Pedicabs have been on the leading edge of green transportation in NYC for a dozen years. Today there are nearly 500 on the street, offering non-polluting, carbon-free quiet yet colorful mobility and good green jobs to hundreds of drivers and budding entrepreneurs.

Yet, as seen at Pedicabnews.com, there’s less than a week left until they are hobbled by City Council’s Intro 331-A, a counterintuitive measure in a city trying to green up.

Intro 331-A's odious provisions:
- cap this burgeoning industry to 350 pedicabs (pushing pioneers out)
- ban electric assist motors (so small, it would be like banning power steering from their gas-guzzling equivalent)
- push them out of the parks and off any street the NYPD designated (so much for public space enjoyment)
- ban them from bridges (effectively trapping them in Manhattan, unfairly shutting the other boroughs out)

You can encourage Mayor Bloomberg to veto 331-A this week. There’s the quick phone call to 311 or (or 212-NEW-YORK if outside NYC) or email him at NYC.GOV, and while you are at it, send a message about this to Speaker Christine Quinn, too, at quinn@council.nyc.ny.us.

This Intro strangles what I see as the future of mobility in NYC – development of human powered vehicles for delivery and passengers, a healthy response to real needs that creates less asthma, less stress and more jobs.

Yes, Pedicabs need some regulation, no one disagrees with that. But as driver Melissa Ludwig and longtime proponents George Bliss and Steve Stollman (seen here at the podium at the 3/25 rally) reminded the Mayor of his plan to create a sustainable city by 2030 and this opportunity to "walk the walk", he held off on signing the Intro.

Write Bloomberg this week - if he does not veto by 3/30, that Intro becomes law.

UPDATE: Victory! The Mayor announced he is vetoing on March 30! We still need to contact Speaker Quinn, and get her on board. Next up, good regulations for this new green industry.