New York City - NY pedicab driver allegedly ripped off visitors hundreds of dollars

NBCNews.com Overhead Bin: NY pedicab driver allegedly ripped off visitors hundreds of dollars (http://overheadbin.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/06/13147797-ny-pedicab-driver-allegedly-ripped-off-visitors-hundreds-of-dollars?lite&__utma=238145375.647356262.1344413634.1344413634.1 344413634.1&__utmb=238145375.3.10.1344413634&__utmc=238145375&__utmx=-&__utmz=238145375.1344413634.1.1.utmcsr=(direct)|ut mccn=(direct)|utmcmd=(none)&__utmv=238145375.|8=Earned%20By=msnbc%7Ccover=1^12 =Landing%20Content=Mixed=1^13=Landing%20Hostname=w ww.nbcnews.com=1^30=Visit%20Type%20to%20Content=Ea rned%20to%20Mixed=1&__utmk=68895442)

In my travels to NYC, I've always used the subway, bus, or just walked around in my travels. Even in London I've never bothered.

I did not realize the cost of one of these could be $400 - anyone know what they typical cost is for a pedicab ride/tour? For 10 minutes seems insane. Heck, it's usually only $45 or so to get from Manhattan to JFK!

The article's advice to take note of rate signs and get a receipt is useful advice in trying to stretch vacation dollars. I also suggest directly asking the driver how much the cost is before committing.

The concern comes after two families from Texas and Maryland said a pedicab driver recently asked them to pay more than $400 for 10-minute trips, surprising them with outlandish prices that were printed in tiny letters on his rate card and adding hidden charges at the end of the rides, according to the New York Post. It would have been cheaper to fly by helicopter, the newspaper noted.

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MODERATOR NOTE

The original NY Post article cited in the NBC article above can be found here:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/taken_for_ride_vmO9UZAe1P2HngISd8kQkJ?utm_source=S Fnewyorkpost&utm_medium=SFnewyorkpost

dstan
NYC Forum Moderator

NBCNews.com Overhead Bin: NY pedicab driver allegedly ripped off visitors hundreds of dollars (http://overheadbin.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/06/13147797-ny-pedicab-driver-allegedly-ripped-off-visitors-hundreds-of-dollars?lite&__utma=238145375.647356262.1344413634.1344413634.1 344413634.1&__utmb=238145375.3.10.1344413634&__utmc=238145375&__utmx=-&__utmz=238145375.1344413634.1.1.utmcsr=(direct)|ut mccn=(direct)|utmcmd=(none)&__utmv=238145375.|8=Earned%20By=msnbc%7Ccover=1^12 =Landing%20Content=Mixed=1^13=Landing%20Hostname=w ww.nbcnews.com=1^30=Visit%20Type%20to%20Content=Ea rned%20to%20Mixed=1&__utmk=68895442)

In my travels to NYC, I've always used the subway, bus, or just walked around in my travels. Even in London I've never bothered.

I did not realize the cost of one of these could be $400 - anyone know what they typical cost is for a pedicab ride/tour? For 10 minutes seems insane. Heck, it's usually only $45 or so to get from Manhattan to JFK!

The article's advice to take note of rate signs and get a receipt is useful advice in trying to stretch vacation dollars. I also suggest directly asking the driver how much the cost is before committing.

I find those things annoying. It would do some of those riders good to get out and walk instead for the exercise.

I would have just walked away.. good luck calling the cops :D

I would have just walked away.. good luck calling the cops :D

Same.

Pedicabs should be illegal. Take them out (or restrict them to the park), take the stupid horses out, and stop trying to turn New York into something it is not.

Don't get me started on the bicycle lanes and, even more offensively, the turning lanes (with arrows) and the crosswalk signals not timed with the lights.

I did not realize the cost of one of these could be $400 - anyone know what they typical cost is for a pedicab ride/tour? For 10 minutes seems insane. Heck, it's usually only $45 or so to get from Manhattan to JFK!

I've seen the rates posted on the sides of the pedicabs in Central Park, and they are fairly steep - a few $ per block. The article says they are allowed to set their own rates, but at least in CP, they all seemed to have the same rates.

I think they're annoying, too, especially when they take people up Cat Hill on Central Park Drive and then return to the 72nd St. entrance via the pedestrian pathways. :td:

Pedicabs should be illegal.

Agreed.

. . .take the stupid horses out, and stop trying to turn New York into something it is not.

The horses were here before all of us. Nothing wrong with the horses although I would confine them to inside the park.

Don't get me started on the bicycle lanes and, even more offensively, the turning lanes (with arrows) and the crosswalk signals not timed with the lights.

The only thing bad about Weiner being out of politics was his claim that if elected mayor he would rip out most of the bike lanes.

I read about this. Apparently, these cyclists can price what they like. Read the small print. Those things are incredibly unsafe. My only experience in one was during my bachelorette party. My maid of honor arranged for all of us to go via pedicabs from a midtown comedy club to a West Village piano bar. I assume she read the pricing small print. :p

I agreed it's a rip-off. I wouldn't ride it either.
But I think they are really meant for the famous and super-rich. That's one of the reasons why they are concentrated in the South Central Park, between 5th and 6th Ave, where the most expensive hotels are located, and where most of the rich live.

He could be in trouble, however, for taking four people in his cab. Only three are allowed.

All that and this is the only thing he could be in trouble for? A sign that laws need to be passed or amended.

I agreed it's a rip-off. I wouldn't ride it either.
But I think they are really meant for the famous and super-rich.Not at all. These cyclists look for business from anybody on the street especially in the evening after theatre lets out and at nearby bus stops.

But I think they are really meant for the famous and super-rich.

Huh? Pedicabs are targeted at middle class tourists, not the famous or super-rich.

Most famous and super-rich people have a car (with tinted windows) and driver waiting to take them where they want quickly and discreetly. They're not going to ride on the back of a slow tricycle breathing some sweaty guy's B.O. for all the world to see.

The pedicabs cluster on Central Park South (particularly at Columbus Circle) not because of the high-end hotels, but because the one thing they ARE good for is a tour of Central Park.

the one thing they ARE good for is a tour of Central Park.

Not even! They're limited to the roadway, so can only point at sites in the distance. And that's only if they actually know the landmarks, they seem to make stuff up as they go along. The most obvious is that they always tell tourists that the Cherry Hill fountain is the one from "Friends."

I miss the old, pre-commercial Central Park. You could sit on a bench and listen to birds instead of vendors hawking tourist tat, and you could stroll along without being solicited every few minutes by "tour guide" pedicabs. I can't bear the park on weekends any more.

I miss the old, pre-commercial Central Park. You could sit on a bench and listen to birds instead of vendors hawking tourist tat, and you could stroll along without being solicited every few minutes by "tour guide" pedicabs. I can't bear the park on weekends any more.

I think you just need to go a little farther uptown. Most of the time I spend in Central Park is in the 80s on the west side on weekends, and it's quite pleasant.

That's one of the reasons why they are concentrated in the South Central Park, between 5th and 6th Ave, where the most expensive hotels are located, and where most of the rich live.

It's Central Park South not South Central Park. As to where "most of the rich live" while there are some extremely expensive apartments (not hotel rooms) at both 1 CPS, most (meaning the majority) of the "rich" of New York City do not live there.

I think you just need to go a little farther uptown. Most of the time I spend in Central Park is in the 80s on the west side on weekends, and it's quite pleasant.

You're right, themicah, it is more pleasant uptown. In fact, I live uptown and am more frequently in those less crowded areas. (Shhhhh....don't tell everyone!) But I do miss sitting under the elm trees along The Mall. It's hard to find a spot on the benches now, as so many are used to display vendors' wares. Shame it's so commercial now.

I also used to enjoy the little garden by the outside bar at the Boathouse, it was a pleasant spot to have a glass of wine or a cocktail and watch the world go by. Now the pedicabs line up there, ringing their bells and soliciting rides.

(I'm feeling curmudgeony today.)

Not at all. These cyclists look for business from anybody on the street especially in the evening after theatre lets out and at nearby bus stops.

Huh? Pedicabs are targeted at middle class tourists, not the famous or super-rich.

Agreed, those things are total tourist traps.

It's Central Park South not South Central Park and there is exactly one hotel there, the Plaza

:confused: The Jumeirah Essex House, Helmsley Park Lane and Ritz-Carlton all have proper CPS addresses (unlike the Plaza). And the Sherry-Netherland, Pierre, Mandarin Oriental and Trump International are all right there.

:confused: The Jumeirah Essex House, Helmsley Park Lane and Ritz-Carlton all have proper CPS addresses (unlike the Plaza). And the Sherry-Netherland, Pierre, Mandarin Oriental and Trump International are all right there.

You're absolutely correct in the first sentence. I shouldn't write FT messages while working. :) But none of the hotels you named in the second sentence has a CPS address.

My one "bad thing" about my trips to NYC over the last two years was getting literally and figuratively taken for a ride by one of these pedicab drives in Central Park.

It was October 2010, a sunny but cool day and I wasn't feeling well having come down with a cold soon after arriving. My husband and I had been strolling in the park and one of these drivers approached us and would not leave us alone. He was friendly and nice but so pushy. I kept saying no (I'm the "mean" one out of the two of us) but my husband caved and I felt unwell so I didn't put my foot down.

We were charged just over $100 plus involuntary gratuity for about 20 mins riding and hearing how this guy wanted to be an actor blah blah blah and rode us far too fast down hills and things. We saw about three sights and we'd seen them in our strolls anyway, except for the dog statue, which we only saw from a distance anyway!

Never again! I love NYC and we are going back at the end of Sept for our third visit in three years and this experience is the only thing that gives me a bad feeling when I think about our visits there.