The City Council Committee on Consumer Affairs is proposing new regulations for pedicabs to charge customers.
Pedicabs have been a mainstay of Midtown Manhattan since the mid-1990s. As their focus shifted from practical transportation to tourist experience, their rates have also changed.
Some, including City Councilman Daniel Garodnick, seem to think many pedicab drivers are using complicated methods of calculating fares to overcharge customers. For example, one family of four was shocked to be charged $442 for a 12-minute ride, according to The New York Times. Under the proposed regulations, that same ride could cost as low as $20, as passengers will be charged by the minute instead of a complex formula that relies on the number of blocks and avenues traversed.
“The way it works now is there are no regulations,” said Garodnick’s press secretary, David Kimball-Stanley. “We have gotten a lot of complaints from people who don’t realize they’re going to be charged an extra hundred dollars per person, until the end of the ride.”
He said the goal of the new proposal is to eliminate surprises that may also result from pedicabs deciding their own rates. The proposal requires them to set a unified rate for all of the pedicabs in the city. Before the ride, the drivers would also be required to give the customers some form of receipt that shows how they calculated the fair.
Gokhan Ozdemir, 26, a pedicab driver in Central Park, said the regulations would not affect him, because he charges flat rates based on how long it takes him to get to particular places. Typically, he said, passengers ask him the price upfront, and they negotiate a lump sum rate for the whole ride.
Pedicab passenger Marcel Lira, 35, agreed.
“I think charging by block is more fair,” Lira said. “Otherwise they can just go slow.”
But Uemd Akhmedov, a 23-year-old pedicab driver, said he thinks the regulations could help the industry because they will have an impact on the drivers who are charging inordinate rates.
“Right now, no one is regulating price, and some people are charging too much,” Akhmedov said.
CAS sophomore Ryan Nicholas said a charge-by-the-minute system may not be the best option.
“They lose their incentive to go fast,” he said.
Kevin Burns is a staff writer. Email him at [email protected].