Over 50 pedicab drivers pedaled through Manhattan on Wednesday to call attention to a new law to regulate the industry. The entourage rode down Broadway to City Hall and blasted the law that is scheduled to take effect Sept. 20. Despite an estimated 500 pedicabs currently operating on the streets, the law would limit the number to 325. In addition, electric-assist pedicabs, which use motors with the strength of a hair dryer, would be banned. Drivers living in Brooklyn, for example, also won’t be able to ride over a bridge to get to work. The City Council passed the law — which pedicabbers say was written by hack lobbyists — over the mayor’s veto. George Bliss, a founder of the pedicab movement, said “politicians can’t keep green transportation from happening.”
