Pedicabs

[This piece also runs in Checkerboard City, John's column in Newcity magazine, which hits the streets on Wednesday evenings.]

This morning, I was puzzled when I read a DNAinfo.com report that Cheerios was planning to promote its new line of high-protein cereals with a seemingly illegal activity: pedicab rides in the Loop during rush hours.

Despite the gloomy weather this morning, hundreds of people pedaled to Daley Plaza for the annual Bike to Work Rally, where city officials provided an update on Chicago cycling initiatives. Among the cyclists were pedicabbers defying the city’s recently enacted ban on rush-hour pedicab use in the Loop to protest the ordinance but, happily, no $500 tickets were issued.

Tomorrow’s Bike to Work Rally, 7 to 9 a.m. in Daley Plaza, will celebrate the act of using pedal power to get to your place of business. Mayor Rahm Emanuel may show up to give a speech touting Chicago’s strides towards becoming a more bike-friendly city. However, due to the city’s new pedicab ordinance, which bans the vehicles from the Loop during rush hours, many of those who bike for a living are prohibited from riding their work cycles to the rally.

At today’s City Council meeting, an ordinance regulating pedicabbers – and banning them from downtown streets – passed with almost no opposition. Operators say that the new rules will put them out of business, since they’ll be prohibited from operating in the Loop during rush hours, as well as Michigan and State, between Oak and Congress, at all times. The law, which Mayor Rahm Emanuel praised, goes into effect on June 7.

During a 2.5-hour committee hearing yesterday on a proposed ordinance to regulate Chicago’s growing pedicab fleet, aldermen heard passionate testimony from some 20 operators and advocates. They argued the legislation, which includes a ban on downtown operations, would hamstring the industry and kill jobs.

Members of the recently formed Chicago Pedicab Association say they can live with various rules and fees imposed under a proposed ordinance to regulate the city’s burgeoning pedicab industry. However, they maintain that the ordinance’s restrictions on where and when they can work downtown would drive them out of business.