More pedicabs approved to come to downtown Charleston

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCSC) - Additional pedicabs could be coming to the streets of Downtown Charleston after the City of Charleston’s Traffic and Transportation Committee voted to add six pedicabs to the streets at night.

The Chair of the City’s Traffic and Transportation Committee, Mike Seekings, said he has nothing against pedicabs, but doesn’t think the timing is right for the city.

Seekings said adding more vehicles in the midst of reconfiguring traffic on King Street, redoing the peninsula plan and working on tourism management is unnecessary.

“I would also note that there has not been a call across the board from anybody... From the Charleston Visitors Bureau, to the hotels, to the restaurants, to the bars, to the actual patrons of pedicabs, to expand that program- including the pedicabs themselves,” Seekings said.

Not all members of Charleston’s Traffic and Transportation Committee agreed.

Councilmember Karl Brady said allowing for more competition in the pedicab industry is a good thing, and said he’s not as concerned as Seekings about traffic impacts.

“I understand the traffic concern but at the same time, we’re not not improving hotels or adding stuff into an overlay zone, and then arguing that we shouldn’t do it because the traffic impacts are going to be coming... I would argue that they probably have a higher traffic impact than the pedicabs that would be going out at night.”

Braden Johnson, a bike taxi driver for Charleston Bike Taxi, said he thinks adding more pedicabs will be great for the city because pedicabs are the best way to navigate the downtown area.

“I think having more of us on the streets is going to be really cool for tourists and people who want to see the city,” Johnson said. “There’s so much to see in Charleston that you can’t see by car. Specifically, the smaller one-way streets and the really pretty buildings down in the historical district of the city. So being able to be in the back of a bike and looking at all of that is the best way to see it.”

Seekings said we’ll likely be able to see those six additional pedicabs on the streets by mid-summer or fall, depending on how the bidding process goes.

To watch the full Traffic and Transportation Committee meeting, click here.

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