Transport for London has finally unveiled its long-awaited proposals to crack down on the capital’s rogue pedicabs – with overinflated fares, noisy music and dodgy drivers in regulators’ sights.
Drivers will be subject to enhanced criminal record and medical checks under the plans, which are going out to consultation for six weeks from today.
Other proposals include taxi-style regulated fares, with journeys charged by the minute and a set minimum fare, and identification plates for both cab and driver, both of which are currently entirely unregulated.
It will also ban the noisy speakers usually blaring pop music, to the likely relief of millions.
TfL also appears to be mulling over a ban on anything other than ‘appropriate lighting’ – potentially bringing an end to the brightly decorated eyesores that line the West End at the weekends.
In addition, there will also be annual safety checks on brakes, tyres and mechanical parts, as well as assessments of the batteries in electronically assisted pedicabs after videos spread online of pedicabs catching fire.
It is understood that the structural safety of pedicabs has become a more urgent concern after a stolen rickshaw was driven head-on into a bus last month, leaving one person fighting for their life.
City transport leaders say pedicabs are a ‘sustainable and enjoyable’ way to see the capital – but have promised to stamp out the Wild West-esque fares like those exposed in a Mail investigation.
Our reporter was charged £40 to ride 0.3 miles from Leicester Square to Covent Garden earlier this year – and previous accounts of pedicab use suggest drivers rarely stick to their agreed price lists and become aggressive when challenged.
However, the boss of a taxi union says he is still ‘incredulous’ at the notion that rickshaws are inherently safe – and has called for them to be banned outright.
Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association (LTDA), told the Daily Mail he had seen no evidence from TfL that it had assessed their safety.
A crash test carried out by the Transport Research Authority (TRA) 20 years ago showed that pedicabs – which have barely changed in design since – ‘disintegrated’ when struck by a car at 30mph.
The TRA report found that any crash involving a rickshaw and a moving car would ‘likely result in injury to the passengers’.
Mr McNamara told the Mail: ‘How can you license and check a vehicle that the TRA wouldn’t let their staff ride at more than nine miles per hour in, because they said it was inherently unsafe?
‘Surely they aren’t going to license anything they haven’t tested.
‘It takes two years to get approval if you want to change something on a taxi, like a light. But they’re going to license a bicycle frame assembled who knows where in the world, with who knows what kind of welding, and say it’s perfectly safe.’
He cited the recent incident on Charing Cross Road – said to have involved a stolen rickshaw – as evidence pedicabs aren’t safe to be on the roads.
He added: ‘If you ask them, they haven’t got an answer. Charing Cross Road is a prime example. It doesn’t matter if it was stolen. On another day, the bus driver could have had a stroke and veered across the road.
‘TfL are completely and utterly disregarding any safety concerns whatsoever. It’s inconceivable. Incredulous is the word.’
Full details on the exact fares and safety regulations TfL are considering were not available at the time of publication today.
Transport for London says it hopes to introduce the final licensing scheme in ‘early 2026’ following the conclusion of the new survey, and that the regime will be ‘proportionate (and) enforceable’.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: ‘Pedicabs should be a fun and green way to see the sights of our city, but without regulation some drivers are behaving unsafely and anti-socially.
‘That’s why I’ll be pressing ahead with new measures to ensure pedicabs are safe and the industry can continue to thrive in the future.
‘I’ve always been clear that regulation and licensing for the pedicabs industry in London is needed so that we can significantly improve safety, drive-up standards and bring an end to tourists and Londoners being overcharged.’
The proposed scheme is the first major move to regulate pedicabs in the city since they began appearing around 30 years ago.
They have operated lawlessly because of a loophole that defines them not as taxis, but as ‘stage carriages’, under existing laws governing London hackney cabs.
As a result of this quirk in the law, they have to charge per passenger – giving them even greater potential to rip off tourists. But outside of the capital, they fall under regular taxi legislation.
The London Assembly’s transport committee examined them in 2005, when there were just 250 operating.
There are now thought to be almost four times that at the peak of the tourist season, 900, according to parliamentary research.
But the surge in numbers prompted the previous government to float legislation that would grant TfL the power to regulate the industry, as it has now vowed to do.
The new consultation comes three months after TfL said the proposal for a licensing scheme had received near-universal approval from 6,700 members of the public.
Around 75 per cent of Londoners told the earlier consultation that they felt unsafe while riding a pedicab; 85 per cent said they had felt ripped off.
More than a quarter of those consulted called for the trade to be banned altogether.
The Mail has contacted TfL for further comment.
