Pedicab company expands to Martha's Vineyard
By Katie Curley
Staff writer

NEWBURYPORT — The preferred mode of summertime transportation in the Port has expanded to another coastal locale.

Newburyport Pedicab has expanded to the Martha's Vineyard town of Oak Bluffs. Former Newburyport Pedicab drivers John and William Pasquina run the Martha's Vineyard chapter.

"Our primary goal is to double our fundraising for the Pan-Mass Challenge," co-owner Kevin Murphy said. "If it works here, we figured we would duplicate it."

Started in 2007 by Murphy and Blake Harris, the charitable organization gives free rides to locals and tourists on the back of a bike. Young drivers pedal each rider through town to their destination.

While there is no charge to ride, tips are encouraged and a portion of the tips go to the Pan-Mass Challenge. The other portion takes care of bicycle upkeep.

Murphy and Harris say the idea to expand has been around for a while before they finally took the leap to execute it this season.

"It stems from a trip Kevin took," Harris said. "He got off the ferry with all his bags in 90-degree heat and was frustrated there was no real service for a short hop a few blocks away."

The Pasquina brothers offered to help Murphy and Harris jump-start the latest venture as they were hoping to move to the Vineyard and saw the timing as perfect.

"They had come back from working for the Red Cross and wanted to continue doing something with charity," Murphy said of the brothers.

Over the winter, Murphy and Harris said they did a lot of research as to whether the idea was viable and even spoke with taxi drivers in Oak Bluffs to get their reaction.

"Taxi drivers are all for it because they don't want to do the short trips for $5 when they can drive across the island for $50," Murphy said. Harris added, "The island is also into sustainable living and green living, and that's something we are trying to do."

Both Murphy and Harris say they will duplicate the model used in Newburyport almost exactly with four pedicabs traveling around Oak Bluffs.

"We know four pedicabs generate X amount of money and we put X toward charity," Murphy said. "We run lean, as it is all done with fundraising in mind, and we keep expenses low."

In the first two weeks of operation, the business received sponsorship for each of the four pedicabs and requests from other sponsors for them to add more.

"We only work with local companies, just as we do in Newburyport," Murphy said.

Harris noted sponsors include a green construction company, a store that sells green products, a bank and a restaurant.

While the two hope to continue to expand into other cities and towns in future years, for now they are focused on Newburyport and Oak Bluffs and a busy season to come.

"We've added a fifth pedicab in Newburyport and switched garages," Murphy said, noting the new garage location in the works will be behind Port Tavern.

The two are also happy that most of the first-year sponsors of Newburyport Pedicab continue to come back each year and sponsor.

"We are mostly sticking with what works," Harris said. "Why change it?"