Trips into Central London are best avoided for a variety of reasons. For one, the tourists: everywhere, cluttering up the pavements in their excitement, as I stride past, dour London expression firmly fixed in place. For another: pedicabs.
You know the ones. Bicycles, attached to a sort of tiny seated carriage, which in turn is often upholstered in gaudy pink velvet, adorned with fairy lights or simply bedecked with British flags. Oh, yes – and of course, there’s garish Europop blasting out of hidden speakers.
A ride on one sounds like anybody’s worst nightmare, and yet, it’s impossible to move in Covent Garden, Piccadilly Circus or indeed any tourist hotspot without encountering fleets of the things. Parked by the side of the road, they’re either lurking and ready to spring or ferrying around a family that looks both vaguely baffled and alarmed.
Locals, of course, know to steer well clear of pedicabs (if only for the sake of their own personal dignity; nobody’s living that down). Tourists, unfortunately, aren’t so lucky – which is why TfL’s proposal to regulate pedicabs sounds like wholly welcome news.
TfL is weighing up background security checks for drivers, stipulations that they speak English, and also how fares work. As my colleague Ross Lydall explains this is about “whether pedicab drivers can continue to set their own fares or must abide by a TfL-approved set of charges that could be based on the time of day, distance travelled and / or Tube-style ‘zones’”.
Yes, pedicab fleecing is a real thing for those unlucky enough to hop in. Some of the details that emerged during the passage of the Pedicabs (London) Act 2024 last year were shocking. Many have been charged hundreds of pounds for essentially a quick jaunt. One poor family’s seven-minute trip set them back £450; another individual was charged £500 for a ten minute trip between Mayfair and Soho.
During peak season, it’s been estimated that there are around 900 pedicabs circling the city centre: that’s an awful lot of tourists getting fleeced. And yes, I know that it’s not all pedicabs, but there’s clearly a problem here, as well as a lack of oversight.
Oh right. And that’s before we discuss safety (dire, these are essentially metal boxes on wheels) and traffic problems: unsurprisingly, there have been many reports of pedicabs parking in bus lanes. Or going the wrong way down a wrong way street. Or, simply, driving dangerously.
It’s an unregulated Wild West out there right now, and we’re all paying the price. The sooner this consultation delivers change the better. I dream of Europop-free streets. Pedicabs are a neon-decked blight on central London; the sooner they’re gone, the better.
Vicky Jessop is a culture and lifestyle writer
