Trixi.com
11-05-2005, 10:14
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May 09. 2005
Entrepreneur hails pedicabs
Randy Giffen says tricycle carriages could carry people around downtown Sarasota
By DALE WHITE
SARASOTA -- Ever since he moved into a downtown condo high-rise three years ago, Randy Giffen has been looking at the streets below and visualizing a new mode of public transportation.
Well, not exactly new.
When he worked as an official greeter at Disney World's Boardwalk, a resort reminiscent of Atlantic City in the 1940s, Giffen frequently saw visitors in canopied carriages that they pedaled like bicycles.
That lingering image, coupled with his appreciation for Disney's incorporation of high-quality production values into even its smallest theme park amenities, got Giffen thinking.
His thoughts are now taking shape as the Sarasota Surrey Cab Co.
Giffen wants to introduce "pedicabs" to downtown Sarasota.
The transportation service would be similar to taxis but without the polluting internal combustion engines. Tricycle carriages, with licensed drivers, would carry residents and tourists to and from hotels, condos, theaters and restaurants.
It's an untried idea in a downtown where a county-operated trolley service recently failed to attract enough passengers.
"If it's not done in a proper way, it could be an embarrassment for the city," Giffen said. "It's imperative that it be done right."
Although he's never run a pedicab company before, Giffen thinks he can make a go of it.
Sarasota's city officials and downtown merchants are equally optimistic.
Regulated like taxis
Tony Souza, executive director of the Downtown Partnership of Sarasota, is anxious to see Giffen's business get rolling and believes it will be an asset downtown.
"It will add a special ambience and more excitement to downtown," Souza said.
City officials are anxious to get Giffen moving, after they take some preparatory steps this summer.
"We need to have good regulations to get this going," Sam Freija, the city's traffic engineering manager, told Giffen as he reviewed the proposal last week.
The city needs to add a pedicab section to its vehicle-for-hire ordinance, Freija said. Pedicab drivers would have to be licensed and undergo criminal background checks, just like taxi drivers.
The city may also restrict the pedicabs to streets with speed limits of 25 mph or lower, prohibit them on public sidewalks, and impose safety and quality control requirements.
The city is likely to give Sarasota Surrey Cab an exclusive contract. The monopoly would give Giffen a better chance for success.
The pedicab service could have connections with a water bus service that the city hopes to have on Sarasota Bay. The water buses would enable residents and tourists to get to bayfront destinations such as Mote Marine and the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall without adding traffic to U.S. 41 or the Ringling Bridge.
The combination of water buses and pedicabs attracts passengers daily in Fort Lauderdale.
Jay Alexander of Ocean View Rickshaw said his 20 pedicabs cater to tourists who get off the water buses and need a ride to hotels, restaurants and boutiques farther from Fort Lauderdale's waterfront.
"We try to be part of the overall transportation umbrella for the city," said Alexander, who started his pedicab business in 1997.
Auditioning 'cast members'
Giffen expects fares to start at $2 and increase depending on the distance traveled.
Using a pedicab to get from the Marina Jack restaurant on the bayfront to the Hollywood 20 cinema, for example, could take about nine to 11 minutes and cost perhaps $6, plus a tip for the driver.
Some passengers may consider that pricey for a one-way, one-mile trip.
Yet Giffen is counting on downtown residents and hotel guests who may find the pedicabs more convenient than driving their cars, feeding parking meters or paying for valet parking.
Passengers in the canopied buggies, which can cost about $3,400 each, will be able to listen to satellite radio -- CNBC Market News during the day and romantic music at night.
The pedicabs could be rented for special occasions. Couples married in downtown churches could take a pedicab with "Just Married" decorations to their wedding receptions at the Hyatt or Ritz-Carlton.
Giffen expects to have 20 pedicabs on the streets from 7 a.m. to dusk on weekdays and possibly as late as 2 a.m. on weekends.
The licensed drivers would wear uniforms that may include derbies and bowties.
Upscale businesses such as the Ritz-Carlton and the Whole Foods Market won't welcome pedicabs at their front doors if the service lacks a classy appearance and high standards, Giffen said.
The drivers would be equipped with radios and cell phones, belong to the Neighborhood Watch crime prevention program and be trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Citing Disney World's employment philosophy, Giffen wants the drivers to consider themselves "cast members." He wants to " underemployed actors and others with a knack for entertaining.
"I want the best people I can get in guest relations," Giffen said.
For tourists and locals
The pedicab concept is hardly untested.
San Diego, New York City, San Antonio, New Orleans and other cities have pedicabs, all in traffic-congested downtowns where parking can be a hassle.
Carolyn Walker, licensing supervisor for Key West, said pedicab businesses have come and gone in that island city since the 1970s.
In 1990, Key West started regulating the businesses.
"There was a fear that they were going to proliferate," Walker said.
Although Key West doesn't limit the service to one vendor, it restricts the total number of pedicabs to 20. Currently, those 20 pedicabs are run by five different companies.
Walker said Key West locals rarely use the service.
"It can cost $1.50 a minute here," Walker said. "It's easier to walk. The city has never done a study about who uses the pedicabs, but I think it's mostly tourists going from one bar to another."
Yet Main Street Pedicabs in downtown Denver finds itself catering almost exclusively to locals.
"We don't get a lot of tourists in downtown Denver," said Steve Meyer, who started the company in 1992.
He estimated that his 20 pedicabs carry about 50,000 passengers each year.
Like downtown Sarasota, downtown Denver has undergone significant redevelopment, with many new condo high-rises.
"Pedicabs work here because parking is at a premium," Meyer said. "If your favorite restaurant is six blocks from where you live, you don't have to get in your car to go there."
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May 09. 2005
May 09. 2005
Entrepreneur hails pedicabs
Randy Giffen says tricycle carriages could carry people around downtown Sarasota
By DALE WHITE
SARASOTA -- Ever since he moved into a downtown condo high-rise three years ago, Randy Giffen has been looking at the streets below and visualizing a new mode of public transportation.
Well, not exactly new.
When he worked as an official greeter at Disney World's Boardwalk, a resort reminiscent of Atlantic City in the 1940s, Giffen frequently saw visitors in canopied carriages that they pedaled like bicycles.
That lingering image, coupled with his appreciation for Disney's incorporation of high-quality production values into even its smallest theme park amenities, got Giffen thinking.
His thoughts are now taking shape as the Sarasota Surrey Cab Co.
Giffen wants to introduce "pedicabs" to downtown Sarasota.
The transportation service would be similar to taxis but without the polluting internal combustion engines. Tricycle carriages, with licensed drivers, would carry residents and tourists to and from hotels, condos, theaters and restaurants.
It's an untried idea in a downtown where a county-operated trolley service recently failed to attract enough passengers.
"If it's not done in a proper way, it could be an embarrassment for the city," Giffen said. "It's imperative that it be done right."
Although he's never run a pedicab company before, Giffen thinks he can make a go of it.
Sarasota's city officials and downtown merchants are equally optimistic.
Regulated like taxis
Tony Souza, executive director of the Downtown Partnership of Sarasota, is anxious to see Giffen's business get rolling and believes it will be an asset downtown.
"It will add a special ambience and more excitement to downtown," Souza said.
City officials are anxious to get Giffen moving, after they take some preparatory steps this summer.
"We need to have good regulations to get this going," Sam Freija, the city's traffic engineering manager, told Giffen as he reviewed the proposal last week.
The city needs to add a pedicab section to its vehicle-for-hire ordinance, Freija said. Pedicab drivers would have to be licensed and undergo criminal background checks, just like taxi drivers.
The city may also restrict the pedicabs to streets with speed limits of 25 mph or lower, prohibit them on public sidewalks, and impose safety and quality control requirements.
The city is likely to give Sarasota Surrey Cab an exclusive contract. The monopoly would give Giffen a better chance for success.
The pedicab service could have connections with a water bus service that the city hopes to have on Sarasota Bay. The water buses would enable residents and tourists to get to bayfront destinations such as Mote Marine and the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall without adding traffic to U.S. 41 or the Ringling Bridge.
The combination of water buses and pedicabs attracts passengers daily in Fort Lauderdale.
Jay Alexander of Ocean View Rickshaw said his 20 pedicabs cater to tourists who get off the water buses and need a ride to hotels, restaurants and boutiques farther from Fort Lauderdale's waterfront.
"We try to be part of the overall transportation umbrella for the city," said Alexander, who started his pedicab business in 1997.
Auditioning 'cast members'
Giffen expects fares to start at $2 and increase depending on the distance traveled.
Using a pedicab to get from the Marina Jack restaurant on the bayfront to the Hollywood 20 cinema, for example, could take about nine to 11 minutes and cost perhaps $6, plus a tip for the driver.
Some passengers may consider that pricey for a one-way, one-mile trip.
Yet Giffen is counting on downtown residents and hotel guests who may find the pedicabs more convenient than driving their cars, feeding parking meters or paying for valet parking.
Passengers in the canopied buggies, which can cost about $3,400 each, will be able to listen to satellite radio -- CNBC Market News during the day and romantic music at night.
The pedicabs could be rented for special occasions. Couples married in downtown churches could take a pedicab with "Just Married" decorations to their wedding receptions at the Hyatt or Ritz-Carlton.
Giffen expects to have 20 pedicabs on the streets from 7 a.m. to dusk on weekdays and possibly as late as 2 a.m. on weekends.
The licensed drivers would wear uniforms that may include derbies and bowties.
Upscale businesses such as the Ritz-Carlton and the Whole Foods Market won't welcome pedicabs at their front doors if the service lacks a classy appearance and high standards, Giffen said.
The drivers would be equipped with radios and cell phones, belong to the Neighborhood Watch crime prevention program and be trained in cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
Citing Disney World's employment philosophy, Giffen wants the drivers to consider themselves "cast members." He wants to " underemployed actors and others with a knack for entertaining.
"I want the best people I can get in guest relations," Giffen said.
For tourists and locals
The pedicab concept is hardly untested.
San Diego, New York City, San Antonio, New Orleans and other cities have pedicabs, all in traffic-congested downtowns where parking can be a hassle.
Carolyn Walker, licensing supervisor for Key West, said pedicab businesses have come and gone in that island city since the 1970s.
In 1990, Key West started regulating the businesses.
"There was a fear that they were going to proliferate," Walker said.
Although Key West doesn't limit the service to one vendor, it restricts the total number of pedicabs to 20. Currently, those 20 pedicabs are run by five different companies.
Walker said Key West locals rarely use the service.
"It can cost $1.50 a minute here," Walker said. "It's easier to walk. The city has never done a study about who uses the pedicabs, but I think it's mostly tourists going from one bar to another."
Yet Main Street Pedicabs in downtown Denver finds itself catering almost exclusively to locals.
"We don't get a lot of tourists in downtown Denver," said Steve Meyer, who started the company in 1992.
He estimated that his 20 pedicabs carry about 50,000 passengers each year.
Like downtown Sarasota, downtown Denver has undergone significant redevelopment, with many new condo high-rises.
"Pedicabs work here because parking is at a premium," Meyer said. "If your favorite restaurant is six blocks from where you live, you don't have to get in your car to go there."
http://www.heraldtribune.com/graphics/headers/tanbg-navytab.gif (http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050509/NEWS/505090316/1060)
May 09. 2005