I feel your pain

All you pedicab owner-operators, let me just say, "I feel your pain" when it comes to finding insurance.

We've been on the hunt for insurance for our new pedal cab operation, Colorado Rickshaw Company, and it's been UGLY! The options are limited, for sure, and the costs, restrictions and exclusions are all over the map. In recent weeks I've gotten a real education in a subject I didn't want to know that much about.

From what we hear from operators across North America, insurance is the biggest issue they face. Drivers may be the biggest hassle, but overall, the biggest concern is insurance.

There just aren't a lot of options. The coverage offered by some providers is questionable. Unfortunately, in order to operate, a lot of companies buy whatever is cheapest and still meets the requirements. They may think they're covered, but are they really?

I don't claim to be an expert in insurance, and I'm not going to tell you which insurance policy to buy, or which providers are the best. It really depends on your own particular circumstances, how your business is structured, and your tolerance for risk. What I can tell you is that there are significant differences in policies from one provider to the next.

Here are some questions you may want to ask before you plunk down a large chunk of cash:

• Has the insurance you're considering ever paid a claim? If so, what were the circumstances?
  
• If you report an incident, even if it never becomes a claim, are you charged a reporting or research fee?
  
• What is included and what is excluded?
  
• Is the insurance based on claims made or occurences? Either may be okay, but may require different reporting procedures, and the total deductible may change. (For example, if three passengers in an accident each file a claim, the deductible may apply to each passenger rather than the entire incident, thus tripling your out-of-pocket expense.)
  
• If a driver has an incident but doesn't report it, are you covered?
  
• Is there a deductible? If so, do you have enough in reserve to cover it?
  
• Are the drivers covered, or just the passengers? What about damage to the cabs or other property like cars?
  
• If you have a manager, assistant manager, or mechanic, what is their coverage under the policy?
  
• At what point does this insurance take over? Some policies only cover expenses in excess of those covered by motor vehicle or health insurance.
  
• Are the pedal cabs covered for damage, fire or theft? Does that coverage apply to street use, storage, or both?
  
• Is coverage limited to a specific geographical area like a city, county or region? Or can you take your cabs to an event like an airshow or car race outside of your general footprint? Does coverage extend to transport to or from an event?
  
• Is there an age limit for drivers?
  
• If the policy requires a "clean driving record," what does that mean? If someone gets a traffic ticket after they're approved, what happens?
  
• Are there any benefits for having safety equipment like lights and seat belts?
  
• Are there any benefits for having a training & street monitoring program in place?
  
• Do you have the ability to increase or decrease the number of cabs in your fleet?
  
• Is anything else included in the coverage like legal fees, etc.?
  
• Can you review a copy of the policy before you buy?
  
• If you change to a new insurance provider, are you covered by the original provider for incidents that happened while you were insured by them?

Other things to consider when choosing your insurance coverage are:

• Do you have written reporting procedures in place?
  
• Have you put into place any other systems to limit your liability?
  
• What are the driver's responsibilities in an incident?
  
• How well are your cabs maintained, and do you keep records?
  
• If your drivers aren't covered by your business insurance, do they have any other coverage in place like regular or catastrophic health insurance?

It takes time to evaluate your options. Plan to start looking for new insurance 4 to 6 weeks before you actually need it. Since pedicab businesses are still a nontraditional industry and there aren't any actuarial tables yet, brokers often need time to gather all the information required by the underwriters.

Q: What did you do to celebrate Earth Day?

There have been celebrations in cities, large and small, to honor Earth Day. (I wonder how many people drove a car to the event.) As part of the green culture, I'm wondering what, if anything, all you rickshaw drivers/owners/operators did to celebrate Earth Day.

How did you celebrate Earth Day this year?

Is this a one-time thing? Or will you be putting new behaviors (like recycling, switching to energy-efficient lightbulbs, bicycling more) into practice throughout the year?

Q: Owners and Operators, what is your biggest challenge?

Every pedicab operation is different. However, they all have things in common: drivers, rent, insurance, regulations, maintenance, seasonal changes, cash flow, storage, advertising, etc.

In your experience, what is the biggest challenge facing your business? How have you tried to overcome this challenge, and how has it worked? How can others reading the blog help you?

This question is mainly for owners and operators, although anyone is welcome to answer.

10News Investigates Dark Side Of Pedicabs

10News Investigates Dark Side Of Pedicabs - 10News Investigations Story - KGTV San Diego

This story sparked quite a discussion on Rickshaw Forum recently. There's a debate in the industry about whether or not it's legal to have J-1 students as drivers. In our opinion, foreign exchange students on temporary J-1 work visas cannot be independent contractors in business for themselves. They must be employees, and most pedicab operations do not have driver employees. Somehow, some pedicab companies manage to work the system and "hire" J-1s. I'm curious as to how, exactly, they do that. Do you know? Do you think it's legal to have J-1 drivers in your crew?

Q: What makes a "Good Night" of pedicabbing?

When our drivers come in after a long night in the saddle, we often ask them "So, how'd ya do?" It's interesting the variety of answers we get to that simple questions -- all on the same night! One driver will say "Oh man, it really sucked," while another will tell us "Wow! I was rockin' and rollin'!"

So what does it for you? What determines whether you had a good night or a so-so night or a mediocre night or an all-out bad night?

Is it the money? The number of rides you got? The people you met? The fun you had? The adventure you went on? What is it?

Some Solar Something on Valencia

Greener Than Thou: Some Solar Something on Valencia
Monday, February 11, 2008, by Sarah Hromack

Just when I thought those Missionites couldn't get any more out of hand with the D.I.Y. bikes made of copper pipe and melted Vans, I spotted this puppy outside of Community Thrift on Valencia on Saturday. The hipster aboard knew he'd fallen between the crosshairs, and sat there like a deer in headlights as I snapped away from across the street. It looks like a rickshaw had an orgy with a fleet of construction equipment and the PG & E solar installation team. Somebody? Anybody?

What is this? Do you know?

Q: How do you spend your pedicab dollars?

People drive a pedicab for so many different reasons. For some, this is their full-time gig and the money they make goes to pay for expenses like rent, utilities, food, etc. Some are competitive athletes who use the money to support their adrenaline habit, paying for race fees, equipment and trainers. For some drivers, the money they make pedicabbing is just play money; extra money they can use to travel, party or buy new toys. Some look at a pedicab an emergency fund; the money tree they can go to whenever an unexpected expense comes up. Some don't really care so much about the money; just tossing it in a jar and deciding what to do with it later. We're not all motivated by the same things, and don't drive pedicabs for the same reasons. So what's yours?

What do you do with the money you make driving a pedicab?

I realize this may be too personal a question for some and may challenge your comfort zone. That's not my intent. I'm just curious about how pedicabbing fits into your economic scheme.

One More Time

This post appeared on the Pedicab Yahoo Group. Very well written observations by Billy O in Phoenix. We have and still are experiencing some of the same issues in Denver, for now on a smaller scale. We hear about similar situations from other operators across the country.

All of us are judged by each of us.

The whole industry was given yet another black eye over the last couple days in Scottsdale during the Super Bowl parties.

Raiders from San Diego showed up.

I know that not all San Diego riders are like the ones who were most visible out there last night. And I know we have riders here in Phoenix who are just like the San Diego people who so completely and thoughtlessly came in to rape and run at this event.

They say "we just charge what the market will bear". Except the effects of their charging 20 and 40 bucks a head plus tip will linger long after they have left here. And the ripples of gouging go outward from here to affect the entire industry, all cross the country.

They say they have the right to charge 80 bucks for a ride because it cost them so much to get here, and they have to eat, and pay for hotel rooms and gas on top of lease. So its okay to gouge the people attending a major event, because, you know, the people are here to spend money anyway.

Its okay because even after being told that nobody gets to run in Glendale because the City has decided to protect itself from predatory pedicab practices, its okay to go to a nearby city and give yet another city a reason to ban human powered ransportation.

Its okay to crowd the doorways of events, to jam as many rigs as possible as close as possible to the security checkpoints because the cops let it happen.

Its okay to cut in front of lines that have been formed by the people who got there first because the well mannered people with an eye to the future will refuse to start fist fights at the event as a way to enforce fair operational practices.

Its okay to do hit and runs in parking lots and in grid locked traffic cuz you'll be gone in a day and theres no way to get caught when the cops are so busy.

Its okay to do whatever you can get away with because tomorrow never comes.

I know that not all San Diego pedicabbers are like this. Not all of them act like they were trained by the old bike man limo company. And I know that we have people here in the Valley who act like that too. The worst of human nature is not confined to any one geographical area.

All of us are judged by each of us. The true soul riders, the professionals, will be invisible when seen next to the raiders who think the whole world is their own private toilet.

The single biggest threat to the human powered transportation industry is some of the all too human people doing it.

with huge regret and great sadness

sincerely,

Billy O

If you're not already a member of the Yahoo Group, sign up and read the comments. Just go to yahoo.com and search for "pedicab" under groups. Very interesting.

A follow up comment:

the Police and the Property Owners find it much easier to just ban all of us rather than try to take the time to find out who is professional and who is predatory.

Q: Does size really matter?

We've been having this discussion off and on. Does size matter? I mean, is bigger really better? Do bigger pedicabs get you bigger tips? In other words, does having more people in your cab get you more money? Is it really worth it to overload your cab?

Q: Does your pedicab company close for the winter?

Believe it or not, in Denver, Colorado, land of snow and cold, pedicabs operate year-round. In fact, this is a very, very busy time for us. Denver is such a hot sports town that the snowiest weather can't cool us off for long. We just finished up with baseball with our own Colorado Rockies making their first appearance in the World Series. We continue with Bronco football, Avalanche hockey and Nuggets basketball along with several other sports teams and events in the area. Pedicabbing slows down at the beginning of the year, but with the exception of the huge holiday blizzards last winter, never completely shuts down.

What about pedicabs in your area? Will they continue to operate all year? If so, what issues does that create and how do you handle them? If not, why not?

NFL Stadium Barriers

Found this post on Rickshaw Forum and thought I'd post it here to get some feedback from drivers/operators in the U.S. Here in Denver, we just had our first Broncos game of the preseason on Saturday, and things seemed to run pretty smoothly.

The NFL has issued a mandatory security barrier be set up around all stadiums. Here in Green Bay they are about 100 feet from the gates. We have had access the last 13 years, but now they are not letting us into the "zone". Although they do let us onto the lot, and we still have an excellent working relationship with the Packers & Lambeau stadium, having to drop passengers off 100 feet away is somewhat of a downer. Has this hampered any other operators who work NFL stadiums??
-- Gike

Please respond with your experiences so far this season.

Poll: Commuting Methods

The Denver Business Journal Online has a great poll today on various ways people get to work. Take a few seconds and check it out, vote, and leave your comments. Then take a look at the results.

How do you get to work?

Q: What do you do when you've lost your mojo?

Can you help this driver get his mojo back?

A couple weekends ago, we met up with a very frustrated pedicab driver on a busy Friday evening. The last few times he was out he really struggled to get rides while everyone else was rockin' and rollin'. He wanted a discount on his rent because he wasn't doing well.

He'd been pedicabbing off and on for almost a year, but hadn't been out regularly in recent months. Whenever he did ride, he complained about the condition of the cab he was riding, pointing out every little squeek and rattle. When he first started driving he rocked, but it seemed he'd lost his mojo. Some new bills at home and fewer hours at his regular job made him more desparate to make money on his pedicab. It seemed the harder he tried, the fewer rides he got.

What would you do with this driver? What would you tell him? Would you give him a discount? Have you had a similar experience? Can you help him get his mojo back?

I'll tell you what we did later on, but first I want your opinion. Please click on comments below and tell us how you would solve this mojo dilemma.

Q: Whatever gets you through the (summer) night

Summer is officially here, and we just made it through a HOT first weekend of summer here in Denver. There was a lot going on downtown -- A LOT -- which meant there were a bunch of drivers braving the heat. Yeah . . . but it's a dry heat.

I asked this one before in the frigid temps of winter. Now I'm asking again in the sweltering heat of the summer.

What are the items you couldn't do without when you ride in the summer heat?

Is it a particular hat (I hope you're wearing a hat during the day)? Maybe a certain brand of energy drink or sunscreen? Do you have a favorite brand of energy bar that holds up in the heat? What would you recommend to other drivers?

Please add your comments and tell us about your "must haves" that get you through a tough summer shift.

Q: Why did you get into this?

Everyone has days or nights that don't go so well. Maybe you're not feeling up to being on your bike -- no stamina, strength, or just plain blah. Maybe everyone you talk to says no, or you're not getting the fares you want. Maybe it's too hot or too cold.

At times like that it can help to remember why you got into pedicabbing in the first place and what your expectations were then.

Did you want to meet new people, get in shape, be outside? Was it the challenge? What was it that got you interested in pedicabs? What made it fun, exciting, interesting? What got you out time after time? I know it wasn't just the money because there are lots of other ways to make money.

Why did you start driving a pedicab?

Q: What's your favorite energy drink?

Energy drinks like Red Bull and Monster are a pedicabby's best friend -- especially during a long night in the saddle. When the Monster marketing truck or Red Bull sample carts roll by, drivers can be seen chasing them down the street like kids after the ice cream man.

When I go into the gas station, I'm blown away by the number of choices. Personally, I like a a local, but hard-to-find, energy drink called Go Fast. Maybe you prefer coffee or juice, tea or Gatorade.

So this week, I want to know. . .

What's your favorite energy drink, and why?

What gets you going and keeps you going? Any particular flavor you favor? There are so many choices these days, what would you recommend?

Q: Your most interesting passenger?

I know there are lots of stories out there in pedicabland. So now's your chance to share.

Come on... spill! I want details people!

Who has been your most interesting passenger?

Rickshaw movie - wadaya think?

Check out the movie trailer on YouTube. This is being made in Canada by a retired rickshaw runner, not a pedaller. I hear he's looking for funding for this film. Any takers?

WARNING: This film will NOT be rated G.

Q: Impact on others

After reading the comments from last week's question, I wanted to know more about how "the negative actions of a single driver can have an adverse impact upon their fellow drivers and the company as a whole."

So this week's question (actually 2 questions) is . . .

How can the actions of a single driver impact other drivers or the industry as a whole? How do you handle those issues when they arise?

Q: Unwritten Rules

In pedicab world, there are written rules like regulations, traffic laws, etc. But what are the "unwritten rules" that drivers are expected to know? How do you find out what those unwritten rules are? And how do you handle disputes?

That's my question of the week: What are the unwritten rules in your pedicab community?