If the jitney bus service ends, could pedicabs serve as an at least partial alternative for Metuchen? After all, you’ll find them in Manhattan, San Francisco, and the Atlantic City boardwalk.

Don’t laugh… they could very well be coming to the borough soon.

“A couple of residents approached me, saying they are intending to form a limited liability corporation,” said councilman William Waldron at the Sept. 21 Borough Council meeting. “They intend to operate pedicabs in and around town. You see them a lot in Central Park, and they are a lot like a rickshaw with a bicycle in front. Their intent is to transport people to and from the train station, maybe around town on a Saturday afternoon, and maybe even from [Hailey's Harp and Pub] after hours.”

Waldron did not name the party that is interested in operating the pedicabs. However, he did say that the number of cabs would be “no more than five.”

“They have done some initial due diligence,” he said. “They have spoken to the police and looked at our ordinances. There is nothing from a police or traffic perspective that prohibits them from operating on our roads as they exist.”

Councilman Richard Dyas referred to the possibility of a pedicab service as “an excellent idea” but called on the council to “investigate it further.”

“Cabs are licensed pretty much wherever they go, and these people would be transporting the public, so there has to be some kind of insurance and things that have to be in place,” Dyas said. “It is not a bad idea, but we should make sure if it is licensed by the state now or if it is up to local licensing.”

Currently, a taxi cab service that operates in the borough must register with Borough Hall. However, according to Waldron, there is no municipal ordinance or state law that prohibits or even regulates the operation of pedicabs. As a result, the council agreed to re-examine the borough’s current taxi cab ordinance to see if they need to revise the definition of what constitutes a taxi cab service.

“Rather than just open up shop and seeing these things appearing, the concern is to do it right,” Waldron said. “It may be best to consider whether we want to take some type of action to have something in our code to address this, perhaps even license the program or perhaps even charge them a fee for operation. It is going to be up to us, ultimately. I just wanted to run it by the council as this is coming down the pike.”

Councilman Richard Weber said that he hoped that the proprietors of the proposed pedicab service would research the regulations that exist in New York City and at least use those as a point of reference.

“I think we owe it to the people of Metuchen to fully vet this to make sure it is safe and secure,” he said.
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What do you think? Do you think pedicabs in Metuchen are a good idea? Write your comments below!