Pedal power.

• Author: Mangu-Ward, Katherine
• Position: Pedicab crackdown - Chattanooga, Tennessee's pedicab policy - Brief article

BUZZ CHATTANOOGA was supposed to schlep people around the Tennessee city in the backs of jumbo, brightly colored tricycles. Christian "Thor" Thoreson and his partner Christina Holmes hoped their pedicab company would appeal to city officials aiming to boost tourism and minimize drunk driving and congestion.

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The pair jumped through dozens of regulatory hoops to get the business started, subjecting drivers to a special licensing process, drug screenings, and background checks. And they knew their business would be circumscribed by finicky rules: Pedicabs are not allowed to cruise the streets for customers (they must wait in designated areas for customers to find them) and cannot operate in public parks, for example. Furthermore, the number of available licenses is capped at just six pedicabs for a city of 170,000 people.

But there was one regulation Thoreson and Holmes hoped to change. Section 35-251(3) of the Chattanooga City Code states that a...