Monday, December 18, 2006

1st Day in the Office

Well team, today has been an incredible day for Hereford Pedicabs, or should I say Hereford Pedicabs Ltd!!


Yeah, that’s right, we are now a registered company! We have also registered www.herefordpedicabs.com and www.herefordpedicabs.co.uk - check us out ( in a few weeks!)!!On top of all that today was our first official day ‘at the office’ as Ben and I are both off for Christmas from work. We have a meeting with all the lovely folk at the Council on Wednesday, some of them we met before, some of them we’ve spoken to and some of them we’ve never met before. All of them have shown and active interest in the Pedicab scheme. In fact I am yet to speak to a person who has not been positive, and it’s great to be able to say that.


Today was a great, as I’ve mentioned before Ben and I are busy chaps so fixing time where we can both focus and dedicate is hard enough, but today was great. Ben cooked chilli bean soup and we caught up on where we are. Everything is costed, all procedures are worked out and we really know where we are.


We fixed a presentation up for the council to let the new people see where we have come from and the people we met last time where we have been since. We can not wait to get in to see the council and we will be keeping you posted!


Play safe
Will and Ben!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Quick Post

Howdy!


Well, December has been a busy month so far. Ben and I are both up to our necks at work but are still working hard on the Pedicab Initiative! As I write young Ben is busily working on our Standard Operating Procedures, a big book full of how and how not things should be done! It will include all sorts of things, things we have learnt from the council, things we have promised we will do, legal things, fun things, green things and lots of honesty and it will be a comprehensive document for any future employees to quickly understand our policies.


It's important that time is taken now on what will essentially shape the rest of this journey, my job has been comparative costing for the service we will be providing and general cost analysis of all things we can expect plus a million and one other things (including this blog!) which are hastily being fitted in to any spare moment I can get!


Together we're a bit of an awesome team, we are fortunate that our backgrounds have enabled us to rapidly progress in the areas we need to, be it policy, marketing or general fun making! So it's a real 50-50 split with Ben and I meeting at whatever opportunity we have to update each other and pass verdict on the others efforts, good and bad!


And of course a big thank you to all of the help we have received from friends and family, and message leavers! Ghandi has been instrumental in number of bigger decisions as have many of you, keep the good stuff coming in, after all this is going to be a great way for all of us to do out bit!


More posting coming soon, I'll try harder to get here more often!


Thanks for reading


Will


Ghandi wanted us to post a picture of some of his great friends who can’t wait to ride in a pedicab!

Monday, December 4, 2006

What a great meeting!!

Hello Blogwatchers!!


First of all sorry for taking so long to get back to you with this blog, we are sure that you have been itching to find out how our meeting went.


Well, well, well (a little more suspense won’t hurt!) It was incredible! Really really incredible! We had the pleasure of meeting four great people, who have great confidence in Hereford and what it can achieve and who seem to think that our idea can work. What’s more not only do they want to be part of it but they want to help us, which is great.


The four people we met with were, Amanda Barton who is the team leader of Integrated Transport, Ben Boswell who works with Amanda and is responsible for plenty of great things to do with the leasing of bikes. Clive Hall (serious but positive!) who is responsible for highways and transportation in the central area and finally but by no means least Cynthia Spaull who is the city centre manager.


We got a photo but unfortunately it was at the end of the meeting, after Clive and Cynthia had left, Dave Tristram filled in (he helps people with money issues) and his crazy hair was just what we needed!


In the meeting we discussed lots of things, we started off with a snappy presentation about us and what we are planning. Then we had a chat about all the things Ben and I and the team from the council wanted to know about the project. We covered most of the things and also loads of brand new topics which will enable us to provide a much more versatile service.


Some of the major points that the council wished to raise were whether we could operate using the existing infrastructure (which we can ) and what help would we need (things like storage, licensing and loads of other practicalities about our professionalism!) All in all it was great and we were able to discuss opportunities for assisting with the Local Transport Plan,
potential cargo services, advertising the council in a positive light and also promoting Hereford on behalf of the tourism office. We also chatted about assisting Ben Boswell with his leasing schemes and inter office travel plans by having the Pedicabs run a pick up and drop of service bookable by council employees.


All in all it was fantastic! Really great, the council not only agreed to help us, but also agreed to believe in us, back us and show us that they care about the policies we have.
We asked everybody to give us some feedback about the idea and they all said it was excellent. It was really nice to hear that they thought that.


We also met two lovely ladies at the reception!
We have things to do, registration, licensing and getting councillors on board and have already got a date for the next meeting! Amanda emailed us this morning -


‘Ben and Will
Good to meet up last week.

I will circulate your presentation to relevant colleagues.

Re Councilor support - I would suggest writing to both the Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation (Cll Brian Wilcox) and the Chief Executive of the Council (Neil Pringle), both at the Brockington Offices; requesting support from the Council - you might want to mention
we had a meeting last week.
Hope this helps, hope licensing get back to you soon too.

Re a second meeting we can do 3pm on 20th December - can you? I was thinking of inviting Trish Marsh (Sustainability Manager - responsible for ISO 14001), Janette Barratt (Sustainable Travel Officer - who coordinates grants for companies setting up a Travel Plan), JaneLewis/Mark Jones (Tourism), could you invite licensing if appropriate.

Regards
Amanda’


Great isn’t it, were all doing our bits, and we are all going to be able to do this. So a big thank you to all of you who are supporting us, and we hope that very soon we’ll have Pedicabs on the streets of Hereford!


We’ll be in touch with an update very soon, this is an exciting time for us and we are glad you are part of it.
Ben and Will

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Go on... Post a comment!!

We hadn't realised we were stopping you writing comments guys, sorry!! It's all changed now, so fire away..
Will and Ben

A meeting with the Council!



Since our trip on the weekend things are really hotting up, Ben has worked his magic and secured a meeting with loads of the top dogs at the Council- Amanda Barton Team Leader Integrated Transport, Clive Hall (Highways and Transportation Central Area Manager), and hopefully Cynthia Spaull (City Centre Manager).


These are the people we need to speak to, they can give us answers and also be part of the roll out of the progamme. The weekend opened our eyes and it could be that we are looking at something much bigger than we first imagined, an intergrated approach to sustainable travel, cargo bikes, bikes to move people, all sorts of things, the meeting is on Friday so Ben and I are meeting tonight to dicuss our approach. Ben will be taking a back seat on this one due to some work commitments.


In other news the lovely people from Howies contacted us yesterday, they are very busy but haven't forgotten about us!:


"Hello Will,
Have just checked out your site and noticed the blog J made me smile!
I will mention to Ade tomorrow about your uniforms and make sure he is onto it. It is a very busy time here at howies, so if you don’t get a reply straight away, don’t worry, we have you flagged up in our inboxes!
Will take a regular look at your blog, I love the read,
Have a great week
Poppy"


It is a very exciting time for us and it's important that you all know how much it means to us that you are reading about us and backing our idea, what started as a bit of fun for us is now looking like a real solution for lots of people! And yes.. it is still Fun Green and Honest!!


We'll keep you posted, Will

Monday, November 27, 2006

What a weekend!!

As has become a bit of a routine with this project we met for our Friday debrief to run through what had happened this week and what we have planned for the next 7 days. This week was slightly different as not only did we have Ghandi but we were lucky enough to be joined by Ben’s other brother Luke, a masseuse on a cruise ship. Luke was only home for a couple of days so it was great to get his views on the project. By the time he’s back from his next cruise we’ll be up and running!


News from this week is all good, Ben continues his correspondence with the council and I’ve been holding my end of the bargain. Saturday was to be our first business trip, down to Bath to see some Pedicabs for real. To say we were excited was an understatement.



We left Hereford at about nine ish and headed out guided by Ben’s man map (a device kept deep inside Ben’s head which enabled him to navigate to Cape Town on a recent expedition). Our Goal was to be in Bath for 11 to meet Steve Harvey from Cycles Maximus. The plan was to see the factory, speak to Steve and try out a pedicab.


We arrived on the dot and Steve was there to great us, even better, Steve was there to great us with tea! After a chat about our journey we were ushered upstairs to the office! The office was ace, just as we expected, mugs here and there, pieces of paper with ideas scribbled on them, and the best thing, it was raised above the rest of the workshop. It was a really nice place to be, and Steve was a nice bloke, it made me think straight away that a lot of time and care goes into these contraptions.


A chap called James turned up with two ladies, he was interested in buying some bikes as well, for a mobile soup stand. We all chatted for a while and bounced questions off one another. Steve answered all of our questions, James and the ladies seemed really nice and there was a great atmosphere, something about this whole venture just seemed right.


After we’d had our tea we all had a tour of the factory, we saw new types of lights and fittings, new frames for advertising boards and various different types of bike, some with electrical assists, some cargo bikes and some contraptions up in the roof that looked very interesting!


Then came the bit we had all been looking forward to!! Steve took us for a little ride! It was great, really really great, then after a while Steve let us take the pedicab out. Ben rode it first and then I rode it, we took it in turns for about an hour and tried lots of things, what its like with one, two and three people in the back, uphill, downhill, tight turning. We tried everything we could and it was fantastic, throughout the whole thing we all had massive smiles! From a more serious point of view I have tried to be realistic and take an objective view on this whole project, how feasible it is, how the people of Hereford would take it. The second I got on the pedicab it all changed, I knew that this could work, my perception of it as a vehicle also changed, gone were the thoughts of zipping though town, I could now see the enjoyment and purpose of this vehicle. Its fun to travel on them, its green to travel on them and it’s a nice way to really be part of the solution to all of the eco type problems we all face. Ben and I screamed about on the bikes and then it was time to go, we had by that time thought of loads more questions so Steve stayed and answered them before taking the others to the station.


Lots of the questions were about the practicality of our business proposals, insurance, registration and also about the build of the bikes. Ben and I noticed a few things that would of course over time fail and asked questions about problems they may have and pre-empting them. All in all they make fantastic machines, that are a real blast to ride! And to think we are going to be the ones who enable 1000’s more people to try them out and to have as much fun as we were having.


On that point I’d like to say that it’s great fun to ride one of these for other people, it brings you closer, you have a conversation with them and they appreciate the effort your putting in to getting them up the hill (or down the hill as fast as we could in our case!) all of a sudden you're making friends and having fun, something which not enough people seem to do nowadays!


We were sad to leave but grateful for 3 hours of Steve’s time, it felt like 10 minutes! Steve pointed us in the direction of a lovely pub and we headed for chat and something to eat.


Over lunch we asked some serious questions and gave each other some serious answers, this for us was make or break, were we going to do this? There was no hesitation, with the great feeling of riding the pedicabs still in our limbs we agreed.

WE ARE GOING TO DO THIS!!
And we are going to keep you posted every step of the way!


Will

Friday, November 24, 2006

Pedicab Pedicab Pedicab!!!

Tomorrow we'll be riding one of these!!

We can not wait!!


All the best - Will & Ben !!

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Coming to a town near you


Just a quick post, found out today that we WILL be checking out a rickshaw on Saturday 11:00 hours, at a factory in Bath!!!!


We are looking at a normal one and one with an electrical assist motor that by the looks of it can have a battery charged by solar power, nice idea eh!


Keep your eyes peeled, you might see us cruising in a town near you sooner than you think!


Ben has also been busy, we have a had a reply from our local council with regards to being registered, Ben is having a 'how to blog' lesson very soon so will be making more of an apperance, and keeping you posted on his side of this operation.


Things are hotting up now so keep watching!


Will

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

No such thing as a free ride..

Hey,


This is my second post of the day!


One thing that's been on my mind has been this concept being free, I mean what if people tip?


Maybe people pay what they think it's worth? I've been thinking for a while and had this idea that on the back of the riders t-shirts maybe they could have a logo or something? Would it be better for people to tip, would that make them value the service, isn't this what it's about, putting a value on the positive effects of their actions to jump on a mule instead of a bus?


I don't mean tipping in money, maybe tipping in knowledge, or maybe we tell them that by taking this free ride what they've helped do? Well anyhow it got me thinking so I came up with a few things to stick on the back of the shirt, this one just about sums up how i'm feeling.


Thanks for reading, Will

Aren't People Full of Help!


Hello!
You know the great thing about this project is that it’s about helping people out, helping them help the environment, helping them solve their problems and helping to brighten up their day!


Just had an email from Howies, they are going to look into the cost of getting organic work uniforms and stuff like that, we’ll need it one day, pays to think ahead!


Hello Will and Ben,

Hope that you are well?
Thank you for the support; we think that the site is great!
I will forward your mail onto Ade, he does all the work for printing up the t-shirts and will be able to help you out
Have a great day
Regards
Poppy


They have some interesting things on their site, this is the favour bank, it represents all the help you get when your starting things…



Nice idea isn't it, might be back on later with some news, thanks for reading!


Will

Monday, November 20, 2006

Things Get Moving

Hello blog watchers, has been a busy day today at work but have managed to do some further research on different types of rickshaw. Now, I’ve been looking at loads of different types and Ben and I are both still unsure which we like. We really want to ditch the rickety old rickshaw feel and go with something cool, robust and modern looking. They will be our steads, or mules as they will become known, so it is important we get it right!! I have a favourite- the cycles maximus pedicab so I wrote to them earlier (that is the beauty of email, send this morning get the info in the afternoon) -


Hi,
We are thinking of setting up a rickshaw company to provide free transport in our town -We are documenting the whole thing as we go as we want it to be model for other small towns.
We very much like your pedicab rickshaw, we are thinking of buying two. Can we come and visit on Saturday, have a look, try one out sort of thing? You'll even get to appear on the blog!!- http://mulesforthemasses.blogspot.com/
Then possibly we hope to go into bath and try out the service.
Hope you can help
Will and Ben


And they sent this reply-


Hi William


Saturday afternoon is fine. Shall we say 2 oclock?
Thank you and regards,
Ian Wood
Cycles Maximus


So looks like we’ll be able to try one of these bad boys out on Saturday!

It's my favourite one


In other news I have been doing some research into the Community Strategy Plan for our town and looks like we’re going to fit in perfectly!


Now it may seem like I’m doing an awful lot of this but it is not true, young Ben has been a busy bee and is drawing up working policies, this morning he sent an email to a lady in our local council, who will confirm lots of things for us, but it looks like it could be promising, a trail was run as part of a sustainable energy week sometime ago so its looking good.


I also wrote to Howies today (www.howies.co.uk) to ask about the potential of using organic materials for stuff like uniforms and all that sort of garb!


I tell you what, whatever happens this is great fun, but the more we look into the idea the more we realise that we (two chaps from a small rural town) can actually make a difference and have an impact on how people think, and it’ll be free, and fun, and green, and honest.


Will

Sunday, November 19, 2006

The Beginning

Hi, my name is Will, my friend Ben and I have had a great idea, the jist of which is at the top of this page. We want to set up a rickshaw service in our town, we want it to be free and we want people to enjoy using it.


The riders will be friendly and informative and the service will be sustainable.


This blog will follow our journey, from seed to the flower. We hope you like it.


It all started a week or so ago,


I was lucky enough to finish work early and bumped into Ben in our local town centre coffee shop. We got chatting and came onto the subject of the bike I use to get about town. I live a mile from the town centre and it’s the best way to get about as we have a great network of cycle paths. Ben mentioned and idea to have rickshaws in our Town, we both agreed it could be awesome and feasible and more importantly a damn good laugh at the same time!!


We bumped into one of Ben’s mates, an Aussie girl, Prindy, and talked it out a bit more. I fell off my bike and we headed down to the pub to discuss further!


We did lots of talking, Prindy had ridden a rickshaw so we got all the info we could. Things were getting on by now, the beer was flowing and we were joined by some friends. Ben can be seen on the left here and just behind him is his brother Ghandi. Not THE Ghandi but he shares the name, well not really but we thought we’d call him that. Prindy is at the front and is sat on her suitcase as she was due to travel off somewhere before we wrangled her into the pub. My girlfriend Jo is on the right and I’m the chubby bald one behind (cunningly holding sugar cane above my friend Sams head). Anna and Sam were heading of to a meal from here. It was getting hard for people to integrate into the idea by now. As they would have had to drink a lot of beer to get in a similar mindset!! We put our baby to bed for the night and continued the celebrations of the conception of such a tremendous idea!


I dressed up in clothes from the suitcase and tried to obtain some free beer with my finger gun, it failed and we left…


The dressing up continued and a fun night was had by everybody!


Since that great day our idea has progressed massively, with Ben and I looking into methods of funding, types of bike, routes and all sorts and It just continues to get better!! Yesterday we met for a business meeting and confirmed our operations procedure, everything we do must be Fun Green and Honest. There are a few companies that we like that have similar philosophies one is Howies, who have a lovely approach to what they do.More about all of this will be posted in due time but just for now we want to get you up to speed.


Ben bought his chopper round to my house for some fun, but instead we went out on the bikes and did some recces of routes and potential zones that we can work, in, this is going to be a free service so we want to dial in exactly how far we’ll operate and what permissions we may need for various access points.
We continued our ride and ended up at the tourist info centre as our town has loads of history and we want our users to be able to ask us questions about the town and get informed answers. Kind of – We are the people to ask- sort of thing. You know, where to eat, where to go for a beer, how long has that church been there, what’s the weather, whats’ on t.v tonight, where do I recycle… anything really. Who you gonna call? Rickshaw dudes (or something…) We don’t have a name yet- were working on it, suggestions welcome!!


It was getting cold so we went to the pub to check out the guides


Six hours later (we like to be thorough) we had been joined by Ghandi and a good mate of ours, keen cyclist and good bloke Rob. The idea is really coming on now, we reckon we can fund it and put on a service and do all of the things we said we would and keep it Fun Green and Honest, pretty good eh!? After a game of amputee pool we headed off to a venue that was open for a bit longer.

Today I headed into town to grab the bike, some tom foolery had happened (drink riding isn’t a good idea, remember, safety never takes a day off!) and then met up with Ben to make this very blog thinking of a name was a nightmare! These are just some of the ones that didn’t make it-
Riding Power
The big green pedal
Flip flops and crop tops the story of Ghandi’s brother and boy called William.

Ghandi’s brother and one armed Will’s adventure
Pedal power for the masses
Ben and Williams
Born in a barrel
Mules Rule
Don’t be a fool ride a mule (and wrap that tool)
Don’t be a fool mount a mule
Mount a mule
Super mule
Just mule my mule
Mules jewels
The Story of
The tale of two chaps and a mule in a barrel
Dream mule
Wetting the mule
Strip mules
Ride a mule
Mount a mule
Feel green
Mules for the masses
Ride , catch , mule
Benth
Benth and Willy
Transporting
Dyke trike
Trike of power
Holy trike there’s two of them…
For trikes sake
Trike you like
Trike it, you might like it
Don’t knock it till you’ve trikes it
Ride jaunt
A jaunt in to
Mules for the masses
Big green mules
Moist Mule
Mule mule
Stubborn as mule
Two mule
Sustainable mule
Two mules no fuel
Mules need no fuel
Two men two mules one vison
Bionic mules
Steel riders
Bio mules
Mules for the masses:
Don’t be a fool shave my mule
Mules in motion
Robomule.


The mule has loads of great things going for it, sturdy, thrustworthy and all and a great load carrier so kind of what we’re using the bikes for! Also it ties in with a small plastic horse we handed into the pub last week, we checked on him yesterday and found that it had been binned, can you belive it! Binned because he wasn’t a horse! Bah! So we ended up naming it in his honour.


We thought it would be good to keep a track of what happens, when it happens and who did it. The big guy had also bought a long a whole host of info about our town that he had stolen from his blind grandmothers house. All in all its going great so far and were looking forward the journey, we hope you are to…

I’ll keep you posted.

Will