NYS approves Fire Island pedicabs' return for summer 2025
Justin Galbraith transports customers with his pedicab in front of the Fire Island Lighthouse. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
The pedicabs will be back at Robert Moses State Park next summer.
The New York State Office of Parks has reviewed the transportation service that runs from Robert Moses Field 5 to the Fire Island Lighthouse and border of Kismet and has decided move forward with a request for proposal process that will be open to all to compete for the rights to operate the business, said George Gorman, Long Island regional director for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
“Our goal is to have the transportation service by May 1,” Gorman said. The request for proposal, which has yet to be put together, will outline the limitations, requirements and number of pedicabs that will be permitted. “It’ll have specific details, which will include hours, dates and equipment,” he said.
Justin Galbraith, 55, of North Babylon, began Fire Island Pedicab with one cab in 2019, using a bicycle pedicab with power assist to carry passengers who don't want to walk to the lighthouse or Kismet. At the height of the business during the summer of 2023, he was running six bright yellow pedicabs — two six-seaters and four three-seaters — daily from Memorial Day through Thanksgiving to transport thousands of riders.
The success of the business caused the state to examine the transportation service this year. Galbraith was limited this past summer to three six-seater pedicabs and instructed to end service on Labor Day instead of Thanksgiving. It cost $5 for a ride to the lighthouse and $10 per person for a ride to Kismet; children under 12 were free.
“It’s great,” Galbraith said of the decision to move forward. “Obviously it’s a needed service and they recognize that. It should never leave the beach.”
Once a business provides a service on state park property that earns more than $25,000 a year, it requires a contract with the state instead of just a permit, which is what Galbraith has had since 2019. Competition must be encouraged before a contract is awarded, according to procurement and contract management requirements from the Office of the New York State Comptroller. A contract also should benefit the people of New York State, requiring some "proper return" in exchange for the use of the state property, Gorman said.
Whoever competes for the contract must meet minimum qualifications and present a financial component, Gorman said. "It's got to be somebody who's got some background in it," he said.
Galbraith said he plans to compete to continue the service he created but said he couldn’t elaborate further until he sees the request for proposal. “I just want to wait for the details,” he said.
Fire Island Pedicab also runs three pedicabs from downtown Bay Shore parking lots to the ferry terminals on Maple Avenue; that service began this summer and is not affected by the Kismet permit situation, Galbraith said.
Beth Whitehouse writes about families, parenting and great things to do with the kids on Long Island. She’s been a Newsday editor and shared a 1997 Newsday staff Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the crash of TWA Flight 800.