If you’ve lived or played tourist in any major American city in the last few years, you’ve surely seen a pedicab. A pedicab is a tricycle with 21 gears attached to a cart capable of carrying up to four or five people. The machines are designed to allow even small riders to tow very heavy loads and will turn on a dime. Long used in southeast Asia and gaining popularity across Europe, these rickshaw contraptions aret taking the place of traditional cabs for short trips in America’s metropolitan areas.
The pedicab is a step in the right direction, and, if you choose, you can be a part of this step. If you live in a conducive environment, this can be a cheap and easy business to get off the ground. If there is already a company in your area, you can start with them and save your money. Unlike the traditional cab business, pedaling one of these vehicles is a rewarding job. Even if you don’t own the business, you get the great calves and you get outside everyday. And people love you for what you are doing. They always have a smile and an encouraging word.
The pedicab is a great example of the spirit of the green movement. Those who are tired of driving through congested city streets welcome the sight of them, and anyone who has taken a ride on one knows there is no contest between these carts and taxicabs when choosing a mode of transportation for-hire, due not only to time saved time but to the experience. The pedicab brings you out into your surroundings. You hear the sounds of the city, you smell the smells of the restaraunts, and you feel the air on your face. You experience everything about your environment the era of the automobile has taken away from us.
Is the pedicab another sign of a new era on the horizon? Bicycles carts much like pedicabs are being designed to pull heavier and heavier loads. Perhaps some day in the future our city streets will be populated with bicycles instead of cars. Bikes hauling loads. Bikes hauling people. The majority of citizens riding bikes to work. There is certainly a place for futuristic zero-footprint automobiles in this scenario, but would it be such a bad idea to rewind things a little bit as well? Imagine going to and from work and having to look at the other driver’s faces as you passed one another on the city streets. In our modern day society, we pass by each-other without more than a moment’s glance, enclosed in our steel capsules, the radio blaring. We forget the world beyond the windshield is a real world–the only one we have, as a matter of fact.
If the pedicab spirit intersts you, a good pedicab can be purchased for around four thousand dollars, or you can rent one if a company exists in your area. Rental companies avoid insurance costs by renting or leasing to drivers and allowing them to charge what they want. Any additional profits are yours to keep. I did some research to find out just what people were making, but most seemed a bit tight-lipped about their profits, possibly due to the emergence of stiff competition in some cities of late. The ones who would talk about it at all claimed to pull in about $400 on a good night and averaged about $200. Some even claimed to have made up to $1000 on a really good night. Savvy drivers further capitalize on the novelty of the idea by turning their machines into moving billboards, using advertisement space to radically multiply profits. If you decide to look into buying one of these mean machines, keep this in consideration as the design of each individual pedicab may either minimize or maximize your advertisement potential.
Another consideration when purchasing a pedicab is local rules and ordinances. In many cities, the rickshaw contraptions have faced surprisingly adamant opposition and their is a bit of an uproar about how they will be dealt with in the future. It is a good idea to do your homework ahead of time and find out what kind of hurdles you will have to leap to get your business up and running. Many entrepreneurs have found ways to skirt around strict codes and huge insurance costs by either working for tips alone or renting out pedicabs to the drivers and counting on the ad income to make their bread. Make sure to have a solution if your city presents specific challenges and find out if there is a reason no one is doing it yet before you jump in headfirst. Inevitably, pedicabs will claim their ground, but it may take a little time yet.
Still, if you are looking for a simple way to change the world around you and contribute to The Green Movement, keep this business idea in mind. Never underestimate the power of the unique to influence the average American citizen.
For more information on pedicabs, visit Main Street Pedicabs, the largest producer of pedicabs in North America, Bikes At Work Inc, or the Pedicab Blog.
