Street pedalers
Except for the passenger Matt Tosi ran over, it’s been pretty smooth pedaling since his pedicab company opened for business. “The man wasn’t hurt,” Tosi insists, “but he kept promising to give me a really big tip.” Coeur d’Alene Pedicab was started this summer by Tosi, formerly of Bend, Ore., and Bill Dodd, who hails from an unnamed state just north of the Mexican border. The friends are both full-time firefighters with the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department.
The company’s two pedicabs – a bench seat on wheels drawn by a driver pedaling a bicycle – are outfitted for both street and sidewalk. Dodd and Tosi got permission to use the city streets from the City Council, the OK to use the bike trail from the Centennial Trail Foundation, insurance to cover the cabs and passengers, but most importantly, color coordination from their personal fashion consultant, Mayor Sandi Bloem.
“We were tempted by some new color choices, but Mayor Bloem advised us to stick with the red and black,” says Dodd.
Decked out in bright red caps and T-shirts with the company logo, Tosi and Dodd started out as the only drivers, but now have eight other pedalers who, after passing a short training course, sign up for the various shifts throughout the week. Thursday through Saturday nights and the weekend days are the busiest, with locals comprising the majority of passengers at night, and tourists during the day.
There’s no set fare; the drivers rent the cabs as subcontractors and work for tips only.
The man Tosi ran over proved to be a big tipper.
“I turned around, and just as I realized that the man had been dragging his foot against the tire to hinder me, he fell out onto the sidewalk, and I ran over him,” Tosi recalls. “After a scolding by his girlfriend, he ended up apologizing and giving me an $80 tip!”
The two red and black cabs, embellished with the artwork of fellow firefighter Mandy Jacques, add to the character of Coeur d’Alene.
“We’re basically a concierge, letting our customers know about services, specials, music, etc.,” Dodd says. “We offer our customers guidebooks that list all the goings-on in the area, and we plan to install little TVs on the frame behind the driver’s seat that will showcase the companies that advertise with us.”
The cabs operate in the downtown area, roughly from the lake to Harrison Avenue, and also make runs to Riverstone and east around the lake along the Centennial Trail. They offer set tours with complimentary coffee drinks from Cafe Doma along the Dike road and through the North Idaho College campus, and also around Sanders Beach. Charters by the hour are also available. Mountainview Cyclery and Fitness performs all major maintenance on the two cabs, which weigh 160 pounds each and can handle a payload of approximately 400 pounds.
“We’ve found the flattest ways to get just about everywhere,” says Tosi.
Run entirely on human power, pedicabs offer a safe, ecological, friendly service to a community. Most large cities in the United States have fleets of pedicabs in operation. In San Diego, there are approximately 120 cabs on the streets at any given time, and in Denver they’re used widely to convey fans to and from sporting events.
Here in Coeur d’Alene, the drivers have good relationships with the bouncers in many downtown drinking establishments, and offer a safe alternative to folks who shouldn’t be driving home.
“We don’t compete with the motorized cab companies,” says Dodd. “In fact, we send them business.”
Asked if they’d consider giving up their day jobs if the pedicab business really took off, both answered, in unison, “No! Never!” Dodd adds, “It’d be fun to be able to tell the guys at the firehall that we fight fires only for supplementary income, though.”