Pedicab drivers are out of control and are terrorizing tourists and locals in Manhattan, taking over several stretches of streets in the Big Apple, harassing pedestrians and even sexually assaulting their clients, reported the New York Post.
In recent years, driver misbehavior has become more erratic and anarchic, from playing loud music and charging excessively high prices to fighting with customers and launching cartel-style attacks on competitors.
Their recklessness is reflected in an increase in criminal citations linked to pedicabs in 2024, with authorities issuing 1,493 violations through June 30, an increase of 51.5% compared to the 985 written in the same period last year, according to data from the New York Police Department (NYPD).
Customer complaints have also been on the rise by 56.7%, with 34 reports as of August 12, compared to just 60 reports recorded in the same period in 2023, according to data from 311.
“They are like piranhas who are just trying to get paid and take advantage of tourists, guests and children,” said Ralph Mendez, a doorman at the Sheraton Hotel on Seventh Avenue near Times Square.
“They are nice because they want something,” he added. “As soon as you tell them you don’t want it, they turn against you.”
One night at a Midtown club turned into a nightmare for two Upper East Side women who encountered one such thug, who harassed them into accepting a “free ride” home until they had to agree.
As soon as they got into the rickshaw, the driver went to the back seat and started groping them, and threw them out when they both resisted, one of the terrified victims explained.
“It felt like he was put in the right place at the right time” to be a predator, said one of the victims, a 22-year-old woman who reported the Aug. 4 incident to police.
“It was very convenient for him to be outside a club at 3:30 in the morning offering to take home girls who had been drinking. I got the impression that he does this on a regular basis.”
She continued: “I felt like I had been duped, which is the worst feeling… I was shocked that it happened, but I feel like it was my fault because I was stupid and naive,” The New York Post reported.
This is just one of many examples of a disturbing pattern of chaos that pedicabs are causing in the Big Apple, including:
- In May, a half-dozen bicyclists surrounded a horse-drawn carriage driver after he asked one of them not to wash his bike in a fountain where horses normally drink in Central Park, according to the driver and the NYPD. The driver allegedly attacked the 51-year-old carriage driver.
- Another pedicab driver beat three passengers over their fare in June near the Empire State Building, according to video footage.
- On August 12, near Central Park, a foul-mouthed horse-drawn carriage driver was caught on security camera calling horse-drawn carriage rider Jill Adamski a “dirty bitch” and an “Irish whore.” The vicious man is then seen raising his hand and threatening to hit another man who was filming the altercation.
“They think this is a third world country, that the law doesn’t work here, that we can do whatever we want,” Yalcin said. “They feel like big gangsters here.”
Drivers, who decorate their vehicles with flashy items such as fairy lights, stuffed animals and speakers blasting pop music at unreasonable volume, frequently target tourists looking to film their trips and post them on social media.
Travel on this mode of transport is one of the most expensive tourist traps in the city, with taxis ripping off unsuspecting customers with high (albeit legal) fares, which are usually posted on small fare cards and in some cases can cost up to $25 per minute for a ride.
“If there are guests staying here, I tell them, ‘Ask them the price’ before they come in. Then the drivers give me dirty looks,” said Mendez, the doorman at the Sheraton Hotel, recalling a dejected guest who was shocked to learn that a pedicab ride from 34th Street had cost her $140.
At the Hilton Hotel near West 54th Street and Sixth Avenue, a doorman estimated that about 15 pedicabs loiter in front of the building daily, engaging in “musical battles” on their loudspeakers and urging passersby to buy a ride.
“With tourists and guests, they are constantly trying to get your attention,” the doorman said. “They are yelling and doing all kinds of things.”
The drivers, who are mostly from Central Asian countries such as Tajikistan and Uzebekistan, use mob-like tactics to scare off competitors or even anyone suspected of trespassing on their territory.
“If they feel you are not allowed to work on their corner, they puncture your tires, they attack people, they beat them up,” said a 53-year-old cyclist, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals.
“They are running around the corners like they own them,” he said.
The problem has been exacerbated by the post-pandemic explosion of fake Department of Consumer and Worker Protection licenses and registration plates, which are required to operate legally in the Big Apple, industry sources said.
One fleet operator estimated that 60% of bicycle taxi drivers, or about 1,500 unauthorized drivers, are operating with fake licenses.
“If there is no accountability, then things will be different,” said the 46-year-old fleet operator, explaining that the authorities’ lax enforcement of fraudulent documentation has fuelled dishonest behaviour.
Continue reading:
- California tourist seriously injured after falling from pedicab while taking photos in New York’s Times Square
- Teenagers stab two rickshaw drivers in New York’s Times Square
- Three men rob a young taxi driver at knifepoint in Brooklyn