Pedicabs Pedaling Into Downtown December 22, 2005
By Steve Irsay, Staff Writer - Gazette Newspaper - Long Beach, CA
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.
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