Transport for London on Monday set out proposals to regulate pedicabs—often called rickshaws—operating across the capital, aiming to curb overcharging, reduce nuisance behaviour and address safety failings after a rise in complaints and recent on-road incidents.
Under the outline scheme, drivers would face enhanced criminal-record and medical checks, and pedicabs would be required to display identification plates for both vehicle and driver. Fares would move toward a taxi-style model, charged by the minute with a set minimum, and a ban on loudspeakers would be introduced. TfL also proposes annual safety inspections covering brakes, tyres and mechanical parts, and specific assessments of batteries in electrically assisted pedicabs following online footage of vehicles catching fire.
The measures, which TfL said will be subject to a six-week public consultation, include a potential restriction on decorative lighting and other adornments that TfL described as inappropriate for road safety. The regulator said it hoped to introduce a final licensing regime in early 2026 after reviewing consultation responses and finalising enforceable standards.
Mayor Sadiq Khan welcomed the proposals, saying pedicabs "should be a fun and green way to see the sights of our city, but without regulation some drivers are behaving unsafely and anti-socially." He said the new rules were intended to "significantly improve safety, drive-up standards and bring an end to tourists and Londoners being overcharged."
TfL said the proposals were driven by safety concerns including a recent incident in which a stolen rickshaw was driven head-on into a bus, which left one person fighting for their life, and by footage that appeared to show pedicabs catching fire. The regulator also cited widespread public dissatisfaction; a previous TfL consultation involving about 6,700 people found 75% of respondents had felt unsafe while riding a pedicab and 85% said they had been overcharged. More than a quarter of respondents called for the trade to be banned entirely.
Pedicabs have operated largely unregulated in London for about three decades because they fall under a legal definition of "stage carriages" rather than hackney cabs, a quirk that has exempted them from the taxi licensing regime and left fares and safety standards unregulated in the capital. Parliamentary research estimates the number of pedicabs climbs to around 900 at the peak of the tourist season.
Not all stakeholders welcome regulation. Steve McNamara, general secretary of the Licensed Taxi Drivers' Association, said he remained sceptical that pedicabs could be made safe. He pointed to a Transport Research Authority crash test from about two decades ago that found a pedicab structure performed poorly when struck by a moving car at 30 mph and said he had seen no evidence TfL had fully tested modern designs. "How can you license and check a vehicle that the TRA wouldn't let their staff ride at more than nine miles per hour in, because they said it was inherently unsafe?" McNamara told the Daily Mail.
TfL said the scheme would be "proportionate" and "enforceable" and that full technical requirements for brakes, frames and batteries would be set out as the consultation progresses. The regulator did not release finalised fare structures or the detailed safety standards at the time of the announcement.
The proposals mark the first major attempt to regulate pedicabs in London since they proliferated on the capital's streets. If carried forward, the changes would align London more closely with rules governing pedicabs outside the capital, where they are already subject to conventional taxi legislation in many areas.
TfL invited members of the public and industry representatives to respond to the consultation. The authority said it would use the feedback to refine the proposals before seeking to implement the licensing regime in 2026.