pedicab?
 

Has anyone ever done the pedicab thing? I'm interviewing on Wednesday for a position.

In Denver it will be a cold-ass job, but I don't care. I want to make a little extra $ and burn some calories.

Wondering what kind of scrap money I can make out of this. I imagine it's mostly tip money, right?

Do I have to pay the pedicab company for using their bikes? I heard that it can work a bit like that, too.

In Austin you provide your own bike and work for tips only. I think you rent the actual pedicab; I've not done it, this is information my buddy who pedicabs has provided.

Some of these dudes make great cash on busy weekends (in Austin, ACL, SXSW, UT football, etc make for ALOT of business)

A friend of a friend here in Toronto was doing the pedicab thing for a while during the summer. The pedicabs were sponsored by Nestea, so the actual rides were free for customers, and he was often tipped quite well because of that. He also got all the Nestea he could drink, so did his passengers, and he didn't have to rent the bike or the cab or anything like that. If I remember correctly, the wages were slightly above minimum wage in actual 'earnings', but with tips he was making significantly more. I think this was kind of a pilot promotional thing by Nestea, as soon as the summer ended I didn't see any more of the Nestea pedicabs, but maybe you can find a nice BBQ company to do the same thing? :)

Your buddy is right depending on the company. Capital pedicap provides bikes welded right to the cab. others attach at the seatpost. I worked with capital and it was awesome, but i quit because i really enjoy having weekends. The rent worked on a sliding scale at Capital. You give a percentage of what you made, and after a certain point it was capped at $40. Either way, I never walked away with less than 100.

I was a pedicab in Austin for a night. I used my brakeless fixie, and I didn't anticipate how much harder it would be to skid while towing a full load. Long story short, I plowed into the back of a delivery truck, injured my passengers, unhooked the trailer and rode off. good times!

Dude, not trying to be anal, but the owner of the cabs should have known better than to allow you to use a brakeless fixie to pull passengers with. If it were up to me, I would require my riders to use a multi speed, or maybe a SS with TWO WORKING brakes. Luckily, you didn't kill yourself or your passengers!

Edward Wong III
Qile Duo 5 Speed 20" Folder

i was jk. i always thought it would be funny to see some hipster out there on a fixie draggin one of those carts, though.

Well thank goodness that some semblance of "common sense" is still around:)

By the way, I did the pedicab "thing" for one night here in Central Florida. That was back in 2003 I believe. Those pedicabs were the traditional tricycle type made in China. There was a group of us that evening cruising up and down Park Avenue, Winter Park which is an affluent area. I think I made about $5 to $10 after 4 hours. OK no big money, but it was fun, and at least I can say I did drive a pedicab once:)

Edward Wong III
Qile Duo 5 Speed 20" Folder

hmm well this will be fun to try. I have a cross-check with studded tires. I actually like riding when it's freezing out. I figure I can make more in the cold when people don't want to walk a few blocks at a time. As long as I have blankets and whatever.

My Cross-Check has a flip-flop hub, I actually prefer to ride SS in the summer and fixed in the winter when it's icy. Two brakes - caliper for the back, disk on the front. So I think I could still pull it off with a full load.

This will be interesting. I think it sounds like a fun way to make a few extra bucks.

A kid in my grade 12 english class was a kabuki cab(pedicab) driver and he said he rented the cab and paid a percentage of what he made from the riders. From what he said it was pretty decent money if you get out there and sell your town to tourists.