JUST WHEN WE WERE GETTING USED TO THE NEW TAXI FARE, the Bloomberg administration now wants the City Council to pass a bill requiring pedicab owners to license and insure their vehicles, have emergency brakes, seat belts, head lights and reflectors, and, presumedly raise fares—in effect turning them into bicycle-powered taxis. This doesn’t sit well with recharger, a former taxista, who, along with thousands of his brethren, says pedicabs make traffic worse and steal business. “It’s becoming a circus here,” cab owner Vincent Sapone told the N.Y. Post. “Next year we’ll have dogs pulling sleds.” Although Chad Marlow, attorney for pedicab owners, disagrees, claiming pedicabs cannot compete because they charge more and are slower, the idea of pulling a huge bicycle with a gigantoid seat and several freaky fast-food-stuffed tourists, makes Recharger VERY nervous.
-- Maria Stavrakis