Sometimes I think that New York City is becoming a Third World country.  There’s litter in the streets, bad driving, tribal allegiances, a riot of dialects, and piercing odors.  And there are pedicabs.  It’s barbaric for a man to peddle visitors around Beijing or Bombay, and it’s barbaric around Manhattan too.  New York City pedicab drivers certainly don’t seem oppressed.  They smile brightly and have the confident, healthy glow of college athletes.  Although pedicabs have been praised as fuel-efficient transportation, they’re still almost exclusively patronized by tourists.  But they point to a big gap in the city’s transportation system.  There’s a real need for private transportation that’s more informal and less expensive than a cab.

I vote for the auto rickshaw, just like the ones that swarm Indian streets.  They’re basically motorcycles with a seat in back and a shell above.  They’re open to weather but but give a sense of freedom, and leave passengers open to interaction with other city characters.  (This video, moralizing aside, gives a sense of what the ride is like.)  There was a failed effort recently to bring them into the country from Asia.  With Mayor Bloomberg hell-bent on eliminating cars (as well as smokers and trans-fats) from the city, the auto rickshaw could be one solution.