Stamping out good business?

By Brian X. McCrone


PHILADELPHIA. Unlike Philadelphia’s first and possibly last pedicab business, Chariots of Philly — which was shut down because of a lack of a city law governing the vehicles— pedicab drivers in New York City like Stan O’Connor are thriving.

And that’s without any currently enforced laws on the Big Apple's books allowing them to drive tourists and other commuters in their bicycle-drawn “rickshaws.”

“It’s a shame that Philly demands that businesses without regulation must not be opened,” O’Connor said. “It would seem that new technologies would be stymied by that.”

Chariots of Philly, originally owned and operated in Manayunk by brothers Ben and Tom Dambman, was shut down in 2007 after four years of business by the Department of Licenses and Inspections. L&I’s business compliance unit said in a letter that anyone seeking “to operate on the streets of the City of Philadelphia as a passenger carrier must first obtain authorization from City Council.”

The department even went a step further in determining that Ben Dambman's Pechin Street garage, where he housed his two pedicabs, was in violation of city code.

“There is an absence of authorization for this type of business,” city spokeswoman Maura Kennedy said recently. “The city controls right-of-way which is streets and sidewalks.”

That is also true in New York City, according to Manhattan Rickshaw Co. owner Peter Meitzler, but added that pedicabs have flourished through a lack of any specific regulation.

He said insured pedicab companies are trying to get a law passed to prohibit
uninsured, dangerous pedicabs. Until then, anybody with a pedicab can operate in the five boroughs.

“I think the foundation of our republic is that: If a thing isn’t explicitly illegal, shouldn’t it be legal?” Meitzler said.


Owners closer to driving here

PHILADELPHIA. As some ambitious entrepreneurs have done in other cities during the past decade, Ben Dambman crafted his own legislation and personally handed it to every Philadelphia City Council member over the past two years.

One industry expert said pedicabs don't usually spur an incredible amount of interest at City Halls around the country.

"You have to bring a comprehensive plan to City Council so they don’t have to do anything," Greg Duran of Colorado-based Big Treet Pedicab Management said in a recent interview, adding that San Diego and Phoenix are also contemplating pedicab legislation.

Dambman has apparently done enough work on his proposed bill. Councilman Curtis Jones, who represents Manayunk, said he is very interested in pedicabs.

"They could fit well since they wouldn't affect the carbon footprint and would create jobs," Jones said in a recent interview.

Legislation may be introduced next month that could create a law allowing pedicabs by summer, according to one official involved with the proposal.