Are new pedicab regulations a slippery slope for bicyclists?
Posted By Thomas Bahde on September 1, 2009
The San Diego City Council approved new regulations for pedicabs today, which will limit the number of pedicab permits to 250, down from 400. The new city ordinance will also ban pedicabs from sidewalks as well as public roadways with speed limits of more than 25 mph, and establishes restricted operating zones downtown and in some beach areas. Pedicab operators will also be required to clearly post fare information and provide seat belts for customers. The tougher regulations, which will go into effect October 2, were championed by District 7 Councilwoman Marti Emerald after the death of Sharon Miller of Illinois, who sustained a fatal brain injury after falling from a pedicab in July.
The issue for bicyclists is that by writing all of these regulations into a city ordinance, the council doesn’t seem to be distinguishing what should be industry regulations, such as requiring fare information, seat belts, and setting permit limits, from traffic issues, like street and zone prohibitions. This potentially establishes a precedent for the council to restrict all pedal-powered traffic on certain streets or in certain zones as long as they do so under the veil of public safety. Industry regulations are fine, but shouldn’t all legal vehicles be able to travel legally on all public roadways?
Ask your council member what they think.
Some of the new pedicab rules make sense to me (posting fares, stuff about protecting the consumer) but there’s two pieces that don’t sit well with me: not riding on sidewalks and not riding on roads with a speed limit greater than 25 MPH. The riding on sidewalks one seems debatable (I see both sides but there are some spots downtown where the sidewalks are large enough to accommodate pedicabs (think along Harbor Dr. behind the convention center) and there’s no safety concern but a real advantage in getting riders from point A to point B. However…not being able to ride on streets with greater than 25 mph speed limits is just plain dumb. Pedicabs have the ability to do speeds in excess of 25 mph and there are a LOT of streets downtown with 35 MPH speed limits which make planning any route between two points EXTREMELY difficult. Your fare is going to be asking why you’re zig zagging all over the place and the only response you can give is that you’re avoiding the “fast streets?” It seems like a lazy response to safety. A much better response/solution would be to have more designated bike lanes.
As a former pedicab driver, I can totally agree with Ian. Having to zig zag through downtown is going to be a giant pain in the ass for those guys. The customer already usually thinks they are ripping them off somehow, extending the ride by making them avoid the fast routes is not going to go over well.
It’s sad and unfortunate in regards to what happened with that lady, however I probably don’t need to remind anyone here that people are killed in cars EVERYDAY. This is definitely a lazy response to safety.
What they should do is close the Gaslamp to vehicle traffic. I could certainly do without pedicabs, too. Certainly. Wouldn’t the CA vehicle code rule the day? Maybe not. When I’ve got my kid on the bike, could I be cited as a “pedicab?”