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From NYDailynews.com

Pedicabs aren't just for tourists anymore: Beginning next month, people in Harlem can come on and take a free ride.

Amir Chizic, owner of BicyTaxi NYC, is sending 10 pedicabs uptown to offer free trips within 20 blocks of 125th St.

The gratis rides will be supported - at least for the first three months - by advertising, he said.

"It's such a good thing for the environment, you know?" said Chizic, whose business currently caters to the midtown tourist trade.

"There's so much pollution out there," he said of Harlem, where one in four children suffers from asthma.

Nadine Varra, of Harlem, plans to use the pedicabs to make grocery store runs. "If it's free, I would use it," she said.

Chizic is still looking for a place to store his fleet, but promised Harlemites will see his pedicabs - plastered inside and out with advertisements - beginning June 1.

He may soon have competition. Bill Clinger, controller of midtown-based Revolution Rickshaws, said he sees potential for expansion into Harlem.

"I think it's a market that's just waiting to be tapped into," he said. "There's a lot of people that need to get moved around...I'd like to get up there pretty soon."

Pedicab rides may turn out to be popular in Harlem, if a recent event is any indication.

A group called Safe, Healthy, Affordable and Reliable Energy (SHARE) set up a stand on 125th St. and offered free rides as a part of an Earth Day promotion.

Pedicab drivers were busy throughout the day, said Gregory Joseph of SHARE, which advocates environmentally friendly transportation.

"One reason this event was so appealing is because pedicabs don't frequent uptown, and given the asthma rates, they really should," said Joseph.

The move to Harlem comes at a time when pedicab fleet owners are dealing with a variety of woes.

Cops are cracking down on reckless pedicab drivers who break traffic laws. The police are also seeking to boot lone-wolf operators who don't have the required insurance for their three-wheelers and give the legit businesses a bad name.

In 2007, the City Council approved legislation limiting the number of pedicabs in the city to 325.

Owners must purchase insurance comparable to that of a medallion taxi and get their pedicabs regularly inspected. There are periodic threats from lawmakers to impose more restrictions.

But perhaps the biggest roadblock owners face in expanding their businesses beyond the tourist trade is the shaky reputation pedicabs have among New Yorkers.

Some fleet owners, including Chizic, say a free ride is the only way to get locals to step in pedicabs.

The owners also are hoping impending mass transit and taxi fare hikes - as well as the nice weather - could drive more New Yorkers to the pedal-powered people movers, which can each hold up to three people.

But Danny Barsas of Cycle Central Park, a bike rental and pedicab company, said that moving pedicabs to Harlem is a risky proposition, and he wouldn't consider it.

"Midtown is a gold mine," said Barsas. "Tourists make 80% of all clients and all the tourist attractions are in midtown."

"There's parts of Harlem, like the park, where you might be able to make money on the weekend, but you can't rely on that," he added.

Some Harlem residents said they were simply a little leery of pedicabs.

"Isn't it mainly tourists who take them?" asked Harlemite Maria Nicols.

Read more: "Gearing up for new business, pedicab company will offer free rides" - http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/bronx/2009/05/17/2009-05-17_gearing_up_for_new_business_pedicab_company_will_offer_free_rides.html#ixzz0GyLXlKRd&A