How to Charge for a ride

[Greg]

I have heard this question asked over and over and always is biggest question on the minds of new drivers and operators starting a new pedal powered people transport business.

I would say that every situation is unique and has to be determined by where you will be operating. In the restaurant and bar area we use the tip method with limit on range. So everything in the general area is considered a courtesy ride.

"Tips are Appreciated" and the skilled driver will let the client know the range of a normal tip. Outside we can give them a rate before we start.

The key is for all the riders to be consistant for the clients sake. People will know what to expect and will just climb on to get to their destination with out worry of getting gouged.

Overcharging will kill the local market and make people never ride again ever anywhere. Rates to high will cause pedicabs to be labeled as trasportation for "tourists who don't know any better" only. Not a good business model for a operator who is in it for the long term.

Event can have rates set any all the drivers charge the same. IE from the stadium to the train is 10$. People know and plan to take a ride as part of the cost of the event and some tip on top of that.

These ways of charging are something that has to be consistant and known or the cliet market will die and all that left will be the tourists.

When lots of now operators come in and charge all over the map in rates depending on unknown factors (the moon is full or the driver is tired) the pedicabs get a bad reputation and locals stop taking rides.

Please comment on how you operate and your experience.

[Greg]

Forgot to mention there is also a rate we set for hourly with tours and pre set events.

I would love to hear about other operations and how they charge!!

[rickshaw92]

In T.O. we charge anywhere from CAD 3$ to CAD 5$ per block per person. A block is a street intersecting on the right as you go although for the longest time every street counted and some were counted twice.
In London we opperate as stage coaches and fares are supposed to be agreed up front, weather this is practiced by everyone out there is anyones guess.

[Gike]

We will always give a rate for the ride, whether it be $$ or tip. The funny thing is sometimes I set the rate, and they double it or more?? This happens a lot when multiple fare are negotiating for the priviledge to ride with us.

[Yendrek3]

Can you simply tell if is a great game or not without you becoming a member? The answer to that would be, NO! Well you can make a few predictions about and see the moral of the game when being a regular user and not a member but becoming a member brings a whole lot of additions to XXXXXX that you would never see if you were not a member. Being a member of has so many benefits and I will try to list them all here for you. XXXXXX tells you them, but I'm going to detail it a few features for you here.

whats is it about

[Ken Cameron]

he is link farming. It increases google search results. some one kill his membership.

[Trixi.com]

KevinFlys - user banned - postings deleted - links in quoted postings deleted - by admin.

Happy weekend.

[RIKXO_PT]

Ok. Supose i'm the manager, i've a fleet and i want to know exactly how many trips were made and how long took each one. How I control that?

[tdayuk]

Ok. Supose i'm the manager, i've a fleet and i want to know exactly how many trips were made and how long took each one. How I control that?

We have been looking at an option to fit GPS to our fleet, which will allow them to be tracked with a 2nd little gismo, this could be used to keep a tab on what the bikes are doing. It also means it will be easy to find them if they get stolen.

It's not cheap but maybe worth it if you only have one or two in your fleet.

[Cycleric]

In my year and a half of pedi-cabbing, I have always told customers that I ride them where they want for tips, whatever they are willing to give. Bear in mind that I'm the single pedicab driver in a hilly college town of 23,000 people. I'm trying to promote a new type of transportation, so I try to make it as easy as possible for the customers. I say, "pay whatever you want." "tips can be monetary or otherwise." This approach can have very interesting results. I've had tips given to me in food, beer, marijuana, gum, chapstick, kisses, even passes to the Cincinnati Zoo.

Yeah, I get shafted sometimes but the overly gratuitous tippers more than make up the loss. Usually when someone boards the cab but soon realizes they can't pay as much as they feel they should, I give them my card and just tell them to call me the next time they need to get home, and then I have a new regular who'll be generous the next time. On my best/worst fare, depending how you look at it, I was tipped $64 for taking a vomiting girl and her two male companions to their dorm. When I average out my income over the hours that I work, it tends to be anywhere from $8/hr to $25/hr, but usually around $15/hr.

I plan to build more sidecar pedicabs and rent or sell them to drivers, who hopefully will follow this example in order to stay in good favor with the students and residents.