With a modern change of gears
by Craig Sirois
Many people will tell you there is no such thing as free lunch. But, if you live in Denton you can at least find a free ride. Denton Pedicab, LLC is a bicycle-cab business that has been offering free rides in Denton since July of 2009. While pedicabs, or cycle rickshaws as they are called in many parts of the world, are new to Denton, they have a history that spans back to the 1800’s.
Pedicabs are essentially tricycles with a seat for the driver and a seat in the back for up to three riders. They can be found throughout Asia, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and more recently, the United States. One of the greatest benefits of pedicabs is that they do not emit toxic gases like more traditional means of transportation. Denton Pedicab, LLC has outfitted each of its pedicabs with seat belts, turn signals, brake lights and a headlight. Each of these elements can be costly which explains why most pedicabs can sell from $4,000 up to $6,000.
Laurent Prouvost, the president and founder was born in Lille, France and has spent much of his life traveling around Europe, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and the United States. “After having seen pedicabs in other places that I traveled to, I thought that Denton could benefit from having pedicabs here too,” Prouvost said.
Currently, there are three pedicabs that are leased out to drivers, for a small fee, for eight- hour shifts at a time. All drivers must complete a pedicab-driving course before they are allowed to lease a cab and start driving passengers. Now that Denton Pedicab, LLC has established itself in the city, Prouvost is working on taking one word out of his vocabulary – tip. That’s right, Prouvost does not like the word tip, instead he prefers donation. “We want to say that we work on donations. We don’t want to use the tip word anymore,” said Prouvost. “Tips are for when you give a certain percentage of what you pay, but you don’t pay anything when you ride in the pedicab.”
The pedicab service runs seven days a week from 8 am until 2 am. At the present time, pedicabs operate on streets within a zone created by University Drive, Bonnie Brae Street, Eagle Drive, and Bell Avenue.
For more information, or to book a pedicab for a special event, they can be reached at 940-312-8298 or on the web at www.dentonpedicab.com
