Cities Crack Down on Bicycle Taxis

NEW YORK (March 4) - The bicycle taxi trend is weaving its way through the clogged streets of midtown Manhattan, a movement growing so rapidly that the city is proposing regulations before it spins out of control.

By Dima Gavrysh, AP

A woman asks for a ride from a pedicab driver near Grand Central terminal. New York is examining whether the vehicles, grown from a centuries-old form of transportation, need safety standards, insurance mandates and rate rules.

Known as pedicabs, these vehicles that look like giant tricycles with a passenger carriage in the back are favored by tourists and some New Yorkers as an affordable, pollution-free alternative that can sail through gridlock. The City Council is examining whether this burgeoning fad, grown from a centuries-old form of transportation, needs safety standards, insurance mandates and rate rules.

Reminiscent of the hand-pulled rickshaws popular in 19th-century Japan, pedicabs have rolled into many U.S. cities, including Denver, Boston, Houston and San Diego, often swarming stadium parking lots during major concerts and sporting events.

A number of cities are considering regulations or have already adopted them. Las Vegas shooed pedicabs away, saying they posed a danger to both riders and pedestrians.

On Friday in Manhattan, two British tourists said they felt totally safe on their ride through Central Park.

"I was a bit skeptical," said Emma Carter, 23, after she hopped out of a pedicab. "But it was great. A fun experience."

Pedicabs began arriving in New York City a decade ago, when a group of entrepreneurs tried to market the novelty to tourists sightseeing in lower Manhattan, near the World Trade Center and Battery Park.

But over the years, savvy drivers discovered that midtown is pedicab paradise, from the Empire State Building on 34th Street up to Central Park, with Times Square in the middle. They pluck passengers from the throngs of tourists and nab commuters who want to get across town at rush hour or after a Broadway show.

"I always ask my passengers whether they have taken a pedicab before, and quite often their reply is 'All the time - it's faster than a car,"' said Craig Molino, a Manhattan pedicab driver for five years.

Officials estimate there are now about 300 pedicabs on the streets of New York, mostly in midtown. Main Street Pedicabs, a major supplier based in Colorado, has been sending the vehicles here by the truckload in recent years, owner Stephen Meyer said.

Meyer's model, which features a fiberglass cab, is fashioned like a mountain bike, with a steel alloy frame and 21 speeds. The base price is $3,400 (euro2,850).

In New York City, there are a number of companies that lease the cabs to drivers, as well as drivers working on their own. Most charge their passengers a starting rate of $1 (80 euro cents) per block, but fares are negotiated depending on a number of variables, which can include the number of passengers, their weight and the weather.

Unlike horse-drawn carriages and yellow cabs, pedicabs are free from regulations and therefore have no fare restrictions and no accountability on safety issues or insurance. Officials estimate that about half the pedicabs trolling for passengers each day are not insured.

There are no known fatal pedicab accidents in New York City, but some passengers have been injured in collisions with cars and buses. A 2001 pedicab crash where one passenger's shoulder was hurt resulted in a settlement for nearly $2 million (euro1.68 million). In San Diego a few weeks ago, a rider suffered a serious head injury when he fell out of a pedicab and was hit by a car.

"It is disconcerting that New Yorkers and tourists are riding in these devices without oversight in place - non-inspected devices that may not have proper safety equipment or insurance," said Iris Weinshall, New York's Transportation Commissioner. "We simply cannot wait for a tragic accident involving a pedicab to occur."

The City Council is considering legislation that proposes rules on licensing, training and insurance for drivers. A council committee is also looking at whether the fare-calculation process should be posted in the cabs.

Drivers and pedicab company operators say they welcome regulations to help weed out the freewheeling folks who may be cutting corners.

"There are renegade drivers out there," Molino said. "God forbid, something happens, it's a bad reflection on the whole industry."