San Diego City Council adopts stricter pedicab regulations

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — From Seaport Village and Little Italy to the Gaslamp Quarter, visitors cannot escape the call of a pedicab, but some residents feel like they are ripping people off.

“These tourists, they think they’re just going to get a fun little ride and then it turns out it’s like 100 dollars,” said Wally Gallo, who works at a store in Seaport Village.

“That should be upfront, and they should stay with whatever they tell them,” said Kristen Jensen, a San Diego resident. But that’s often not the case.

“We are going to require that prices be posted on both sides of the pedicab, and we are going to require that the prices be agreed upon in advance,” said District 3 City Councilmember Stephen Whitburn.

On Monday, City Council voted unanimously to pass amendments to the city code that will regulate speakers in pedicabs and require drivers to clearly display their license and fare.

“Not only will the amplified music be prohibited, but they won’t be allowed to have speakers on the pedicabs at all,” said Whitburn.

Matt Williams has been driving pedicabs in downtown San Diego for 25 years, but he says the drivers who have spurred complaints ruin it for everyone.

“It gives us all a bad name, you know. It makes us all look bad,” said Williams.

He supports stricter regulations and says it’s in the best interest of the community.

“It’s definitely a good thing because, especially for nighttime, it will prevent more people from getting ripped off and stuff,” added Williams.

Other pedicab drivers are against stricter regulations, arguing it would be harmful to the industry to ban music.

“If the music [is] banned, actually we’re going to lose like 70%, not 50 percent of the business,” said Sam, a public commenter.

Whitburn says the new laws will likely go into effect by the end of the year.

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