People looking for a lift around downtown San Diego will now be able to spot licensed pedicabs.
Hundreds of decals have been issued to pedicab owners under a new ordinance that went into effect last fall. The decals permit pedicabs to conduct business in any of the four restricted zones in the city.
About 250 decals were issued in recent weeks after San Diego's council enacted the ordinance to better regulate the pedicab industry. The new rules came after a teacher from Illinois fell out of a pedicab and died last summer.
Sukru Safa Cinar, 23, was driving his pedicab in an area marked for pedestrians when his passenger, Sharon Miller, slipped from the pedicab and struck her head on the ground. She was taken to a hospital and declared brain dead the day after the accident.
Cinar's pedicab did not have required seatbelts.
The majority of pedi-cabs operate in the Gaslamp district downtown and rely on convention center traffic for a lot of their business.
