By STEPHANIE SIMON

DENVER — Owners of bicycle rickshaws, already a popular way of getting about downtown Denver, are seizing on the Democratic National Convention as a chance to showcase their human-powered taxis as more than just a novelty.

Steve Meyer, owner of one of Denver’s largest fleets of pedicabs and a manufacturer of the vehicles, wants the convention’s national audience to see bike taxis as a dynamic part of the urban fabric and the ultimate in green transportation.

“People see pedicabs as like a horse-drawn carriage, sitting there on the curb for our amusement. We want people to see them in a new light, as a fundamental mode of transportation,” said Mr. Meyer, whose Mile High Pedicabs boasts a 40-vehicle fleet.

Bike-pedaled rickshaws took off in the U.S. scene in the early 1990s, in large part due to Mr. Meyer’s promotion. He got them recognized early on as part of the mix in revitalizing Denver’s downtown pedestrian mall.

Mr. Meyer makes bike taxis in his Broomfield, Colo., factory, selling 3,000 in the last 15 years to buyers across the country. The biggest markets include New York, San Diego, Austin, Texas, and Miami. Mr. Meyer says he hopes greater exposure during the convention will translate to bigger business.

Pedicabs, which weigh about 200 pounds empty, can take passengers as far as several miles, but most runs are two to 10 blocks — often too short for a conventional cab, and for pedestrians encumbered by packages, ill health or alcohol, too long to walk. Most rickshaw buggies seat two, though sometimes four or five passengers squeeze in.

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Tags: democratic national convention, downtown denver, fleets, independent contractors, mode of transportation, national audience, pedestrian mall, Pedicab News, pedicabs, rickshaw, steve meyer, vehicle fleet

By David Montero, Rocky Mountain News

The short stretch of sidewalk opposite the Hyatt Regency Denver is an uneven, crumbling mess – as if an active fault line were running beneath it.

David Kennedy steps near it and motions all the way up to an alley, where the curb is a pulverized mess of rubble.

“This,” he said, “is a definite hazard.”

Farther down 15th Street, Kennedy is at it again. Two empty, mauve flower pots sit right in the middle of the sidewalk. He shakes his head.

And then there’s the sign at the corner of 15th and Arapahoe streets. It juts out of the corner, with a metal frame below that a blind person could miss while swiping a cane.

Few people notice them as they walk by – joggers easily diverting their path to avoid the obstacles. But Kennedy is paid to notice what others might miss.

The 51-year-old is the Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee’s disability rights advocate for the Democratic National Convention. He has spent the past few weeks making sure the city is ready for the contingent of disabled people coming to the city for the party’s convention in August.

Teenage polio victim

The problems that Kennedy finds must be fixed at the expense of the city or responsible agency.

Walking with a cane, Kennedy – he contracted polio while in his late teens – has spent the past seven years in Denver working with the mayor’s office to make sure places like the Denver Art Museum and large public art displays align with provisions of the Americans With Disabilities Act.

His mantra is simple: the more accessible things are for the disabled now, the better it is for everyone later.

“Access will be a big deal for the growing elderly population,” he said. “Cities won’t have to invest in it later by making those changes now.”

One of those making the change now is Steve Meyer.

The co-owner of Main Street Pedicabs in Broomfield, he contacted officials putting on the convention with the idea of providing pedicabs to disabled delegates .

To make sure they could get inside the pedicabs, he began installing a step that was 11 inches from the ground rather than the original 18 inches.

In addition, he began adding grab bars in front.

Meyer said his goal was to have about four pedicabs ready to greet the disabled coming off the buses and then to ferry them around to the various entrances to the Pepsi Center.

“It serves two purposes,” he said. “First, they’re environmentally friendly and secondly, they’re easy to get in and out of.”

Because security plans haven’t been finalized, it’s not known whether pedicabs or golf carts will be used within the “hard security” barrier set up by Secret Service at the Pepsi Center.

When the Democratic National Convention was held in Boston in 2004, August Longo was amazed at how accessible things were for the disabled.

And having been to the past two conventions in Boston and Los Angeles, he said the bar is pretty high.

“I’d say Boston is the gold standard and it would be hard for any city to come up to that,” he said. Longo, chairman of the disabled caucus of the California Democratic Party and who himself is in a wheelchair, noted how party officials had booklets printed up and made available in advance of the trip so disabled delegates knew how to get what they needed.

Kennedy, whose jurisdiction covers places where host committee parties will be held, said he has to check out all of those facilities as well.

And he is in the process of talking with taxi cab companies to make sure the drivers engage in sensitivity training – noting that in the past some drivers have refused to allow seeing-eye dogs into the vehicles.

Disabled delegates

The number of disabled delegates coming to Denver is not known since most states haven’t had their state conventions yet.

100 or more disabled delegates were at the convention in Boston in 2004.

* The number of disabled people arriving that are non-delegates is also unknown, though convention officials said it could be in the hundreds.

Tags: americans with disabilities, americans with disabilities act, democratic national convention, denver art museum, disability rights, Main Street Pedicabs, Pedicab News, responsible agency, steve meyer

Past Speaker: Startup Junkie Underground

SPEAKER: Steve Meyer – Founder and CEO Mainstreet Pedicab
DATE: August 20 & 22, 2007
TOPIC: Peddling Your Way to Success – The Mainstreet Pedicab Story

Pedicabs are human-powered taxis seen in many of the major cities around the world. They work well for not only transporting people, but also for the delivery of food and merchandise.

In a world that is becoming overwhelmed with too many cars, pedicabs offer a green and sometimes romantic alternative. While they work best over short distances ranging from 2 to 10 blocks, they are fully capable of traversing much greater distances.

Steve Meyer didn’t invent the pedicab, but he is in the process of perfecting the marketplace for it. With multiple income streams and a loyal following, the pedicab industry is breaking into new territory.

Here is what it took for Steve Meyer to become one of the leading figures in the pedicab industry, and how Donald Trump had a hand in his success.

Speaker: Steve Meyer is the Founder and CEO of Mainstreet Pedicab in Broomfield and has worked most of his professional life self-employed, interspersed with periods of employment.

He attended the University of Colorado from 1972 trough 1979 getting both a BA in Environmental Biology and an MA in Economics. He spent more than a year of this time traveling in S. America, Asia, Europe and Africa.

For many years, Meyer worked in the real estate industry doing economic and market research for real estate developers. His interest in the redevelopment of downtown areas and his experiences in Asia were key factors in his development of Main Street Pedicabs. Main Street was founded in 1992 and is the largest manufacturer of this type of vehicle in N. America.

Tags: America, Colorado, DaVinci, davinci institute, donald trump, Main Street, Main Street Pedicabs, manufacturer, multiple income streams, Press Releases, professional life, SPEAKER, Speaker Steve Meyer, steve meyer, Steve Meyer - Founder, Story, success speaker, taxis, Transport, university of colorado, Your Way

Apr 19th 2007 | DENVER, LONDON AND NEW YORK
From The Economist print edition

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.

Copyright © 2007 The Economist Newspaper and The Economist Group. All rights reserved.

Tags: amendment, America, apprentice, business reality, Chris Smallwood, city, controversial claim, council, Denver, donald trump, downtown, downtown denver, flexible job, Group, hydraulic brakes, London, Main Street, Main Street Pedicabs, mayor, Messrs Meyer, michael bloomberg, Mr Meyer, NEW YORK, Newspaper, Operators, operators association, pedestrianisation, Pedicab, pedicab drivers, Pedicab News, pedicabs, steve meyer, taxi medallion, television contest, Transport, transport for london, upbeat mood, yellow taxi

Published March 15, 2006 by RockyMountain News
By Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News

BROOMFIELD – Main Street Pedicabs has grown in fits and starts since Steve Meyer founded the company 14 years ago.

Based in this northern suburb of Denver, the company has turned out about 1,000 of its pedal-powered taxis throughout the years. But the rickshawlike contraptions have become a familiar sight in more and more downtown areas around the globe – most recently in Manhattan’s bustling, traffic-clogged Times Square.

Meyer, 52, hadn’t intended to start a business when he first bought a pedicab from an acquaintance in Aspen. But when he had trouble getting replacement parts for his hobby vehicle, he soon found himself trying to build a better one from scratch.

“I always kind of had a vision they could be used in America, but I didn’t know I was going to be the guy to do it,” said Meyer, who spent the early part of his career doing market research and planning for developers.

Initially, New Yorkers seemed reluctant to be seen in pedicabs. Like self-conscious teenagers, some requested they be dropped a block away from their destinations.

A spate of publicity has helped to spur acceptance.

A bright-yellow model is featured prominently on the cover of the Fodor’s New York City 2006, a guide to the city.

Contestants pedaled them a few months ago on NBC’s weight-loss show, The Biggest Loser. An appearance on The Apprentice two years ago helped to fuel interest.

But Main Street Pedicabs has grown in a number of directions from its manufacturing roots. Selling advertising space on the back of the taxis has become a significant part of the business. And Meyer is a co-owner of several pedicab-operating companies around the country, including Mile High Pedicabs in Denver.

“I make more money operating a pedicab than making one,” he said.

“The business works for us because we’re involved in so many facets of it,” Meyer said Tuesday in his newly expanded office, which still smelled strongly of a fresh coat of green paint.

Meyer gets help from his wife, Ruth Vanderkooi, when she’s not tending to her family medical practice. Otherwise, he has just a few full-time employees who assemble the pedicabs one at a time in space above the company’s offices.

As Meyer sits at his computer, he sees a call coming in from Tel Aviv, Israel, where he has been talking to someone who wants to buy a couple of the pedicabs for his own personal use.

Individuals increasingly have been buying the pedicabs to use in town or to get around islands where parking is scarce.

The pedicabs start at $2,900 but can cost as much $5,000 with all the options. They are built like mountain bikes, with 21 speeds, and have a cushioned carriage in the rear for toting passengers.

Meyer, who grew up in Boulder, said he is often questioned about whether he pursued pedicabs because of environmental concerns. But he insists his main motivation is “improving the quality of life” in cities. “I’d rather promote something than list all the things I’m against,” he said.

In Denver, pedicabs tend to operate on nights and weekends, during ballgames and other events that require people to walk several blocks from parking areas or light-rail stops.

“They add a real vitality to downtown,” said Tami Door, president of the Downtown Denver Partnership. “People like it because it’s fun. Downtowns should be fun.”

Ed Oliver, who is Meyer’s partner in the Denver pedicab operation, said he often drives a pedicab around the Pepsi Center parking lot, offering free rides during events. In most cases, passengers wind up tipping him at least $5 a ride.

“People hate walking across parking lots,” Meyer said.

With a new St. Louis Cardinals ballpark set to open in April, a budding pedicab operator awaits her order from Main Street Pedicabs.

“We want to get a business started just to and fro,” said St. Louis resident Jill Saettele, an avid cyclist who found Main Street Pedicabs on the Internet. “The parking (at the new stadium) is very limited, so they’re doing shuttles. This is the most fantastic opportunity.”

The pedicabs have caught on most in urban environments, but have also captured the attention of an array of communities with a shortage of downtown parking.

Meyer initially thought Aspen might be a good market. “But nobody who would drive one could afford to live in Aspen,” he said.

A new customer from Crested Butte picked one up Monday, with hopes of building a following in the ski town.

Long Beach, Calif., is about to get a fleet of pedicabs for its downtown.

“It’s part of the overall eclectic experience we’re trying to create,” said Kraig Kojian, president of Downtown Long Beach Associates, the improvement district for the oceanfront community. “We don’t have seasons, so people can enjoy the experience throughout the year.”

Main Street Pedicabs

• Home base: Broomfield

• Founded: 1992

• Products: Bicycle-powered taxis selling for between $2,900 and $5,000, with all the options

• Markets: Urban areas such as New York City, Denver, London, Paris and others

Tags: apprentice, bicycle, Denver, downtown denver, Long Beach, Main Street, Main Street Pedicabs, Manhattan, nbc, NEW YORK, Pedicab, Pedicab News, pedicabs, pepsi center, rickshaw, rocky mountain news, selling advertising, steve meyer, street pedicabs, taxis, times square

Pedestrians in downtown Long Beach soon will be able to hail a cab – a pedicab, that is. The City Council on Tuesday night approved a permit for up to 20 of the rickshaw-like tricycle taxis to operate in the downtown area from the shoreline north to Eighth Street and from Alamitos Avenue west to the Los Angeles River.

The service would link key downtown areas, like Pine Avenue, the Pike at Rainbow Harbor, the Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center and the East Village Arts District. Rides would cost $1 for every 1/10 of a mile as measured by an odometer on each pedicab.

Proponents of the cabs believe they can help alleviate parking and traffic congestion problems while enhancing the downtown atmosphere for pedestrians.

“It adds to the ambiance and environment of our growing downtown and provides a unique service for visitors to gain a different perspective,” said Kraig Kojian, president and CEO of the Downtown Long Beach Associates, which began courting pedicab operators several years ago.

The application was filed by Long Beach Pedicabs LLC, a subsidiary of Colorado-based Main Street Pedicabs. The company will lease the cabs to the drivers, who will act as independent businesses. The company also will sell advertising space on the cabs, the main source of revenue for the operation.

Main Street Pedicabs manages fleets in New York, Chicago, Orlando and Denver, said Steve Meyer, the company’s president. The company also manufactures and sells the cabs to more than 50 international cities including Montreal, London, Milan and Sydney. Meyer said downtown Long Beach is a good place for the cabs.

“With the Pike and the new developments along Pine Avenue, there is a lot of drawing power for the downtown area and those people need to get around,” he said.

Pedicabs have proliferated in a number of cities in the last decade, Meyer said, but not without some opposition.

Once viewed solely as a novelty, the pedicabs have come to fill a transportation niche, covering distances too short for traditional taxi rides but too long for some people to walk, Meyer said. There are now more than 200 pedicabs pedaling around midtown Manhattan in New York, up from a handful a decade ago.

“They offer something that really is not filled by all other transit modes,” Meyer said. “They wouldn’t exist if not for the fact they are needed.”

But concerns about traffic safety and uninsured operators have limited pedicabs elsewhere, including in Las Vegas. Last year, the city outlawed the vehicles along the Las Vegas Strip, citing accidents and complaints from taxi drivers.

Meyer said problems arise from a lack of regulation concerning the pedicab drivers, as well as their equipment.
Long Beach pedicab drivers will be required to obtain a driver’s permit from the police department and have an individual business license. Long Beach Pedicabs has a tentative agreement for insurance with McKay Insurance Agency, an Iowa-based company that insures more than 30 pedicab companies.

Meyer said the 21-speed, two- and three-passenger pedicabs his company produces are specifically designed for safe street use.

“It’s a single-piece frame with hydraulic brakes,” he said. “It’s not a bicycle hauling a trailer.”

Meyer said the pedicabs could be operating in downtown Long Beach as early as March 1. Initially, there will be four cabs with the number gradually increased to 20 by the end of the first year. Any further increase would require City Council approval.

The service will operate from 7 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. daily. Most of the pedicab trips are likely to originate and terminate along Pine Avenue, Meyer said. Pickup and drop off will be limited to designated passenger-loading zones. Pedicabs cannot operate on sidewalks.

Content provided courtesy gazettes.com.

Tags: different perspective, fleets, independent businesses, Main Street Pedicabs, pedestrians, Pedicab, Pedicab News, rickshaw, steve meyer, traffic congestion problems, unique service

Denver Business Journal – by Tom Locke Denver Business Journal

In the old fishing villages on the southeast coast of Spain, the streets are narrow, the parking is atrocious and the tourists are plentiful.

But for tourists who are too tired and sweaty to take another step under the hot Spanish sun, there is relief, thanks to a little Broomfield company that is bridging the walker-automobile transportation gap with something called a “pedicab.”

On a recent morning in March, a dozen or so yellow pedicabs lay ready for shipment to Spain in the small warehouse of Main Street Pedicabs Inc., a company that has championed pedicabs for more than a decade under the leadership of its owner and CEO, Steve Meyer. “We’re not only building pedicabs, we’re building a pedicab industry,” Meyer said.

Meyer said he stuck with pedicabs while others might have given up because he and his wife, Ruth Vanderkooi, simply love the business. And that’s even though they make less than they would if they were fully employed somewhere else, he said.

Meyer has a background in urban planning, and sees himself as sort of a champion of an alternative form of transportation that can add excitement and utility to boring cities dominated by automobiles.

So, thanks in part to supplemental income earned by his wife and to real estate development projects on the side, Meyer has persevered in the pedicab business and figures he’s easily the biggest pedicab manufacturer in the United States.

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Tags: apprentice, Cabs, city of denver, college campuses, customers, Denver, denver business journal, Donald, donald trump, driver, Electric, exposure, Houston, Las Vegas, Main Street, Main Street Pedicabs, Manhattan, manhattan rickshaw, manufacturer, market, marketing, NEW YORK, Pedicab, pedicab business, Pedicab News, pedicab operators, pedicabs, steve meyer, street pedicabs, three wheeled vehicles, Transport, transportation, tricycle, trump