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...

A company coming home..

Rebecca Crawford is a designer who turns out some great stuff, she's been based in Cornwall for a while and now she's coming home. Have a look at some of her stuff if you get the chance, its green and very cool! Pedicabs are thinking of asking her to decorate our shiping container!! You can find it here

Howies

I dont know if you guys know about Howies, there a great company, all organic and forward thinking with really great values based policies.

They added a bit to their blog about us today if you go to their website - click this you will see this on the bottom right.
Have a click about the site, lots of you have asked about where we got our t-shirts, you can pick them up there.

Thanks Howies, especially Poppy and Anja

Will

Who will be the 1000th customer???

Well what a weekend we’ve had!

We had the best part of 400 customers between Friday night and Sunday afternoon, incredible! Which means in three weeks we’ve helped almost a 1000 people to get about town!!

Next weekend will see our 1000th customer! There is a treat in store for them, we’re not telling yet but it’s going to be good!

In a few other stats for you the highest speed clocked so far has been 27 mph and the heaviest haul, including the rider and weight of the bike, has been 420kgs! Not far off half a ton!

It’s still great fun and thanks to all of you who’ve ridden in, tooted at, waved at, let in to traffic, or just smiled at a Pedicab!

Single Speed Bikes

So, I think its fair to say that Pedicabbing is having a strange effect on me. Never have I been more motivated to turn the pedals, to dig deep when my muscles and lungs are screaming to stop.

It's amazingly rewarding to get someone from A to B, to have been the engine, to have felt the bumps, the lumps, the strains, shared the smiles on the downhills and the silences in converstion that accompany the uphills.

To turn around at the end of the journey, wipe the sweat from my brow and chirp ' just tip what you thought it was worth' is just something else. Real worth, real value, a real appreciation of what energy it really takes to get people about, so what has this got to do with single speed bikes?

Well, single speed bikes and more to the point fixed wheel bikes (fixed means that you cant freewheel, the pedals always go round) appear to be the ultimate connection to travelling on a bike. And i am getting to like the idea, super simple, one gear keep the momentum up, slow the bike with your legs (no brakes) speed the bike up with your legs.

So now i'm in the process of thinking about, putting together one of these bikes. In my head it looks like this- Old British steel frame, Mercian or something like that, short wheelbase, tight angles, maybe an old track bike. Fixed gear on the back, a gear you can just spin out on the dowhills but not too much to get going. Courier type look, maybe some practical features, mudguards, a panier rack.

I'm really interested to hear from anyone who rides a single speed or who may be able to point me in the right direction, should be exciting!

Will

Great weekend and photo shoot!

Another 300 customers sampled what it's like to ride in a pedicab last weekend! Which means a staggering 600 so far!!

Amazing stuff eh? It wasn't really even that busy and we were doing a fancy photoshoot for most of Saturday! Thanks to Leon for that!


In other news we now have an arrangement which lets us go through select areas of the Catherdral. It really opens up things for us, and for tours it's great as we can visitors to Hereford all over the place.This weekend should be a busy one we think, especially in the evenings.

Pedicabs will always be the main thing for us although just for the minute our attention is turning to the possible provision of a cargo service- herefordpedicargo, that will enable a low cost green courier service between various industrial areas in Hereford. Not to mention potentially getting post to depots and legal papers to the courts. We would love to hear your thoughts on this and our inter office travel scheme. Please either drop us a line (linked from the front page of our website) our lovely website or leave a comment on the blog, would be good to strike up a bit of banter and hear your ideas!

Hope all is well with you lot and if you haven't been on a cab jump on this weekend!

Will

Video on the blog!

Howdy all,

It's taken a bit of doing but if you look at the main page of the blog there is a link to a video on the top right!

Pretty cool eh! We are just gearing up for our second weekend in town, we're pretty excited, there's a chap coming to do some photos and we're also doing our first wedding!

Hope to see you riding in the back some time soon!
Will and Ben

Famous!!

We were on tv last night! BBC Midlands Today, only a little bit! For those of you who want to check out another good vid there is one here- http://www.herefordtimes.com/news/vnews/

Will

Look… we are doing it!!!

Well here we are the Monday after the first weekend, we covered over 220 kilometres and took over 300 customers, we worked in the nights and in the days, around the pubs, taking tourists on tours, dropping people home, you name it we did it!

We sweated buckets, ate like horses and put some serious effort into riding and we loved every single minute of it!

It started last Thursday night with our launch

We drew a big crowd and got a lovely response from everyone, I took my first customers for a ride!
Generally we had a fantastic time, spoke to lots of people who were supportive of what we have started and who wished us well. It was incredible, absolutely incredible, to think that we created something like this, put our minds and our hearts in and got this far in such a short amount of time. For a while we hadn’t seen it from other peoples eyes and this was a big eye opener.

So on Friday we started our first night in town.

It was really quiet until 10pm and then it was manic, we didn’t stop! Loads of short journeys and lots of people amazed at the new service available to them. It was a long night though and the legs were burning by the time we finished.

Saturday morning we eased ourselves in, tourism trips and things like that, stopping occasionally to rest up, chat to punters and soak up the atmosphere.

Saturday night was incredible, from 7pm we were rammed and it didn’t stop right through till midnight, the doormen were a great help telling people about our service and genrally spurring us on in our dark moments when the legs wanted to give up! The punters loved us we took hen parties.

Some loads were heavier than others.

But generally they all had a great time.

We cycled home that night with legs burning and lungs panting but with giant smiles on our faces, happy to have supplied a brand new service that was immediately popular and for it to have been so much fun.

Sunday morning was a low point for our bodies! Things needed to be done to keep us going, Ben snapped me ‘talc-ing up’, something which I believe was a life saver!

My mum had been a gem and dropped some flapjacks off for us on Friday night, those oats really kept us going so a big thank you Mum. We headed into town then and had a great day with the tourists and kids, we worked hard and loved the weather, all in all a great weekend!

So there we have it, we are up and running and its working, people love the service, they love the policy on tipping and we feel the same. As it has been from the start FUN, GREEN AND HONEST, we have enabled over 300 people to be green, enjoy themselves and learn about a new way of values based operation. For us it has been simply amazing. We couldn’t have done it without help though, The Council, Bulmers, The Courtyard, each other, our families, our friends, Howies, all of these folk have been there from the start and believed in the dream we had. For us that means more than any tip we get. So thank you to all of you.

We also have some website news- WE HAVE A WEBSITE!! CHECK IT OUT- http://www.herefordpedicabs.com

We hope you like it. Thank you again to everyone!

Will and Ben

Launch Day!

Tonight 6-8 pm at The Coutyard Theatre for the Arts!! Come along and see what all this fuss has been about!

Well who would have thought, less than five months on and we are launching Hereford Pedicabs! This week has been crazy, Hereford Journal yesterday, in the Hereford Times today, BBC Hereford and Worcester this morning, Midlands Today next week!!

Some of the press are trying to create a bit of friction between us and the regular cabbies but there's none to be found really!



It’s a very exciting time for us, we’ve had some huge support and who knows what will happen now, our guess is as good as yours. In the meantime there’s a good video article to look at on this page - http://www.thisisherefordshire.co.uk/

Thank you for your support so far and we look forward to meeting you tonight

Will and Ben

Almost there...

Hey hey hey,

Today is my birthday!

What better present than Pedicabs launching on Thursday!

Will