A ride through Central Park in a pedicab is part of many tourists’ itineraries.
“We want to visit Central Park under all the zones and not going for the tourist zones and see it all,” said tourist Marc Bertran.
Bertran and his family are from another big city — Barcelona — so they knew how to make sure they weren’t price gouged.
“All the big cities is the possibility that you get charged a lot more than the normal price,” he said. “Because the first price it told us was too expensive, like $500. And that was ridiculous.”
There are already many rules and regulations pedicabs must follow — including licensing — all controlled by the city’s Department of Consumer and Worker Protection, or DCWP. But Council Member Gale Brewer said the rules have not been enforced enough and more guidelines are needed.
“The first bill would add all of the — they have to have certain types of, I would say, lights. They have to have signs to tell them how much to charge,” said Brewer. “Have a meter to tell how many minutes you are in that pedicab. And the list goes on.”
The bills would require city-approved meters and scannable codes on registration plates to easily verify they’re operating legally. They would also require the posting of the rate per minute per ride on both sides of the pedicab and on the rear of the bicycle seat.
Rate postings are already required but rarely displayed. Kenny Winter, with the New York Pedicab Alliance, said the current bad actors make it harder for everyone.
“Very often I get somebody coming up and they won’t even acknowledge my existence because they want to, they say that, ‘Oh, well, we got ripped off on the street, or we got ripped off by someone else,'” said Winter, who has been driving for over 20 years.
He said drivers who follow the rules want more regulation.
“This is some of the positive changes that we’re looking for, because one of the biggest problems that we have is that, you know, the, different pricing on different bikes, different drivers is a very independent industry,” said Winter. “So a lot of guys say, because right now the law allows me to collect whatever I want to talk to someone for, for a minute, for a ride rate. And it has to be posted on the side of the bike. But a lot of guys are not doing that.”
The second bill would transfer oversight and licensing to the Taxi and Limousine Commission.
“I love this idea because then the real regulation would take place because Taxi and Limousine Commission is used to,” said Brewer.
The hope is with the TLC having its own police, there would be more enforcement. The issue is that DCWP’s budget has grown, while the TLC’s budget was cut significantly and the agency already has to crack down on illegal rideshares.
NY1 reached out to City Hall for a response.