Eff-word! Bad news: it looks like we may not be able to ride anywhere, anytime in Tampa. Apparently the city has only a limited amount of permits for pedicabs and the locals have the exclusive.
On Saturday, we set off to ride in the city. But just before we left the self-storage where we are keeping our cabs, we ran into rickshaw drivers from Austin, (I met these guys during the DNC, and ran into them in DC) they told us that they were threatened with arrest if they worked this city without the right papers. We decided to press our luck and ride anyway. There was some kind of pirate festival going on, complete with parade and massive fireworks show (I got to see some of the fireworks, it looked like a prop plane and a sailing ship in a super cool battle). There are no hills, the weather is in the mid-70’s, and people wanted rides. In two hours I had made a quick $80, with the promise of much more. About this time, I get a text message from the boss, telling me to return to the storage space: apparently the cops had threatened to arrest members of our company and had put out a call on the radio to run us off. I had to turn down fares so I could get back. Someone flagged me down heading the same way I was, so I was able to make some cash on the way in.
We will now wait while my bosses (disorganized and making rookie mistakes) try to make headway with the local bureaucrats. There is still a chance that we could still work St. Pete, the city across the bay. We will not be working the Superbowl at all. We are looking at a bust here…
At a meeting before we left Denver, I asked the bosses if they had confirmed whether or not we could ride in DC and Tampa. They said with confidence that all was good and made it sound like they did the research, made it sound like they had their shit together. Some of us used the money we made in DC to pay for this leg of the trip, and are looking at taking a loss. At least two cabbies where hoping on being able to afford first and last months rent for new apartments. We seem to be screwed.
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