fast.”

Pedicabs offer the potential for advertising tie-ins and various partnerships. Walker said he also has benefitted from entrepreneurial training offered by TechTown, the business incubator operating on Wayne State University’s campus.

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.

A: Many people contact us to inquire about starting a Pedicab business. Go to our Operators page for some tips on how to get started, or contact us for more in-depth information.

Q: How do I order parts?

A: Go to www.wheelgoods.com. If what you need is not listed or you need the shipment expedited or if you have any questions, call us at 303-295-3822.

Q: How long is production time?

A: Main Street Pedicabs are custom made to your specifications. Lead times are often 1-3 weeks, though they can be longer during the spring and summer season.

Q: Are Main Street Pedicabs shipped assembled?

A: Yes, our Pedicabs are shipped fully assembled and ready to roll.

Q: Can I request customizations?

A: Yes, because you’re dealing directly with the manufacturer, customers can order a variety of custom colors and designs. We’ll also build your Pedicab with different components if you prefer something you’re more comfortable with rather than our standard components.

Q: Should I hire a Pedicab Consultant?

A: People often ask us if they should spend the money to hire a Pedicab consultant. One of the great things about starting and operating a Pedicab business is how easy it is to do. We at Main Street have a wealth of resources and have walked dozens of people through the process of getting a Pedicab business off the ground. With these things in mind, we feel it’s an unnecessary expenditure to hire a Pedicab consultant.

Q: What sort of maintenance is required on a Main Street Pedicab?

A: Maintenance for a Main Street Pedicab shouldn’t be an overwhelming, time-consuming task, but should be practiced regularly for a well running Pedicab. By following a systematic maintenance schedule, the Pedicabs will not only run better, but will also be more enjoyable for both the driver and the passengers. For more on how to properly maintain a Main Street, check out our New Pedicab Rider Instructions and our Main Street Pedicab Manual.

Among the experiences that make one go “Eek!,” tooling around Manhattan in a rickshaw ranks high, falling somewhere between a cab ride during rush hour and walking through Times Square after the theaters let out. Some of the bike-drawn buggies come equipped with seat belts; others don’t. You decide your threshold of thrill.

“There’s a real rush going through traffic,” said Jacob Press, a tour guide with the Manhattan Rickshaw Co., the longest continuously operating pedicab outfit in New York City. “We can always find a way through.”

I have explored the City That Never Stops by foot, bus and bike. But on a recent trip, I wanted to sightsee in a vehicle that was intimate with the urban landscape but didn’t require any energy expenditure. So I called Manhattan Rickshaw a few days before my visit and booked Press and his quads.

Rickshaws are pervasive in Asia, where the economical bicycles with big back seats jostle for space among mopeds, cars, beasts of burden and swarms of pedestrians. In the United States, they’re more of a novelty than a necessity but are a rousing ride nonetheless. Though passengers are not as vulnerable as the biker, they’re still thrust into the chaotic street scene.

“It’s a combination of entertainment and transportation,” said Manhattan Rickshaw owner Peter Meitzler, who was instrumental in bringing pedicabs to New York. “It’s fun and environmental and fills a niche.”

In 1994, he and a group of entrepreneurs brought a dozen pedicabs to Manhattan, a nervy experiment in a city so dependent on taxis. To drum up interest, the rides were free. Today, a number of companies send nearly 500 pedicabs onto the streets. The taxi alternatives, which can be hailed on nearly every busy corner, charge $15 to $40 for a 10- to 30-minute ride.

In Central Park, where I met my driver, pedicabs congregate alongside horse-drawn carriages, vying for passengers with a romantic streak. Some operators also employ licensed guides capable of pedaling, pointing and narrating without crashing.

“We cover a lot of ground,” Press told me as I climbed into the 150-pound contraption, stashing my bags in a small compartment. “In the pedicab, you can see the landscape change and are close enough to see New Yorkers in their daily life.” (Press and I vaguely discussed price and route beforehand. My only request for the 90-minute tour was to cruise through Times Square during rush hour; he balked, then conceded.)

Currently a full-time law school student, the 29-year-old New Yorker also has a master’s degree in urban planning and was keen to share his advanced-degree education. “You see layers of the city,” he said while pedaling away, his steady voice cutting through the street noise. “It’s looking forward and backward.”

In my case, I was hoping Press would spend more time glancing forward, at the oncoming traffic, than back, at me. We started with a breezy spin through Central Park, where he singled out the “Ghostbusters” building and Sheep Meadow, named for the lawnmowers of yore. As we exited the park and joined the stream of traffic, staying to the far left, Press described the passing structures, his eyes ping-ponging between me, the sites under discussion (e.g., the Plaza, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Trump Tower) and the surrounding bedlam. “We’re faster than traffic,” he said, swooshing around a double-parked minivan, then seamlessly returning to the bike lane.

Seated on a padded bench protected by elbow-high sides and a convertible canopy, I felt as if I was nestled in a cocoon and was at ease enough to give Press 90 percent of my attention. (The remaining 10 percent was busy being a back-seat driver: “Parked car on left!” “Pothole ahead!” “New Jersey plates coming at you!”)

“We’ve had fender benders, but no fatalities,” he said. Well, that was comforting.

From the Central Park area, Press cruised through Midtown and cut through the heart of Times Square. At 45th Street, he removed the top, and with clear skies over my head, I watched the giant faces of billboard models float by like clouds. At a red light, I eavesdropped on sidewalk life, listening to a couple discuss their theater options. I wanted to grab their newspaper and circle “Xanadu,” but the light turned green.

Onward we coasted, through a living documentary of landmark structures (the Chrysler Building, the New York Public Library, the Flatiron Building), complete with narrative. Press never gasped for breath or faltered for topics. He explained such architectural designs as art deco detailing and cornices. (“They make you feel so cozy and warm.”) Then he riffed on ill-behaved drivers. “I’ve given up on out-of-town cars,” he said, referring to a sedan from Maryland that cut us off. After a Jersey driver gave us the middle-finger salute, I asked him about vehicular abuse. “I’ve had coffee thrown on me,” he said, “and almost got doored.”

When we reached Greenwich Village, about 50 blocks from Central Park, Press steered us onto narrow streets girdled by centuries-old buildings. We stopped briefly to peer through the nondescript door of a former speakeasy, then hopped back into our respective seats for a spin through SoHo and Little Italy, where Press’s description of the clam pies at Lombardi’s (America’s first pizzeria) made me wonder if he was carb deficient.

Evening was now approaching, and Press started heading uptown. As we crawled through Chinatown, the smells of dinner scenting the air, Press pointed out one final attraction: the spot where he almost got smacked by a car door.

Regulation threatens a booming business with, er, a cyclical downturn

AP

A PEDICAB borrowed from a friend for a conference on pedestrianisation in 1990 got Steve Meyer pedalling what is now a fast-moving business. Hoping to liven up the often-deserted streets of downtown Denver, his hometown, he bought two of the bicycle taxis. But they did not work very well, so he started building what has since become the industry standard, with 21 gears, hydraulic brakes and so on. His firm, Main Street Pedicabs, now caters to rising demand both in America and abroad.

Alas, regulation in two of the biggest markets for pedicabs threatens to puncture Mr Meyer’s upbeat mood. Last month New York’s city council voted to impose onerous rules on the hitherto unregulated pedicab industry and to limit the number of pedicabs to 325. A protest prompted Michael Bloomberg, New York’s mayor, to veto the new rules, apparently out of entrepreneurial fellow feeling for the pedicab drivers, but the city council is likely to override his veto, perhaps as soon as next week.

Pedicabs first started operating in New York in the mid-1990s, but their numbers soared from around 100 to over 500 after they featured in an episode of Donald Trump’s business reality-television contest, “The Apprentice”, in 2004. For the sort of fit youngster who wants a flexible job—many drivers in New York are actors or students—it pays well: $300 on a good day, though typically half that. The cost of entry is low, perhaps $4,500, compared with $400,000 for a yellow-taxi medallion.

Pedicabs are under attack in London, too, where an estimated 400 operate. Transport for London, a regulatory body, is reviving its controversial claim that pedicabs should be regulated as “hackney carriages”, like the city’s black cabs. Chris Smallwood, chairman of the London Pedicab Operators Association and boss of Bugbugs, a 60-strong pedicab firm, says treating pedicabs like black cabs would impose unbearable costs on the industry. He has helped to draft an amendment to a bill now before the House of Lords that would introduce lighter pedicab regulations.

There is striking agreement between the pedicab trade groups in both London and New York that some sort of regulation is needed, not least to deter rogue operators. But current proposals seem to serve the interests of motor-taxi drivers, who want their rivals off the road.

The irritation is that pedicabs do not compete much with motor-taxis, say Messrs Meyer and Smallwood. Pedicab journeys tend to be the short trips that drivers of gas-guzzling taxis hate most. Pedicabs’ main competition is walking, says Mr Meyer, who points out that if New York’s 12,000 yellow cabs were replaced with pedicabs, “there would be a lot less congestion”. Here’s hoping that politicians on both sides of the Atlantic cast their votes for pedal power.

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