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Currently, pedicabs roam the city without liability insurance, an operator’s license or standardized fares. But two proposed bills would put an end to their freewheeling.
Cabbies complain that pedicabs infringe on a taxi’s exclusive right to pick up street hails, guaranteed by a Taxi and Limousine Commission medallion.
The Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade, an advocacy group that represents 20 percent of the city’s taxicab industry, wants the city to confine pedicabs to prearranged pickups only.
“People have invested a lot of money for that right, but pedicabs can just swoop right in and take your fare,” said the group’s spokesman, Michael Woloz.
Under a bill authored by City Council Member Alan Gerson (D-Manhattan), pedicabs would have to seek licensing through the Department of Consumer Affairs, obtain liability insurance and submit to safety inspections. Additionally, pedicab drivers would have to apply for an operator’s license, making them subject to both city and state traffic laws.
“Our exclusive focus was safety and congestion prevention in impacted areas,” said Gerson, who also supports restricting pedicab use in high traffic areas during rush hour.
Even a far stricter bill authored by the Council’s Consumer Affairs Committee chair, Leroy Comrie (D-Queens), validates pedicabs as a legitimate taxi alternative. Comrie’s bill has the support of the Bloomberg administration.
Comrie’s bill has seven co-sponsors, among them Council Member Kendall Stewart (D-Brooklyn).
“It’s something that has been part of the city for years, and the city needs to have some other means for transportation based on the fact that regular taxis are becoming so crowded,” Stewart explained.
Currently, pedicab fares are negotiated at the beginning of each ride, but under Comrie’s bill, operators would be required to openly display their method of rate calculation and provide customers with detailed receipts.
Pedicabs would also be prohibited from operating in public parks, bridges or tunnels, routes which provide a major source of income for them.
Also under consideration: working out how pedicabs will function in Central Park. Horse-drawn carriage drivers have protested their presence.
Comrie’s bill would also ban the use of an electric assist, an operator-controlled battery boost, which Stewart explained is a necessary step “to separate pedicabs from motorized vehicles.”
Chad Marlow, a lobbyist hired by the New York City Pedicab Association, said that electric assists provide less than a single horsepower and are “more than anything for safety.”
Marlow added that the fiberglass shell to protect passengers on newer pedicabs would be too heavy to carry without an electric assist. They also enable older, more experienced drivers to fight physical fatigue and continue driving.
Gerson said that he expects a compromise to be created by combining his and Comrie’s bills soon.
But Marlow insisted that regardless of the final legislation, pedicabs will remain on city streets.
“It’s a popular form of transportation,” he said. “And if you look at the bigger environmental and traffic problems, they’re a solution.”