The Oil Drum | DrumBeat: July 5, 2008

273 comments on DrumBeat: July 5, 2008

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AlanfromBigEasy on July 5, 2008 - 9:17am

Fuel Prices give pause to Anti-Rickshaw Restrictions

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/27/AR200806...

In the Amsterdam photo essay yesterday, I saw a couple of "bicycle taxis". Western versions of rickshaws.

Best Hopes for Non-Oil Taxis,

Alan

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Substrate on July 5, 2008 - 11:22am

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880516153

Pedicabs bring leg-powered locomotion to downtown

Nanci Bompey • • published May 17, 2008 12:15 am

ASHEVILLE – Tourists and locals will have a new way to get around parts of the city when Your Chariot Awaits rolls out its fleet of pedicabs today.

Instead of walking from the Grove Arcade to Pack Square, potential customers will be able to call, e-mail, text message or hail one of the five bicycle-powered rickshaws to shuttle them around downtown Asheville, the River Arts District and the Montford neighborhood.
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“I wanted to incorporate fun with a business, and this is what happened,” said Felicia Thurman, the company’s owner, who got the idea after a trip to Charleston, S.C., where the three-wheeled, human-powered vehicles shuttle tourists around town.

Thurman’s pedicabs, outfitted with 21 gears and hydraulic breaks, are designed for Asheville’s hills. Small motors Thurman ordered to assist drivers up some of the tougher inclines didn’t fit on the pedicabs, and she’s waiting for others to arrive.

In the meantime, drivers will have to provide the power to maneuver the cabs, which weigh 180 pounds without passengers, up and down the hills of Asheville.

Thurman hopes the three-wheeled pedicabs will fill a transportation niche in the city for both tourists and locals while providing a more environmentally friendly way to get around town.

The cabs will go where the city buses don’t and alleviate anxiety about finding a place to park, she said. They also will allow people to have a fun, unusual experience, said Ken Putnam, assistant director of transportation and engineering for the city.

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fishey72 on July 5, 2008 - 12:58pm

I live in Asheville and have seen them downtown. Also I have been a competitive cyclist all my life, am in fantastic shape, and have 20 years of serious cycling behind me. Still I cannot imagine riding a 200lb thing + passengers up these hills.

Many a time I have seen pudgy tourists having to take a break just walking up some of our streets.

Commuting to work 5 miles to by bike is not bad except bringing a complete change of clothes for 'professional office attire'.

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Substrate on July 5, 2008 - 2:42pm

I'm a veteran Hike-Biker. Asthma nails me sometimes and there's no benefit on staying on the wheels for some of the steeper hills. I used to do it A LOT while mountain biking when all I had was a Huffy 12 speed that was geared well - if you lived in a world that was perpetually downhill in all directions. That was back in the day when suspension systems only came on the front of the bike, were a total novelty, and had all of about 1" of travel - 18 speeds were common enough, 21 speeds were like some holy grail, and if the bike was under 30 pounds you were doing well. I used to pass people by walking the bike up steep grades...moseying by people pedal standing and spinning their tires. As far as the pedicabs I've yet to see one and I walk around downtown quite a bit. I imagine if it's geared well enough the weight isn't going to matter so much, no minimum speed is required to keep them upright, but you'd better be ready to accept SLOW. 100watts can only move a heavy object up a hill so fast.

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embryonic on July 5, 2008 - 12:10pm

Bicycle taxis are relatively common in places like Cambridge (UK) with young people looking for part time extra income (ie, students) but the current economics mean that they're more a novelty for tourists rather than a day-to-day transport system. (The other problem is that the width of the carriage means they've got much more width than a bicycle so they get stuck in traffic but don't have the speed and "endurance" of a fossil fuel vehicle.)

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Peak_a_Boo on July 5, 2008 - 1:29pm

Somewhat retated...gas guzzling taxis cutting into the owners profits. Duh.

Rising gas prices hit taxi drivers
http://www.contracostatimes.com/ci_9788772?nclick_check=1

Seems like everyday my local newspaper is getting more like reading TOD. There are at least a half dozen energy fueled articles (pun intended).

http://www.contracostatimes.com/business/ci_9789078

Beverly Hillbillies' would be proud
Bloomberg News
Article Launched: 07/04/2008 04:54:54 PM PDT

Britney Spears, Jay Z, Adam Sandler and Plains Exploration and Production Co. have one thing in common. They've all been sighted at Beverly Center, an eight- level mall near Beverly Hills, where celebrities shop for clothes and the oil company pumps crude.

The rising price of oil, which hit a record $140 a barrel yesterday, has sent exploration companies scurrying to squeeze additional supplies from the fields underlying Los Angeles and its celebrity-rich neighbor.

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john15 on July 5, 2008 - 1:37pm

Seems like everyday my local newspaper is getting more like reading TOD.

this is why I also think that oil is a mini-bubble. every day high gas prices are on the tv. every day there is a story in the paper about high gas prices or about local pizza joints beings squeezed by high prices. kunstler's article was even in the newspaper's sunday section.

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Zadok_the_Priest on July 5, 2008 - 1:59pm

O John, we know you're weakening. Come over to the Dark Side (dark crude, that is!)

Hate to burst your bubble. We've got you hooked. That's why you read TOD everyday. Bit like a narcotic - you can't do without your daily fix.

Cheers!

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SlicerDicer on July 5, 2008 - 3:18pm

Mmmm Sprinkles..

*drools*

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Dennis Brumm on July 5, 2008 - 8:07pm

Hmm, in my case I stayed away for about four months and came back and not much really had changed, although admittedly john15 was new.

I go in phases of my own version of denial. Or rather trying to grasp onto life outside of an addictive blog setting :) . But for now, my computer way of life is still totally unnegotiable! (though something I consider eventually doing intellectually... somehow I lived a nice chunk of my life without instant access to information).

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SacredCowTipper on July 6, 2008 - 11:12am

They exist but it's still a crazy expensive novelty at this point - you can get a ride around Central Park in NYC for $60 ... they're not competitive with the ICE cabs ... yet.

I saw one in Boston yesterday ... a single, lonely tourist attraction on a pier where lots of tourist cruises and one MBTA ferry dock.

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273 comments on DrumBeat: July 5, 2008

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“Of all races in an advanced stage of civilization, the American is the least accessible to long views… Always and everywhere in a hurry to get rich, he does not give a thought to remote consequences; he sees only present advantages… He does not remember, he does not feel, he lives in a materialist dream.”

—Moiseide Ostrogorski (1902, 302-303)