Pedicabs in Havana
Photo Feature by Ernesto Gonzalez Diaz
HAVANA TIMES – They swarm throughout Old Havana, Central Havana, and a good part of the peripheral municipalities of the city. But it is undoubtedly in the downtown municipalities of the capital where they can be seen the most. At first, it was tourists who demanded them the most, but now they are very useful to the residents of the capital when they need to travel a distance that is not so short as to walk.
Many of those who work pedaling bicitaxis are people from other provinces who emigrate to Havana looking for better economic possibilities and rent one of these vehicles to earn a living, sometimes pedaling in the sun, in the rain, in the cold of some nights, Saturdays, Sundays, in short, at any time and any day, you can see a pedicab in the center of Havana.
These vehicles are produced by hand in small workshops that build them on demand and generally the owners are not the ones who pedal them, but rather a person who works for them.
Whether by pedal pushing or electric power, the ubiquitous bici-taxi is definitely a Cuban transportation icon.
From transporting the neighbour’s refrigerator across town to the leisurely scenic ride around town for a tourist, the taxi entrepreneur is prepared at a moment’s notice to pick up and pedal.
The bici-taxi entrepreneur, usually a young male, has to be in good physical shape to withstand Cuba’s excessive heat plus the wet downpours from time to time shielded only with some flapping plastic protection. Nevertheless, when a paying customer beckons for reliable, inexpensive transport, that three wheeled taxi transport is sitting there just waiting to be serviced.
Good work, Ernesto.