PEDICAB INTERNATIONAL INC., a new business targeting cruise tourists arriving at the Bridgetown Port, is gearing up to give customers a ride to remember.

The company plans to use its four three-wheel pedal cycles, which were tested on the roads last year, to transport passengers into the central business district.

An offshoot of Container Services Ltd located in Fontabelle, St Michael, Pedicab is on course to start operating by month-end, 22-year-old manager Dustin Marshall told BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY last week.

About $60 000 was spent to acquire the cycles from an English manufacturer who is prepared to make Pedicab the regional dealers for these bikes.

"We did a market survey late last year and tested them from the port entrance to Jubilee Gardens," Marshall said, adding that they were very popular with tourists.

The survey indicated that taxi drivers outside the port were willing to co-exist with the new transportation service and even made referrals, Marshall said.

"They don't like to make the short trips from the port just into town because they don't make much money from those short trips and then they have to rejoin the line and await their turn again. So they were willing to refer some tourists to us," he noted.

Young riders participated in the testing phase and the company is currently hiring additional operators who would also be tour guides.

Marshall said such transportation services were popular in other cities of the world and once the port-to-Jubilee Gardens route became viable,
the service would be extended to St Lawrence Gap, Christ Church, and Sunset Crest in Holetown.