‘Green’ Taxi Service
The evening was to be a launch, of sorts. The Durham Bulls were opening an eight-game home stand June 14. What better way to promote the wind-in-your-face fun of a pedicab ride than offering free pregame rides from the parking lot to the ballpark?
“A limited audience, I guess, ” Dana Di Maio said as he sat on his dark blue pedicab after the game started. “I took three rides total … no, four.”
Di Maio is the part-time pedicab coordinator for Greenway Transit, part of a Durham nonprofit pushing a variety of “green” initiatives ranging from its fleet of biodiesel buses and vans to biofuels to Third World fair trade.
He needs at least four drivers to commit to pedaling four weeks or more. One compensation model would have the driver rent the pedicab for $30 for a four-hour evening and pocket fees and tips.
The fee scale has the first 10 minutes costing $5 for one rider, $7 for two and $11 for three. Everything over 10 minutes is $1 per minute. An hour costs $55.
The focus of Di Maio’s strategizing is two $4,500 tricycles with padded benches (two- and three-seaters) over the two rear wheels and an awning (no fringe). From his perch in front, the driver grinds through 21 gears and flicks lighted turn signals. The body is fiberglass. The frame is aluminum. The whole ensemble is 80 pounds on balloon tires and is so tight and light it almost hums along the street.
The two pedicabs and insurance were purchased through a $13,000 grant this spring from John Sall, co-founder of SAS Institute.
Photo by John Rottet.
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