Pedicabs are coming to downtown Chicago

BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter

Move over cyclists and horse-drawn carriages. Up to 200 pedicabs are coming to downtown Chicago.

Acknowledging that bicycle-powered taxis are already operating around Millennium Park, Navy Pier and Wrigley Field, Mayor Daley wants to license, regulate and open the city’s arms to them.

“Safety issues. If someone wants to get in, just make sure” that it’s safe, Daley said.

Pedicabs offer a quirky alternative that has the potential to become quite popular, just as they are in Europe, said Norma Reyes, commissioner of the city’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection.

“People are really interested in other forms of transportation — in terms of the environment, the green movement. The ambience. People like to be [transported] — not in a Corvette, but [by] a bike that’s open and being driven around,” Reyes said.

“They have about 500 in New York. They have ‘em in Miami and in other jurisdictions. The pedicab industry has been growing in various cities around the country. We started seeing pedicabs in Chicago about a year ago. There's definitely an industry here."

Oak Park and Joliet already authorized pedicabs and Naperville is about to join them.

The Daley-sponsored ordinance introduced at Wednesday's City Council meeting would require pedicab operators to purchase a $400 license that would only be issued to those with insurance to cover $50,000 worth of property damage, $100,000 to cover injuries to one passenger and $300,000 to cover multiple injuries.

Pedicab operators would purchase two-year, $50 permits that would be issued to those who are fingerprinted and pass both drug tests and criminal background checks. They would have to be licensed Illinois drivers, doctor-certified and at least 18 years old.

Equipment would be strictly regulated, with battery-operated headlights, tail-lights and seat belts required.

Unlike with taxicabs, the city would not regulate pedicab fares, but haggling that now goes on routinely between driver and passenger would apparently become a thing of the past. The fare schedule would have to be clearly posted. Drivers would be prohibited from charging more than that amount.

Pedicabs would be confined to city streets — not sidewalks — and limited to the downtown area roughly bounded by Oak Street, LaSalle, Roosevelt and Lake Michigan. To avoid rush-hour traffic conflicts, they would not be permitted on the streets before 7 p.m. Monday-through-Friday.

Passengers would be limited to three-per-rickshaw.

But, Daley joked, “We’re not gonna weigh people.