Mayor Adams orders crackdown on pedicabs in Central Park

Like yellow taxis, music-blaring pedicabs have become part of New York City’s streetscape. But regulating the 30-year-old industry has been tricky over the years: Illegal pedicabs still flourish despite license requirements, and price gouging and scams are rampant, according to city officials and drivers.

Now, Mayor Eric Adams is announcing a new plan to target bad actors inside one of the city’s most popular green spaces and tourist destinations: Central Park.

“This park is a great equalizer. It doesn't matter if you are a bartender or a banker, a CEO, or just someone that's an admirer of our cultural institutions,” Adams said at a press conference on Friday. “But no matter who is in this park, they must be safe."

As part of a quality-of-life initiative, a unit comprising 1,500 officers from different agencies has been assigned to crack down on noise, illegal vending and unlicensed pedicabs in the park.

In Central Park, the NYPD has to date issued 194 summonses to pedicab drivers this year, up from 162 over the same period last year, according to city officials. Police have also confiscated 19 pedicabs, compared to only one during the same period last year.

In addition to not being properly licensed, some pedicab operators have been accused of running credit card fraud schemes that overcharge customers.

“It makes the city look bad and it makes us look bad,” said Kenneth Winter, the co-founder of New York Pedicab Alliance, which represents 220 drivers. “The good guys who are actually working and doing the right thing, we get hurt by this.”

Winter, who has driven a pedicab for 22 years, said he recently came across one victim who said they were charged $968 for a 15-minute ride. The city does not set rates for pedicabs, but drivers typically charge by the minute.

He urged the city to not only increase enforcement, but also devise stiffer penalties for drivers who commit fraud and drive illegally.

Winter estimates that there are over 1,200 pedicabs in the city, which only issues a maximum of 850 pedicab licenses. Most of the vehicles are electric-assisted and can reach speeds of between 6 and 14 mph.

Scrutiny on pedicabs appears to be intensifying. Following complaints about noise and congestion, three city councilmembers introduced a bill earlier this month that would prohibit pedicabs from coming within 50 feet of Broadway theaters.

Winter has argued that the legislation is misguided and fails to address the underlying issue of too many unlicensed pedicabs operating illegally and unethically.

He has heard about so many swindlers that he said he often wraps up his rides with customers with a bit of advice.

“Please don’t do it again,” he said.