San Diego City Council to Consider Tighter Regulation for Pedicabs in Downtown

A bright and noisy feature of downtown San Diego, pedicabs could soon face stricter regulations if the San Diego City Council approves changes to the city code on Monday.

The item, scheduled to be heard at the council session at 2 p.m., would include regulations prohibiting the placement of sound amplification equipment in pedicabs and would require operators to provide a price to passengers before they travel.

Additionally, proposals to be reviewed on Monday include displaying pedicab fares and licenses more prominently.

Councilman Stephen Whitburn, who is proposing the amendments, said his office has received hundreds of complaints from residents, business owners and tourists about the music that often plays in downtown pedicabs.

“Noise generally consists of loud music and sound effects designed to attract the attention of potential passengers among patrons of downtown restaurants, bars, clubs, hotels and event spaces,” says a city staff report. “Excessive noise regularly continues until 2 a.m. or later and disrupts the sleep of residents and hotel guests.”

A law is already in effect that prohibits pedicabs — which have been regulated by the city since 2000 — from playing music or other noise audible from more than 50 feet away. However, this distance makes enforcement more difficult, “because officers must determine whether a pedicab is located less or more than fifty feet away.”

Monday’s proposal would seek to ban speakers altogether, eliminating ambiguity.

Another aspect being addressed by the council includes a common bait-and-switch tactic, in which a pedicab operator tells a group of potential passengers that their trip will cost a certain fare. Then, after the trip, the operator will claim that the fare discussed was actually a per-person cost, not the cost for all passengers.

According to Whitburn’s office, even when passengers reluctantly pay the bill, the operator may add a “tip” without the passengers’ consent or knowledge. The proposed ordinance seeks to overcome this scam by requiring operators to provide passengers with “a written and dated invoice that includes the pedicab operator’s name or business name, the agreed fare per passenger, and the total agreed fare for all passengers due upon arrival to destiny.”

Most pedicab operators are independent contractors of the business owners.