NYC pedicabs and Broadway: Bill would restrict drivers from being near theaters

You'd have to give your regards to Broadway another way.

Tell all the gang at 42nd Street that passengers would lose the opportunity to grab a pedicab ride or get dropped off at a Broadway theater in the heart of Times Square, under a new bill proposed by Manhattan lawmakers.

The bill, introduced May 1 before the New York City Council, would ban pedicab drivers from stopping, picking up or dropping off passengers within 50 feet of theaters in Manhattan’s Theater District: roughly bounded by West 50th Street, Sixth Avenue, West 40th Street and Eighth Avenue, including Broadway.

Council members Keith Powers and Erik Bottcher — both Democrats who represent Manhattan’s East Side, Midtown, Times Square and Hell’s Kitchen, among other neighborhoods — introduced the bill, which restricts pedicabs, some of whose drivers park outside Broadway shows and blast music soliciting business. Neon-flashing and music-thumping, these tricycles with attached, enclosed passenger seats, have taken on new significance as tourists cruise the streets making social media posts.

Pedicabs first came to New York in 1994, Newsday reported.

City law already bars pedicab drivers — who must be specifically licensed by the city — from taking more than three passengers and from driving on bridges, or in tunnels and bike lanes. The NYPD has cracked down on pedicabs in recent years, seizing nearly 80 of them in 2023 and issuing 100 summonses.

“Pedicabs can be fun but they need to be licensed and follow the rules,” Bottcher wrote in a social media post at the time. “They’ve been out of control recently.”

On Monday, Powers told Newsday via text that his office has gotten "numerous complaints" from theatergoers about disruptive pedicabs.

"New Yorkers want to go see a Broadway show without the nuisance of pedicabs blasting music outside during the show," he said.

Makan Camara of the New York Pedicab Alliance, which represents over 200 drivers, said while he understands that some drivers blast loud music and pose an annoyance, his members oppose that behavior and want to work with the city to reach a compromise. But he believes that restricting where pedicab drivers are allowed to pick up passengers isn't the right move.

"There are good guys driving, and they have to pick up the people in the hotel and stuff like that," Camara, who said he has been driving a pedicab for over 16 years.

Camara, whose passengers are mostly in the Times Square and Central Park areas, said the alliance was to hold a meeting Monday evening where the legislation was on the agenda.

He said he is disappointed that the lawmakers didn't reach out to the industry before introducing the legislation. Powers told Newsday that the legislation was just introduced "and now begins the process of engaging with all stakeholders."

Zachary Nosanchuk, a spokesman for Mayor Eric Adams, said the administration is reviewing the legislation.