Like riding a gondola in Venice, New York City's pedicabs are a tourist rip-off, but the taxi line at Penn Station was miles long, and I only had ten blocks to go to my hotel. On impulse, i took a pedicab.
Rush hour, going up Eighth Avenue past the Port Authority Terminal and 42nd Street. What an experience! The young man who drove it was fearless and must have had super-sensitive antennae on each protruding part of his cab, the way he slipped past the bumpers of cars, taxis and buses!
We wove through traffic with inches to spare! Those buses could have crushed me like a grape, but I wasn't scared, I was delighted.
Pedicabs charge $4 a minute, though, and though the young man was fast, it took longer than I thought (although, to be fair, it probably took about the same amount of minutes a taxi would have, given how bad traffic was.)
Would you ride one?
I suppose if they don't make you sign a waiver it's reasonably safe, fingers crossed. (At $4.00/min., they can certainly afford insurance.)
ReplyDeleteThere were pedicabs in Westwood Village for a while (late '80s?) but Westwood's no Midtown Manhattan.
I am always tempted to take one after a concert in Santa Barbara as we hike back to the car. Never have, though.
ReplyDeleteWhat an adventure. I think the kids would love doing that! : )
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a terrifying NYC ride! You are one adventurous woman. :)
ReplyDeleteI live here and I've taken one. With a computer to carry, trying to get back to my office to drop it off, 5pm on a Wednesday, threatening to rain, no cabs in sight, my boss refusing to go to his appointment until I was all set, I took one. It was a hoot! I'd probably do it again, just not far.
ReplyDeleteI am a pedicab driver now been driving pedicab for 18 years
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