New Startup Aims To Bring Pedicabs Back To Their Roots by Arthur Mallet
Dec 21, 2017 arthur mallet,brooklyn,hop on short trips,host,jeffrey thomashow,manhattan,new york,pedicabs,rickshaws
For the past eight years being a part of the New York rickshaw community, I have been involved in marketing campaigns, last-mile delivery services, film logistics and worked the streets as a pedicab operator. When I began the city had just imposed the first regulations on pedicabs and the rules continue to evolve. These policies have aimed to limit the number of pedicabs and deter bad behavior but they have not promoted the viability of pedicabs as an eco-friendly, traffic reducing form of transportation. Most New Yorkers see them as over-priced tourist traps. This was not always the case. When pedicabs first began operating in New York they covered neighborhoods outside of tourist hubs and at lower costs.
A few months ago, I met an entrepreneur named Jeffrey Thomashow who is aiming to launch a program to bring that type of service back. His program is called Host (hop on short trips) and it will be an app-assisted locally focused service, which will formally in the West Village this spring after a series of test runs this fall. His service was recently featured in Crain’s. If it catches on in the Village, perhaps it could work in parts of Brooklyn.