Some photos as promised

So on Wednesday and Friday this week we had a bike out a the Taste For Adventure for the meals for the elderly they have there. It was a great chance to show them the bikes and the service that the bikes can provide to them. They loved it!

So today we had a wedding as I mentioned, I decked the cab out with ribbon, whacked a bit of nice kit on and here is the result-
There will be a few of the actual wedding coming when the wedding photographer forwards them to us. It was a great day though!

Busy Days

We're getting busier you know. Friday nights used to be quieter than Saturday but last night we were seriously busy. This afternoon we also have a wedding to do and then from the wedding we'll be heading out again. Brilliant. il try to upload some photo's a bit later to show you what we've been up to a bit this week.

Will

Great Meeting

Really great meeting with the Council Modern Records department yesterday, they are dead keen on using Pedicargo to get records all over Hereford. In fact the scheme they will be able to run with us will allow other units on the council to buy in to using cargo as a trial.

Great stuff.

Just thought I'd let you know. So within two months hopefully any stuff the council need to send 'same day' they will be able to. What's more they'll be able to do it with a lovely green sustainable company. It'll also give scope for any available space to be booked and used by regular business as the council offices are all over town. So a big well done to Anthony from the Modern Records Department for being so forward thinking!

Really really exciting stuff.

Will

The Next Step

The next step is almost ready, we've kept quiet about it for the moment as we have some things to think about staffing wise.

It's almost here though, we have things to concentrate on but this is the next one...

I have a meeting tomorrow afternoon with the archives department of Hereford Council, they want a green cargo service and it looks like we might be the answer. Great eh!

I'll keep you posted. In the mean time i'm very excited.

Will

A good weekend

We had a great weekend to end our incredible week, lots of folk cheering and making siren noises and loads of back patting. the weather also held out for us although we were a little late starting on Friday whilst the last of the tropical storms blew over! No worries though, we just whacked the kettle on and had another brew. We drink a lot of tea.

Little more to add than we had a rip roaring couple of nights, great fun lots of banter and lovely tips from the public, we wouldn't want it any other way... we maybe a few more cabs!

I've been meaning to post this photo on for a while so thought i'd get around to it, it's a convoy of bikes we got involved with, that was on a lovely sunny day, we could do with more of them!
That's about all from us at the moment, it's bike week in Hereford this week so if you've got a bike get on it!

Will

It's the WEEKEND!!

So now the media fury has died down who knows what this weekend will bring? Mainly we are hoping for sun! Although our weather sources (who tend to be more speculative than accurate) predict intermittent rain. Lovely stuff!

In other news the new riders are only awaiting their CRB checks (a check run by the police on their criminal records so we know their as good as they say they have been) to come back, a process which can take between 2 and 6 weeks. The checks will be back anytime now, so expect to begin seeing some different faces soon! We are also looking for more riders, people keen on being part of our cargo scheme and riding cargo bikes and Pedicabs. For cargo work, riders wont need a full taxi licence, that is reserved purely for pedicabbing.

For me it’s my first weekend back on the cabs after last weekends break which was good, for both my legs and my spirit. Is nice to get out on the mountain bike a bit!

Ben has had a bit of a shock as he has been away in the mountains for the past 6 days, he has come back to see the media frenzy, and to find that we are now a crime fighting duo!
A little more to add on that is that the news has now spread globally, a search on google news revealed about a 100 stories worldwide- google news link crazy, crazy stuff! Hits on our website and blog have gone through the roof! So has been a great awareness booster for Hereford Pedicabs and sustainable travel in general.

Time for me to crack on with some other things now, but before I go here is an answer to a question we have been asked a lot in the last few days. The t-shirts that we wear – can be found here howies tshirt So if you want to pick one up get in touch with the great folk at Howies.

Play Safe

Will

The Final Run Down

This has been an amazing couple of days for Hereford Pedicabs! Here is the final list of the press we got, great considering we didn't ask for it! My personal favourite is the BBC World Service, where I got to speak on their 12 mid day news. I just can't believe all of this. How many people must now know about what we do, the amount of emails we've had saying well done, the amount of people we've seen patting us on the back. It's as if Hereford are really proud of us! Incredible.

i guess we'll have to stop blowing our trumpet soon, but at the moment it sounds so good, so here is the final run down..

BBC Radio H+W (last week)
Radio Wyvern (on most of the news items today)
BBC Radio Scotland
BBC World Service
Western Daily Press (today page 3, us the police, Prince Harry and Victoria Beckham) click here and here
The Hereford Journal (front page indeed)
Hereford Times
Midlands today - our video
BBC news on line click here
The Times (page 5!!)
Times Online click here
The Daily Express
The Daily Star
The Daily Mirror
The Daily Mirror Online - click here
Earth Times – click here
And last but not least the Metro, we hear it’s big in London!

Amazing stuff!

Thanks for reading and for all those new folk, check out the older blogs, they take you right back to the start of our venture and tune in to our website herefordpedicabs.com it'll tell you all about what we do and how you can use our service, advertise with us and generally have as much fun as we do!

Thanks to everyone involved in the last few weeks

Will

Almost Done

Looks like we also made the 'Metro' , the Daily Star, the Express and we just had an interview for BBC Scotland. With just one more to go for 5 live our scrap book of stuff we've done is bulging!

World Service

This is crazy, I just spoke on the BBC world service news about our police chase. Hereford Pedicabs go global!

Midlands Today Video

Can be found here- our video

It's been a really amazing thing this you know, so many people have got in touch with us to say well done. We had someone get in touch from London who had seen us in the metro as well. It's all been in the spirit of how we set this up - Fun, Green and Honest. We havent pushed anything about this story and it's just been the good nature of what's happened taking us forward. Incredible.

In other news we've got three new riders starting very very soon - Luke, Darren and Ad's which will be great for Hereford Pedicabs, new faces and fresh legs! It will give Ben and I the chance to grow the rest of Pedicabs and Pedicargo, work on advertsing sales and getting out next few cabs.

It's been a great first few months for us and with well over 2000 customers already (just from for Friday and Saturday nights) it looks like we are going from strength to strength, so thank you to all of you who have ridden with us, supported us, read about us, watched us and enjoyed being part of Hereford Pedicabs.

Will

Has the snowball stopped rolling?

'The Times' page 5 - that's right, pedicabs went national! Who would have thought!

What an amazing couple of days!

When this whole Police chase thing happened we didn't really think much of it, in fact we told our friends had a laugh over a couple of beers and thought no more of it.

We were surprised when BBC Hereford and Worcester got hold of us for a chat and happily obliged, then all went quite for a couple of days, that was until Tuesday when everything went crazy! I think the term they use is a Snowball, the running total so far is-

BBC H+W (last week)
Radio Wyvern (on most of the news items today)
Western Daily Press (today page 3, us the police, Prince Harry and Victoria Beckham) click here and here
The Hereford Journal (front page indeed)
Hereford Times -tomorrow
Midlands today - tonight or tomorrow
BBC news on line click here
Times Online click here

All in all pretty amazing stuff, which seems to be the story of Hereford Pedicabs we've always just done what we felt to be right and it always seems to work out alright.

Keep your eyes peeled for us fighting crime on the streets!

Midlands Today

Maybe tonight maybe tommorrow!

Western Daily Press

Sorry folks, Western Daily Press not Western Mail.

Great story!

also

we're on the BBC england front web page - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hereford/worcs/6745977.stm
also listen in to Radio Wyvern news tommorrow.

amazing stuff

Fame at last!

Well what a day, press crazy! All about the police chase.

So- get the Western Mail tommorrow were on page 3
Also- get the Hereford Times on thursday
And- if you can't get your hand on those just check us out on the BBC website!!!- click here!!

Amazing stuff eh!

The single speed arrives

It's here and damn it's quick, no brakes, no gears, just a fixed 48-16. It's about as smooth as it gets.

Pedicab Commandeered for Police Chase!

Pedicabs goes from strength to strength, now 8 weekends in were not far off the 2000 customers mark which is awesome considering the few nights we haven’t been able to field both cabs and the bad, bad weather we’ve been having. This is a bit of an unusual post but I couldn’t wait to let you guys know. Last night Ben and I were involved in a High Speed Police Chase, yes you read that right – High Speed Police Chase!

It was about 8 o’clock and Ben and I had just done a multiple drop off at Castle Green for some chaps, I has vowed to get them right to the top of the hill so powered off to do so, Ben dropped his lot where he was an we agreed to meet in a few minutes.

Imagine my surprise when as I came down the hill I saw two Police officers in the back of Ben’s cab with Ben going like the clappers whilst they pointed to a distant figure. Not holding back I rounded the corner at full speed with a motorbike sidecar lean so as not to tip the bike. Soon Ben and I were closing the gap on the bad guys, I took the lead with Ben pulling the officers. We’re fairly new to crime fighting but like to imagine ourselves as cowboys riding down the bad guys.

The next few minutes were a blur of fluro jackets, sweaty riders and panicking criminals but as I’m sure you can guess we got our man. Unbelievable.

Hereford Pedicabs are looking forward to serving the public trust, protecting the innocent and upholding the law..

See you soon - Will

Rain Rain Rain 2

Well the weekend was a bit of a washout! Friday we ploughed on as usual and Saturday day time we made our usual appearances but sadly we had to call a halt on Saturday evening at about 10pm. Not may we add because we couldn’t handle the rain but simply because there is hardly and passing trade when it pouring,

Sunday was sadly the same, if you live in Hereford you’ll know it belted down all day! No Good!

Things are still moving on now, we should have a couple more riders starting very soon (just waiting for police checks to clear) and the cargo scheme looks like it could be in place for August… more to come on that shortly.

Some of you may also remember my fixed wheel bike dream, well that also wont be long now, word is it has arrived in the factory, so it’s now waiting patiently to be built up.

In other news we’re still looking for more riders for the summer season so if your keen, get in touch!

Play safe!

Will

Article

Hello all!,

Interesting article about us here - READ ARTICLE

Busy day of meetings today, council, taxi fims, all very exciting!

Will

WANTED... NEW RIDERS!!

New Riders Wanted for Hereford Pedicabs.

We are looking for a host of new people to ride our bikes/expanding fleet of bikes! Riders will have to be over 21 and will have to go through the process of becoming a Hackney Carriage Rider at their own expense.

Of course it’s not just as simple as getting a taxi licence, riders will be keen cyclists, and aware of our policies. We’re looking for engaging individuals who can happily cycle all day in the rain and still have a big smile on their face! They’ll have a good knowledge of both how to get about in Hereford and what’s going on.

Most importantly, riders will enjoy spending time with like minded people and relish the opportunity of being part of Herefords first green sustainable taxi service.

At the moment there are Friday and Saturday night time (6pm-Midnight) and Saturday and Sunday day time shifts (10am-4pm). Riders pay a small lease for the bike, which covers maintenance and insurance, they then keep all the tips they make for themselves. As self employed individuals riders are responsible for declaring what they earn to the tax man.

Think you’ve got what it takes to ride a Pedicab? Email me – will@herefordpedicabs.com, tell me about yourself, what you can bring to Hereford Pedicabs and why you want to ride for us. Attach a recent C.V if you have one, if not tell me what you’ve been up to, what your plans are and what you do at the moment.

I really look forward to hearing from you.

Will Vaughan
Rider and Director
Hereford Pedicabs

Eco podcast

Hello all, as you will know I did an interview the other day for 24dash.com, it was a weird one as I was expected to do the interview whilst pedalling, so see what you make of it, our bit comes on at about 9 mins in but it's worth listening from 8:52 to 18:14 you can find it here- our podcast!

Let me know what you think! I think I was out of breath, could have avoided the bumps a bit better and should find a new word instead of fantastic to describe pedicabs, but you cant win them all!

Will

Rain stops play.. almost

Amazing weekend, Ben has been away so I've been holding the fort. Friday night was by all accounts pretty dead in town, the pedicabs however were going strong, people really getting the idea of jumping on, tipping and having a great time.

The same could not be said for Saturday day time, I had to pack up after a few hours as the rain was quashing the custom, I did however get the chance to save the day and rush a bride to her wedding at the shire hall, she arrived blanket on her lap just in time. Glad we were able to help!

Saturday night was incredible, had the most customers I have ever had in one shift (6-12) and did some serious mileage, thanks to all of you and glad I could help. To whoever tipped with a make-up brush thanks a million it's ideal for cleaning the fiddly bits on the bike and cheers to the cowgirls for brightening up the cab with a bit of glitter!

Today it is raining hard as you can see from the picture so I'm having an admin day as have a few bits to get on with next week.

As always thank you for reading this, riding with us and making it the best job there is!

Play safe
Will

Rain Rain Rain

Well well, the rain doesn't look like stopping, looks like i'm in for a damp one, if your jumping on make sure you smile!

Hereford Pedicabs asked to do Eco Podcast

Claire Fisher from 24dash.com rang me today to ask if she could speak to Hereford Pedicabs about environmental type stuff for there weekly podcasts, they get masses of hits so it should be good for us. They also want to do a video about us which will be cool!

In other news, the weather is looking awful for the weekend so should be a good time to see if people want to use pedicabs in the rain and if our hoods work!!

Ben's in France this weekend and as we don't have any new riders on board yet looks like i'll be riding the streets on my own, if any of you blog readers are interested in riding for us in the future drop me a line - will@herefordpedicabs.com -it helps if you have a Hackney Carriage Licence but we can help you with that, tell me why your keen, what would make you a good rider and what you would do if I asked you to take me on a 30 min tour of Hereford!

Play safe blog readers..

Will

Fixed Wheel

Have decided upon a fixed wheel bike, from a company called swobo, should be lighter too ride than a rickshaw . . more to come soon, one of the major factors was the way swobo do their business..

http://www.swobo.com/history.aspx

Customer 1000 Lucy Pearce!!!!

We did it!! Lucy is the one with the champagne (alright..cava). We had a goal tonight which was easily achievable, we were just 40 customers away from number 1000. So after getting 39 we headed down to the Hop Pole, as the guys there have been really good to us and we thought they might enjoy it, and waited for the lucky customer.

I'd put a bit of thought in, bought some cakes, streamers, party poppers and best of all stuffed a ghetto blaster with Kool and the Gang's 'Celebrate good time come on!' and Cliff Richards 'Congratulations' on a cd back to back.
So we waited and waited and then 5 turned up (Lucy and her friends) so we asked one to step on, let the music roll and got the party underway! The bouncers gave us a quick round of applause and then we headed, music blaring all the way to the Barrels, making sure we wnet through town. Everyone we saw cheered and generally gave us a pat on the back.

It was great going to the barrels, close followers of the blog will know that the idea was developed their over the first few days, so it was brilliant to be heading there. The landlord popped out to the beer garden (where we recieved an almighty cheer) to say well done.

So here's to Lucy, and her mates and to all the other 999 people that have made the last three and a bit weeks so much fun.

Thanks guys.

Will

Fixie

So time for an update about my planned new bike.

First of all, if you want to see what it's all about have a look at this VIDEO, to me it sums up the sort of bike i'm after.

I rode a fixed wheel bike yesterday it was unreal, no noise, no brakes, constantly engaged with the bike. I'm still in a dilema about what sort of bike to go for, wether I go for a single speed frame with an MTB edge or something more street, i'm not sure. Half of me thinks get soemthig that I can use for mbb as well. half says make it a dedicated street machine. To that end i've been looking at these new bikes from swobo, super smooth, i've also been looking at some frames by a company called surly.

I've no idea yet really, i think i'm going to go down the street version, tight riser bars, no brakes, fixed wheel, semi slicks.... watch this space.

Also dont forget...Customer 1000 tonight!

Our little trooper

As you guys might know, Ben and I are flat out with stuff in our main jobs. So we need help here and there on things which maybe we aren't too sure on.

I spoke to a friend and work mate of mine to ask for some help sorting our financial matters (tracking money, reciepts etc), she didn't hesitate to say she'd help. That's the type of girl she is. A real trooper willing to help us with whatever she can and keen to do whatever it takes to help us get where we want to get to.

So from Ben and I, thanks a million Angie, we couldn't do this without you..

Sustainable already..

Great few weeks for Pedicabs,

Big meeting last week with the Inland Revenue about people who come to ride for us being self employed and leasing cabs from us.

It all went well, really well and what Ben and I know now is that if we step back from pedicabs and don't choose to take it any further, it's already sustainable. The leasing fee will pay for the bikes to be maintained and insured and the tips are such that riders can earn a crust. Which is amazing.

So it's been a success, it is a success.

Hereford Pedicabs is officially Hereford's first sustainable green transport company and taxi service.

But we aren't going to stop here, it's time to go from strength to strength, to believe in what we have achieved and grow it. Enhance our service, work on the inter office travel scheme, develop our cargo service.. focus on our direction.

Hold on tight folks...here.....we......go...