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Pedal Power Downtown

Sailor

By Sailor
in Grand Rapids

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MAU Whistle-Stop

MAU

Posted
Posted

They at least need more bling like the ones i rode around in in the Philippines...

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While still a big fan of the pedal bikes for the downtown area, this is what I'd really like to see. On a recent trip to Thailand, these tuk-tuks (auto rickshaws) were the primary mode of transportation as it was able to keep up with traffic, and most instances got around stationary traffic. I attribute part of that to the driving ability of any culture outside of the US. But unlike pedal rickshaws, it never impeded the flow of traffic. I don't want call the pedal taxi's a novelty, but...

Not only would these work for downtown, but they could be economically used within a 5 mile radius of downtown. And fares were cheap, typically about $.80 cents to go 2 miles or more. The fares are negotiated ahead of time, unlike the standard taxi's there.

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Veloise City

Veloise

Posted
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There are now TWO pedicab services plying the DT streets. Tony's version is all black (sorry, buddy, so are the pics). Here's the other one:

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Had trouble catching up to the pilot. He said he's a mountain bike racer.

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Competition is a good thing, but perhaps two providers saturates the market. Time to branch out:

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[i might be in the wrong line of business]

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AlexPKeaton Burg

AlexPKeaton

Posted
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Yup, that's the Mark I was thinking of. He's really fast.

I mentioned in another thread that I was doing a 24 hour mountain bike race with some friends. Well, Mark wasn't in it this year, but in a previous year he did something like 33 laps to our 26. We were a 4-man team, he was solo. Legend has it that his race diet consisted of cheez whiz, chicken wings, and beer.

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Allison Slater Town

Allison Slater

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The feature film of the March Bicycle Film Festival (http://mmba.org/western/wordpress/?p=168) was a movie called 24 Solo. I believe he finished 4th at the 2006 World Championships (mountain biking) featured in that film. A quick look at the results on the website (http://www.24hoursofadrenalin.com/twenty4/index.cfm?fuseaction=dsp_allRaceResults&eventContentID=955d258c-7e90-e2a3-beb8-3d3db6c8d7b9) shows that he has finished 3-6th in the World 24 Hour Solo Championships since they started in 2001.

He's in the trailer for 24 Solo at about the 1:25 mark here:

It's cool to see that he's piloting a bike taxi. I bet he can power that thing up the hills pretty decently. :)

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Veloise City

Veloise

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Might have been a little race tonight, up Monroe, then Fulton. The two companies may have been fully fared (two passengers) and it's possible that they were clocked at 11.5 mph by an impartial ref. (I'm equivocating because it's probably illegal to drag race --anything-- on a city street.)

Green's driver is dressed like Uncle Sam for the holiday.

We really need pedal-powered pizza and ice cream DT.

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Veloise City

Veloise

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Posted

Pics from the fireworks; the pedicabs really added a lot to the festive atmosphere. Rather than collecting fares from parking lots, it seemed that most passengers were killing time (the boom booms started at 10:30 pm) and buying joyrides.

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Four units from Elite, plus the one from Green (dressed as Uncle Sam).

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Elite had been in a parade, and "we didn't have time to take the stuff off." Why on earth would you?

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Hung out on this corner for probably an hour, and got only one shot of Tony. (This looks frightfully dangerous, but if you ride in traffic, you should make a left turn from the designated lane.)

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Green and the Kent mounted unit.

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Craigslist presently shows a side-by-side tandem (put those fares to work!) and a rear-driven Thai pedicab for sale.

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Allison Slater Town

Allison Slater

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In the times I do not use the correct to perform an actin, it's because the passengers have suddenly changed their mind about where they wish to go (not uncommon at all that day) but I always make certain traffic is clear for me to make such maneouvers.

As for the decoration, there was concern of it falling off and littering the streets, but there was little time to remove it, so it was up to each cab driver to decide if they wanted to use their time to remove it or to keep it on. All of the drivers decided to keep it on to be festive, and the flags were re-secured before heading out.

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