No Gas Pains For Pedicabs - 04/08/08
Rickshaw Cab Business Starts - 10/02/07

No Gas Pains For Pedicabs
Cayman Net News - Monday, August 4, 2008

By Steven Knipp
steve@caymannetnews.com 

Aside from a few of those famous oil-soaked sheikhs in the Middle East, most of us are beginning to get regular and severe gas pains, thanks to soaring costs at the fuel pump.
But for Brian Barnes, founder and owner of Wheels Pedicab Services, it’s not a pressing concern. That’s because the well-known entrepreneur’s newest company relies entirely on muscle power. You might say he’s got a leg up on the rest of the local transportation business.
Mr Barnes first came up with the idea for Wheels three years ago; by last winter he had imported his first two pedicabs. Today he has six of the brightly coloured, canvas-topped, tourist-transporters and employs two Honduran staff and four Filipinos as full-time drivers.
“It was a bit rough when we first started, but things are starting to pick up now,” he said.
The pedicabs themselves are nothing like those seen in old Hollywood movies about Shanghai or Hong Kong. Manufactured in Colorado, they are state-of-the-art design with steel frames and fibreglass bodies, and come complete with comfortable padded seats, hydraulic brakes, electric lights for after-dark expeditions, turn indicators and shock absorbers. The cabs even boast a radio and seat belts. The cost for each pedicab is $13,000, including duty and shipping.
“I flew to Colorado and spent a week there being trained on how to drive and maintain the pedicabs," Mr Barnes told Cayman Net News. “I learned everything from how to maintain the shocks, the brakes, the wiring, to how to change the tyres."
All the pedicabs are fully insured, and his drivers are well trained, Mr Barnes said. They can often be seen in their starched-white company shirts, peddling around the sun-dappled streets of George Town, or driving tourists up and down Seven Mile Beach, especially on days when the cruise ships converge on Grand Cayman.
Mr Barnes said that the cost for a 20-minute ride from the harbour front to the Royal Palms Beach Bar on West Bay Road is $35. A taxi will charge from $8 to $10 for the same distance.
If readers think that the pedicab fee is steep, they should try peddling that same distance some day, and they will realise that it is money well earned, Mr Barnes said. (*Ed. Note: Book-Ahead Rates available.)