Trixi.com
23-08-2006, 17:30
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Detroit
Detroit pedicab ready to roll
It will be available downtown
August 23, 2006
BY SUZETTE HACKNEY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
They're popular in cities such as New York, San Francisco and Orlando. Now they're coming to the Motor City.
Downtown Detroit visitors soon will be able to take a load off and ride around in style, all courtesy of Michael Rosemond, who has started the city's first-ever pedicab service. Tourists, game-goers, gamblers and club-hoppers who don't want to walk can hop on Rosemond's bicycle-powered pedicab, also called a rickshaw, for a trip around town for $1 a block. The pedicabs hold two people.
"Seven years ago I had visited San Francisco and took a ride in a pedicab," said Rosemond, 56, a lifelong Detroiter.
"It was great, and I was thinking the whole time how fantastic it could be for Detroit."
After his trip, Rosemond researched what it would take to start a pedicab business and began saving money. He said he has received overwhelming support from city officials. The City Council unanimously adopted an ordinance July 19 to allow for rickshaw operation effective July 28.
Gerald Hudson, an attorney with the city's Law Department, said the language of Detroit's ordinance requires rickshaw operators to have liability insurance before the issuance of business licenses.
The city needs to settle a few details, including processing the application, issuing a vehicle identification plate and completing final inspections, he said.
Rosemond hopes to be tooling around downtown within a month or two.
And he and his 23-year-old son will carry passengers well into the winter months.
http://www.freep.com/graphics/img_masthead_logo.gif (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060823/NEWS01/608230474/1003/NEWS)
Detroit
Detroit pedicab ready to roll
It will be available downtown
August 23, 2006
BY SUZETTE HACKNEY
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
They're popular in cities such as New York, San Francisco and Orlando. Now they're coming to the Motor City.
Downtown Detroit visitors soon will be able to take a load off and ride around in style, all courtesy of Michael Rosemond, who has started the city's first-ever pedicab service. Tourists, game-goers, gamblers and club-hoppers who don't want to walk can hop on Rosemond's bicycle-powered pedicab, also called a rickshaw, for a trip around town for $1 a block. The pedicabs hold two people.
"Seven years ago I had visited San Francisco and took a ride in a pedicab," said Rosemond, 56, a lifelong Detroiter.
"It was great, and I was thinking the whole time how fantastic it could be for Detroit."
After his trip, Rosemond researched what it would take to start a pedicab business and began saving money. He said he has received overwhelming support from city officials. The City Council unanimously adopted an ordinance July 19 to allow for rickshaw operation effective July 28.
Gerald Hudson, an attorney with the city's Law Department, said the language of Detroit's ordinance requires rickshaw operators to have liability insurance before the issuance of business licenses.
The city needs to settle a few details, including processing the application, issuing a vehicle identification plate and completing final inspections, he said.
Rosemond hopes to be tooling around downtown within a month or two.
And he and his 23-year-old son will carry passengers well into the winter months.
http://www.freep.com/graphics/img_masthead_logo.gif (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060823/NEWS01/608230474/1003/NEWS)