Thursday, Nov. 13, 2003 | 11:18 a.m.
Bill Jones makes an adjustment to his pedicab and pedals onto the Las Vegas Strip where he is swallowed by a sea of evening traffic.
Big buses dwarf him. Cars slide past him. Taxi drivers glower. Cops on bikes size him up. Tourists see a sinewy, long-haired savior, who can quickly wheel them through stopped traffic for a thank you and a tip.
"I go up and down, up and down," exclaims Jones, 38. "I love this job. It rules."
Jones might not be rolling for long. These three-wheelers used to ferry passengers have become a source of consternation for authorities who say a pedicab plague has descended on the bustling Strip.
At a recent public safety meeting, state and local law enforcement officials declared the pedicab swarm illegal and a potential danger to tourists. They intend to force the velocipedes into extinction.
"That's what we're working toward," said Byram Tichenor, enforcement chief for the Nevada Transportation Services Authority, which regulates limousines, tow trucks and tour buses.
"Everybody wants to make sure we don't end up in a pedicab crisis where there are real safety issues," he said.
Las Vegas pedicab entrepreneurs say they provide an important service to tired tourists and are being unfairly targeted. Jim Huff, 29, president of Silver State Pedicabs, said a proposed county ordinance that would exile the pedicabs is wrongheaded.
"Clark County needs to take the time to regulate us rather than simply ban us," said Huff, whose motto is: "We save soles in Sin City."
Pedicabs aren't unique to Las Vegas. Some cities, such as Denver, San Francisco and Santa Barbara, Calif., have embraced the modern-day rickshaws.
Santa Barbara requires pedicab operators to obtain a city permit that allows them to carry passengers. Police do background checks to weed out unsavory types -- pedicab pedophiles for instance -- from getting behind the handlebars.
"We're not trying to hinder business," Santa Barbara police Sgt. Ed Olsen said. "We just want to make sure that we have people we can trust transporting people from one place to another."
In Las Vegas, pedicabs operated for years without much notice. But they have proliferated in recent months, with companies and their wheeled fleets cropping up in record numbers despite police who have handed out scores of citations.
A random survey of drivers revealed at least seven companies with an armada of more than 70 pedicabs.
Steve Osness, 24, who owns and runs Hawaiian Bike Cab, said more are on the way.
"It's getting diluted. It's terrible," Osness said. "They hire anyone and send them out there. Everyone thinks they can start their own pedicab company."
Four companies obtained business licenses in an attempt at legitimacy. They rent their vehicles to people like Bill Jones at a daily or nightly rate.
Drivers work for tips, earning $100, $200 or even $300 during a busy shift trucking people along the five-mile stretch of neon lights. Fares -- illegal in Clark County -- aren't charged.
Most pedicabs display a "not for hire" sign that allows them to skirt the law. AmeriCab's business card says, "Free rides to Fine Hotels, Restaurants, & Gentleman Clubs."
Authorities determined that the "behavior is for hire and illegal," according to a summary of the public safety meeting. "(Police) reported several instances of accidents caused by the pedicabs, intimidation tactics by drivers toward passengers with regard to payment."
Those in the highly regulated and profitable taxi industry also oppose the pedicabs.
"They are a big nuisance," Ron McGee, a supervisor with Nellis Cab Co., said. "They're taking our fares. They're a big-time safety hazard."
Huff, who has been in business for about two years, says his $4,000 pedicabs have single welded-frames and come equipped with rear hydraulic brakes and Porsche-like turning ability. He says his pedicabs won't jackknife, and they have nothing in common with some others, which are trailers hitched to bikes.
Near the Boardwalk hotel-casino, one of Huff's independent contractors, Benny Mailman, 33, picks up three tourists. The men cram into the back of the pedicab and hold on.
Mailman heads north on the Strip, past the towering Aladdin, Paris Las Vegas and Bally's hotel-casinos. Along the way, a cab driver calls him an unseemly name and the smut peddlers stare in amusement.
Mailman navigates the busiest and brightest intersection and delivers his cargo unharmed at the Imperial Palace, directly under the "2 for 1 Drinks" sign.
The three men pile out and dispense an $8 tip.
"I thoroughly enjoyed it," said Jim Price, 56, after his pedicab ride.
"If you really want to see the Strip without walking your butt off, this is the way to go," said Price, who lives near Pittsburgh, Penn. "Give them a lane."
Huff can only hope.
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