Thousands of people in Westminster have their lives blighted on a daily basis by the damage that the unregulated pedicab industry brings to the local community, yet neither the Council or Mayor have the power to implement a proper solution to this problem.
Outside of London Pedicabs are classed in the same way as taxis which means that they are regulated. However, in London different laws operate which take away many of the powers that the Mayor or Westminster City Council could have to help, and therefore makes pedicabs very hard to have any sort of control over.
Having an unregulated system has led to:
- Massive disruption to local business and residents through touting
- Huge noise pollution problems from amplified music systems
- Rip-off fares for vulnerable people
- Dangerous driving without any form of insurance
- More congestion in already busy areas due to group Pedicab loitering
Parliament is having its second reading of a bill on 16th March which would devolve powers to the Mayor and the Council to deal with this problem. But the bill is in danger of not passing through, despite cross-party support, simply because of the timetabling in Parliament. Please help us put pressure on Parliament to pass this bill through and allow London the ability to regulate this industry in the same way as the rest of the UK.
The proposed model is based on the existing taxi and private hire vehicle licencing regimes and would bring them in line with these regulations. This would allow us to:
- Ensure public safety
- Give TfL officers and police the power to enforce this safety
- Have TfL regulated fares
- Set standards for Pedicab vehicles
- Restrict where and when Pedicabs can operate to smooth congestion
Please register your support for these changes by signing our petition below.