December 9th, 2008 by Jonathan Dudley
The West End’s pedicabs offer an environmentally friendly and decidedly twee alternative to London’s famous black cabs. Being transported around the capital by leg power that’s not your own somehow feels rather decadent, even in the occasionally smoggy, bustling atmosphere of Theatreland.
I must admit, I do enjoy hailing a pedicab at any given opportunity and going on a little jaunt just so I can revel in the novelty of the whole affair. Who needs engines when someone will ferry you across town for £15? The only way I would rather travel in London is in a sedan chair accompanied by the lovely Cheryl Cole, carried by Gareth Gates, Rowan Atkinson,Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jodie Prenger, that would be a trip to the West End.
Despite my continued support, not all is well in the world of leg powered transport. Recently it came to light that up to 80% of London’s pedicabs have been converted to run partially on car battery power. These supercharged transports are hardly going to break the land speed record but they can allegedly reach speeds of up to 20mph.
The London press has labelled the souped up pedicabs “deathtraps” which strikes me as slightly dramatic, but I suppose I’ve never been run over by a speeding rickshaw so what do I know. Recently, there was a near miss in which a pedicab mounted the pavement in Soho, narrowly missed some passers-by and smashed into a restaurant window. So perhaps not deathtraps but certainly not the safest way to get around the city, safest would be the much maligned favourite of days gone by, walking.
The drivers of the battery-assisted rickshaws are allegedly often uninsured and many are said to flout traffic laws, mounting kerbs, jumping traffic lights and overloading their cabs. I doubt all this tomfoolery on the roads of London has done the relationship between the drivers of the pedicabs and the local constabulary any good, so it’s little wonder that we are seeing a crackdown.
To tackle the problem, a series of checkpoints will be set up in the heart of our beloved West End to seize electrically assisted pedicabs and those ignoring traffic legislation. With up to 80% of London’s pedicabs apparently sporting these illegal modifications it looks like a lot of people are going to be forced to walk.
Finally, an excuse to buy a segway.
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