Article: Can't find a cab? Try pedal power

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Can't find a cab? Try pedal power

Can't find a cab? Try pedal power
TONY MOORE
December 21, 2009 - 1:18PM

Soldier, fitness instructor and Green Cab cyclist Hamish Gray is a fit young bloke.

But even the Enoggera Barracks-based soldier will not take on the hills of Spring Hill.

On Friday and Saturday nights Hamish pedals his 21-gear Green Cab around Brisbane's nightclubs, making up to $200 on a good night.

And while he's happy to negotiate streets crowded with Christmas revellers, there is one place he won't go.

"Spring Hill I pretty much don't go up," Hamish says with a laugh.

"But the hardest of them all is going to the Valley.

"The incline near the Orient Hotel is just really difficult.

"You pretty much get down to the lowest gear going up there."

Twenty-one years ago two young men started riding Brisbane's first-ever pedi-cabs as Brisbane celebrated World Expo 88.

The venture didn't last, but 20 years later the same two guys took the bike handles between their teeth and launched Green Cabs.

One year on, businessmen Steven Kenway and David Burgin have eight cycle taxis, and have started offering set tours along Brisbane's riverside ranging in price from $10 to $25 from the big ferris wheel on South Bank over the Goodwill, Victoria or Kurilpa bridges and back around to South Bank.

The bikes are essentially broad-tyred mountain bikes with a seat which can fit three adults.

But the third must be a very, very slender woman. Realistically the Green Cabs take two adults.

At night time, most of passengers are intoxicated to different levels, Hamish tells, while during the day, people were "more mellow."

His funniest trip was a night he pedalled a security guard around Brisbane's nightclubs.

"There was this guy I picked up from a Broncos game and he ran this security company and he asked me to take him to all these hotels that his bouncers were working at," Hamish said.

"And it took like three and half hours and it ended up at his house on top of the hill at Woolloongabba.

"Every time we stopped, he would talk to his boys at the door. I think he just liked being out with his boys. He was this big Samoan bloke about 150 kilos and his little boy. And he wasn't real light either."

Mr Kenway will tell you that his eight cycle taxis can take you anywhere from West End to the Valley, out to New Farm and even out as far as Toowong.

Everywhere except bloody Spring Hill.

[#Metro]

This is quite good (although I worry about the resemblance it has to slave-driving, the poor cyclist must be exhausted).
I'm surprised that hail-and-ride motorcycles or tricycles (which can fit 4-5 people per motorbike) have not taken off.
They would be useful for areas away from the main road, and because people can take them home (rather than to a depot) there's never one far away...

[ozbob]

From the Brisbanetimes click here!

Pedal powered cabs take city by storm

Pedal powered cabs take city by storm
Courtney Trenwith
October 13, 2010 - 6:06AM

Green Cabs is a finalist in the Lord Mayor's Business Awards in the sustainability in business category.

The peddle power behind a Brisbane duo's business idea has been so strong the company is about to almost double in size after just one year.

The number of Green Cabs ferrying residents and tourists around the inner-city will grow from eight to 12, with another three in reserve, from this weekend.

Green Cabs, which is a finalist in Friday night's Lord Mayor's Business Awards in the sustainability in business category, has grown at rapid speed for co-owners Steven Kenway and David Burgin. The duo started riding Brisbane's first pedi-cabs when the city celebrated World Expo 88.

Family life saw them hang up their helmet, but they dusted them off last year to relaunch their venture.

The environmentally friendly bikes are basically broad-tyred mountain bikes with a seat for up to three adults.

They are in high gear from Friday evening to Sunday evening, although some bikes are available during the week.

They are based in South Bank, although they service the CBD and inner suburbs, and from this weekend the fleet will be expanded to include six new marked "cab ranks" near the top of Queen St Mall and near the Treasury Casino.

"Brisbane has accepted Green Cabs as an alternative form of transport in the CBD," Mr Burgin said.

"People use Green Cabs not just for transport but for fun.

"Over a short distance we would be just as fast as other forms of transport."

Judges in this year's Business Awards praised the businessmen for encouraging carbon free transport.

"Green Cabs is a wonderful initiative for the city and in their relatively short time since establishment have established a significant and highly regarded profile in the city," a judge said.

More information is available on our LMBA index page or at the official site, www.lmba.com.au