Bacdafucup, Pedicab!

The pedicab lobby may be lower than strip club owners in terms of a positive public perception, and the image of pedicabs descending on City Hall en masse probably won’t help change that, at least in my mind:

Pedicab drivers are expected to ride to City Hall this afternoon to call attention to closed-door negotiations between the Bloomberg administration and the City Council to regulate their industry.

The City Council is working to meld two proposed bills into one, and though it hasn’t yet released a new draft, the New York City Pedicab Owners’ Association — whose representatives have been advising on such legislation — is outraged at two items they believe will be part of it. One is a possible cap on the number of pedicabs, paring down roughly 500 cabs to 300. The other is a ban on electric motors used to assist pedaling.

“We’re in favor of regulation,” explained NYCPOA lobbyist Chad Marlow, who was briefed last week on the private negotiations. “We’re the ones who brought it up. From a pedicab’s point of view, we have owners and drivers who are responsible and others who are not. We want those off the road. But we want a good bill.”