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New York City Pedicabs have come under fire in recent months. The crux of it is an edict by the Department of Consumer Affairs to limit the number of pedicabs in New York City to 325. As a side note, there are an estimated 13,000 licensed auto taxis in New York City.
It is hard to find news to believe on who really is behind the assault on green transportation. An organization called the Metropolitan Taxicab Board of Trade is labeled the ring leader by local press and it as the nexus of the lawsuit to limit pedicabs, but you get this sinking suspicion there area lot of other players involved who would like to remain out of the news.
Regardless, the assault on pedicabs has resulted in a great bike hack! One pedicab owner is hacking his rides into delivery vehicles and is getting the backing of many local business owners who want to “green up” their business. Take the 2:58 to watch - it will make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
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Filed Under: modification
3 comments for this entry ↓
1 Ryan // Jan 23, 2008 at 5:58 am
I can’t get the video to load, is it broke or do I just fail at the interwebs?
Without seeing the video I can’t comment directly about it but is the city preventing pedicabs because they are too slow to keep up in traffic and too wide to stay out of the way?
2 Matt // Jan 23, 2008 at 6:06 am
WSJ seems to have taken the video down. I hope they put it back up so the video becomes available again. The elimination of pedicabs is basically because of “safety concerns” - read, cars hit them.
Never mind that we have global warming and health concerns. America is all about NOW and clean up later.
3 Ryan // Jan 23, 2008 at 9:21 am
I do hope they will put the video back up but just playing devils advocate here:
I believe as a taxpayer I have equal right to use the road on my bike or in my car. As with all things in life there is an exception to this rule- if the use of my bike (in this case a pedicab) interferes with your right to drive your car or bike on the same road. My rights to fair road use only extend so far as to not restrict or interfere with the fair road use of others. If the pedicabs really are causing traffic problems I see the reason to restrict them.
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