Trixi.com
17-02-2005, 16:07
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Rickshaws 'a plus'
17 February 2005
The Mayor's scrutiny panel has spoken out against banning rickshaws from key areas in the West End.
The London Assembly transport committee believes they provide a positive contribution to central London streets.
Even though rickshaws sprung up in the streets of Soho and Chinatown five years ago, the man-drawn carriages are still unregulated.
And only a few of the 250 rickshaws in the capital are actually owned by their riders.
This means that, if a rickshaw driver gets badly injured in a crash, there is no easy way to identify him.
The author of the report, Murad Qureshi, said: "Rickshaws provide a welcome and colourful, albeit minor, addition to the streetscape of the West End. And that's how it should stay."
The report accepts tighter controls need to be imposed on the rickshaws, but a parliamentary bill to makes rickshaws liable for using bus lanes and parking on double yellow lines would be too strict.
Mr Qureshi said: "I am acutely aware of the problems that pedicabs do and could potentially bring to the streets of the capital but I do not think they should be banned outright. Pedicabs provide a useful short distance off-peak service ferrying tourists and Londoners between various stops within London's late-night economy."
He added: "Rickshaws can cause a minor nuisance, whether by blocking access from theatres or holding up the traffic.
"But the introduction of regulation, while welcome, should be relatively light so that Londoners and visitors to the capital can continue to be ferried around the West End on these colourful additions to our streets."
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Rickshaws 'a plus'
17 February 2005
The Mayor's scrutiny panel has spoken out against banning rickshaws from key areas in the West End.
The London Assembly transport committee believes they provide a positive contribution to central London streets.
Even though rickshaws sprung up in the streets of Soho and Chinatown five years ago, the man-drawn carriages are still unregulated.
And only a few of the 250 rickshaws in the capital are actually owned by their riders.
This means that, if a rickshaw driver gets badly injured in a crash, there is no easy way to identify him.
The author of the report, Murad Qureshi, said: "Rickshaws provide a welcome and colourful, albeit minor, addition to the streetscape of the West End. And that's how it should stay."
The report accepts tighter controls need to be imposed on the rickshaws, but a parliamentary bill to makes rickshaws liable for using bus lanes and parking on double yellow lines would be too strict.
Mr Qureshi said: "I am acutely aware of the problems that pedicabs do and could potentially bring to the streets of the capital but I do not think they should be banned outright. Pedicabs provide a useful short distance off-peak service ferrying tourists and Londoners between various stops within London's late-night economy."
He added: "Rickshaws can cause a minor nuisance, whether by blocking access from theatres or holding up the traffic.
"But the introduction of regulation, while welcome, should be relatively light so that Londoners and visitors to the capital can continue to be ferried around the West End on these colourful additions to our streets."
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