A few horse-drawn-carriage owners are underwriting a controversial campaign to ban their human-powered rivals—pedicabs—from midtown. Lobbyist Thomas McMahon, former chief counsel to the City Council, is getting $2,000 a month to represent three carriage owners. He argues that the pedicab industry is “like the Wild Wild West” since it’s not regulated, unlike hansom cabs and taxis (the owners of which have also hired lobbyists to hobble pedicabs). McMahon’s former City Council colleague Christine Quinn has proposed a bill banning pedicabs from 30th to 65th Streets. “This whole thing is about respect,” says Arty Nichols, who owns a pedicab fleet as well as a carriage, and favors pedicab regulation. He says the owners who hired McMahon were set off by a curb-space dispute outside Tavern on the Green over the summer. “Carriages are a New York institution. The pedicabs, they’re the fresh new kids on the block.”
Skip to content, or skip to search.
Skip to content, or skip to search.
Email
PrintAdvertising
Most Popular Stories
Most Commented
Last 24 Hours
- V Magazine Pits a Plus-Size Model Against a Skinny One
- Giuliani Won't Run For Office Next Year
- Indifferent EMTs Won’t Be Around to Not Save You for a While
- Does a Democratic Congressman’s Switch to the GOP Matter?
- Health-Care Reform’s Latest Casualty: Obama’s Hawaiian Vacation
- Bushwick Hipsters Now Living in Trailers
- Brittany Murphy Update: Her Husband Denies OD Rumors, Cornucopia of Prescription Meds Found in Their Home
- The British Bartender Trying to Figure Out American Girls
- Hillary Clinton Thought This Wouldn’t Be So Much Work
- Post-College Jobs Are Not As Fun As They Used to Be
Most Viewed
Last 24 Hours
- Brittany Murphy Update: Her Husband Denies OD Rumors, Cornucopia of Prescription Meds Found in Their Home
- V Magazine Pits a Plus-Size Model Against a Skinny One
- The British Bartender Trying to Figure Out American Girls
- Kate Moss Brings Her Daughter Shopping With Her So She Can Tell Her How Good She Looks
- Post-College Unemployment Is Not As Fun As It Used to Be
- What Do Real Foodies Want for Christmas?
- The World's Most Secretive Hedge-Fund Manager Once Went On TV To Talk About His Relationship
- New Yorker Responds to Being Called Miserable by Putting Other People Down
- Looks Like Jamie-Lynn Sigler Won't Be Returning To Entourage Next Season
- Brittany Murphy Roundup: Suffering From Flu-Like Symptoms For Days, Was
Most Emailed
Last 24 Hours
- New Yorkers Predictably Pissed Off About Being Labeled Unhappy
- Brooklyn Flea Moves Winter Market to Skyline One Hanson
- Farmers Diner, Short-Order Locavore Joint, Coming to New York
- Ravi DeRossi of Mayahuel and Death & Co. Will Open Rum Bar
- Bushwick Hipsters Now Living in Trailers
- Brace Yourself for Williamsburg Moonshine
- The Hot List
- Menu Mind Games
- V Magazine Pits a Plus-Size Model Against a Skinny One
- Chocolate Gifts for Every Taste
Subscribe to New York
Eight Year-End Films Vie for Oscar Contention
Sondheim and Lansbury on a Lifetime in Theater
The Black Keys Release Their Hip-hop Debut 
How the BQE Became an Artistic Muse
On Great Jones Street, Shopping Is Art 
Classic Fare, Old-world Charm at Le Caprice
Buy a Brownstone for Less Than $1 Million
Fifty of the City's Tastiest Soups
Reasons to Love New York 2009
New York Politicians Refuse to Quit
A-Rod Has Babe Ruth in His Sights
McCain Yields to the Party's PressureCopyright © 2009, New York Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
